The first electric bus in Chennai has been flagged off by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy today.<br />''<br />'' It is being operated on a trial basis from the Central Railway Station to Tiruvanmiyur, four trips a day. The fully air-conditioned bus has 32 seats. It has inbuilt features like GPS and fire detection and suppression system. It can be monitored remotely by transport officials. <br />'' <br />'' A release from the state transport department says, every day, the bus can be operated for about two hundred kilometres. After plying on the road for every 40 kilometres, its battery would be charged at the bus depot where charging stations have been made available. <br />'' <br />'' It further says, the bus has been designed by keeping in view the Indian road conditions and has been certified by Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India.<br />'' <br />'' The state government has planned to deploy two thousand electric buses throughout the state in several phases. The Union government has given its nod for buying 525 electric buses for the state in the first phase. The German financial institution KfW has agreed to offer the loan for the purchase of a hundred such buses, out of which Chennai would get 80 and Coimbatore and Madurai ten each.<br />'' <br />''  <br />