Switch Mobility scores order for 71 e-buses in India
Switch Mobility has partnered with JSW to introduce electric buses for employee transportation in India. with 71 buses being delivered to JSW Steel for their Vijayanagar plant.
Switch Mobility, the UK subsidiary of Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland, will own and oversee entire operations including setting-up of charging infrastructure and requisite maintenance efficacy, over a 12-year contract period.
The British-Indian bus maker says that the air-conditioned buses to be delivered to the steel company for its employee transport include SWITCH EiV 12, which feature customer-centric offerings on technology and employee comfort. The architecture of the EiV platform is the same as that of the European SWITCH e1 bus. The electric buses sport modular batteries with lithium-ion NMC chemistry, which Switch says were specially formulated for the Indian market and climatic conditions.
According to Switch Mobility, this is the first significant and largest electric bus order in the country for employee transportation, but that superlative followed by the qualifier of “employee transportation” might be a little misleading. Switch Mobility is already enjoying a number of large contracts as a manufacturer of electric buses in India, despite the brevity of time since its first electric bus was made for the subcontinent. In August this year, Switch Mobility unveiled what it claims is the first all-electric double-decker bus for the Indian market. Switch India has already secured an order for 200 electric double-decker buses from Mumbai. Just a few months earlier, Switch Mobility and Indian transport company Chalo entered into a strategic cooperation to deploy 5,000 electric buses across India.
To ensure effective operations and services of these electric buses, Switch says it will be expanding its team and recruiting 200 personnel. Not surprisingly, the company says that it plans to increase its workforce by 30% over the next five years.
Mahesh Babu, Global CEO of Switch Mobility said, “With the positive reception to Switch EiV 12, we are pleased to enter the employee transportation space and be a part of the sustainability journey with JSW Steel.” Babu then revealed that “The private bus market in India, is one of the key transportation markets in the country, constituting 70% market share, of which the private electric bus market is expected to be valued at ₹60 billion in the next five years.”
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