Ashok Leyland Arm Switch Mobility to Raise $300 Million

Ashok Leyland's electric vehicle division, Switch Mobility, will negotiate with financial investors to raise $200 million in investment needs and $100 million to about $300 million in Ohm Global Mobility, a subsidiary of the company's top manager Switch. 

Switch announced on Tuesday the next-generation electric bus platform "Switch EiV 12" for the Indian market. It will be available in two variations, the EiV 12 low floor, and the EiV 12 standard. The company currently has orders for more than 600 buses.

The EiV (Electric Intelligent Vehicle) platform includes telematics connections via SwitchiON. This enables remote real-time diagnostic and monitoring services, as well as digital battery management tools. The EV architecture of the EiV platform was recently introduced on the European Switch e1 bus.

Switch, which had only 60 buses when the company was founded in 2021, is now confirming orders for 600 buses, Babu said. The government is reportedly planning a mega tender for  50,000 electric buses. According to Switch, the company is spending a lot of money on future government bids.

As part of a production-linked incentive scheme, Ashok Leyland and Switch jointly plan to invest more than Rs 2,000 crore. The company was selected as a finalist as part of an initiative to encourage local manufacturing by players in the automotive industry.