In the 2000s, there were three major manufacturers of buses and bus bodies in the United Kingdom: Alexander Dennis of Scotland; Wrightbus of Northern Ireland; and Optare, a relatively young company based in the north of England. For a time, Optare probably accounted for a quarter of the buses and coaches produced in the UK. Optare entered the 2020s under a new name, Switch Mobility Ltd, signalling its intention to embrace the electric era wholeheartedly. However, among the British manufacturers, it remains firmly in third place: according to statistics provided by Switch, it sold 33 buses in 2022, 44 in 2023, and 125 in 2024. In that same period, Switch’s plant in England has produced more than two hundred vehicles, the vast majority of which were sold to various UK operators, including Stagecoach, Arriva, and many more. 

The company is embarking on a revival using common componentry for vehicles in Europe and India.

OHM Global Mobility is now a part of Switch Mobility, founded in 2020. It provides an end-to-end clean mobility financing technology platform that enables EV businesses to access institutional capital efficiently.

The Switch EiV 22 is powered by a liquid cooled, high density, 231 kWh NMC battery pack and uses a 650 V system - the same platform as Switch EiV 12, launched in June 2022, which is also common with Switch e1.

Babu replaces Dr Andy Palmer, who is stepping down from his active roles at the company, stating his wish to dedicate his time to “a plurality of organisations and projects operating in the EV space.”

The 'EiV22', which is based on the same electric vehicle platform as the single-deck EiV 12 and e1 launched for the Indian and European markets respectively, will be India's very first battery-electric double-decker, according to Switch.

The MoU covers an initial period of three years, during which time Switch will supply transportation service provider Chalo with variants of the new ‘EiV12’, designed specifically for the Indian market.

The integration of the two technologies will ensure cross-compatibility, meaning that subscribers to Switch's digital services will be able to use Nuvve's vehicle-to-grid energy aggregation management, allowing for discharge of electricity back into the grid.

The SWITCH EiV 12, whose design is akin to that of the recently-launched ‘e1’ bus for the European market, has already been available for some time in India, with orders currently standing at over 600 units.

The UK electric bus maker in May signed a collaboration agreement with TransJakarta, the operator of the public transport network serving the Indonesian capital Jakarta. 

The UK-based EV manufacturer plants to invest over GBP300m in its business operations in both the UK and India, which it claims will lead to the creation of over 4,000 skilled jobs.

Switch Mobility has announced that it is certified as carbon neutral by environmental consultancy Climate Partner UK, following investments in renewable energy and carbon offsets.