The buses will be operated by the National Transport Corporation, enabling Mauritius to move forward in electrifying its public transport fleet.

Ashok Leyland will invest up to IND300 crore (USD36m) in OHM Global Mobility; while the investment in VBCL is up to INR5.70 crore (USD0.69m) to further expand its manufacturing its bus body and coach manufacturing premises and annual capacities.

The investment is scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY2025-26 and is aimed at supporting the ongoing capital expenditure and growth plans of Switch Mobility.

The companies say the partnership aims to deploy 1,000 electric commercial vehicles (eLCVs and buses) over the next three to five years.

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

Switch Mobility will supply these buses and all the necessary charging infrastructure to OHM, which will then operate them on designated routes under a gross cost contract (GCC).

The new EiV 9 is a 9-metre, 16-ton gross vehicle weight low entry city bus, powered using a Permanent Magnet Synchronous AC Motor offering an output of 235Kw @ 1330 rev/min fitted with lithium ion NMC batteries in modular battery packs for different storage capacity options.

With two of an order for five Switch EiV 22 buses for Gujarat delivered, these are the first e-double deck buses to be delivered to Gujarat; others are already in service in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

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.

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.

Babu will serve as COO of Switch Mobility in the UK and as CEO of its Indian subsidiary.