Ashok Leyland Board gives go-ahead for Rs 1,200 investment in Switch Mobility

financialexpress.com:

The Board of Directors of Ashok Leyland in their meeting have approved an investment of Rs 1,200 crore in Switch Mobility as equity through its holding company Optare UK. 

The funds infused will be used for capital expenditure, R&D and meeting operational requirements both in UK and India. The investment will be infused over the next few months after necessary statutory approvals in one or more tranches.

Switch Group of Companies (Switch Mobility – UK and Switch Mobility Automotive – India) house the electric mobility initiative for Ashok Leyland, focusing on e-buses and e-LCVs.  As on date Switch in India and UK has over 800 e-buses plying successfully and has an order book of over 1,200 buses. The company had a successful launch of India’s only double decker e-bus last year.   

The company has signed MoUs of over 13,000 vehicles for its much-awaited e-LCVs which it will start delivering from the fourth quarter of the current fiscal.

Dheeraj G Hinduja, Executive Chairman, Ashok Leyland said, “Electric vehicles especially in buses and light trucks have a very bright future as governments and private customers are driving the green agenda. We are very happy with the progress made by Switch, and we will continue to invest on building its capabilities. We are confident that Switch will grow further in the European markets with the launch in 2024 of our new E1 12m bus developed specifically for the European market. Our portfolio of electric buses will cover value and premium segments meeting all price points for many global markets.”

Shenu Agarwal, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland said, “The market for EVs is growing rapidly driven by the trend towards Carbon Neutrality. The government support is further helping the market to