"Connected Technologies Has Already Become Essential" Mahesh Babu, CEO Switch Mobility Ltd,
Mahesh Babu, CEO – Switch India & COO – Switch Mobility Ltd, speaks to Urvi Shrivastav, Editorial Lead, BW ESG, BW Businessworld, about the Electric Vehicle trends and how Switch Mobility is keeping up with the trends.
What are the EV trends today?
Growing need for more space-efficient, sustainable mobility solutions. One of the key EV trends is the growing need for more space-efficient, sustainable mobility solutions with higher passenger capacity per footprint owing to India’s increasing urban population. Another EV trend is the connected technology solutions. With more and more connected vehicles hitting the road, the amount of data to be processed will increase. Connected technologies has already become essential to fully leverage the potential of electric vehicles. Another trend is integration of renewables with EV charging infrastructure advances. Sources of clean and renewable energy are increasingly being integrated into the grid, to reduce carbon footprint.
How is switch mobility keeping up with the trends?
In order to address this need, Switch Mobility launched India’s first electric double decker, Switch EiV 22, which is the ideal solution for urban commuting, as they occupy less road, terminal and depot floor space. The electric double-decker bus offers 86% more passenger capacity compared to that of a single-decker, for only a 18% increase in weight of the bus. Moreover, it takes 41% lesser space in comparison to a regular single-floor and can offset 32 cars on the road. Switch Mobility will soon deploy 200 electric double deckers in Mumbai.
At Switch, we have a proprietary, connected technology solution called Switch iON. It provides a host of value-added services to the operators and drivers, with information about the complete ecosystem including charging, predictive maintenance, etc. to enable remote, real-time diagnostics and monitoring, as well as world-class digital battery management tools.
Switch Mobility is committed to net zero. For us at Switch, net zero is beyond zero tailpipe emissions. We are already working towards becoming net zero across our operations. One of the key initiatives on this front is to use renewable energy sources for charging Switch electric buses. For eg. With Karnataka being one of the largest producers of solar power in the country, we are leveraging this space in partnership with the Hinduja group, and we intend to charge our buses with over 80% renewable energy.
What is your take on the latest battery policy?
We will comply with all the legislative requirements both in India and globally. We will work with policy makers and industry bodies to enable smooth transition from current legislation towards future legislations. All our battery packs are tested and validated to meet global standards.
What lies ahead for Switch Mobility?
Switch Mobility expects India to become the second-largest electric vehicle (EV) market in the world by 2030. With electric buses playing a vital role in the country’s EV adoption, the bus segment is adopting EVs at a rapid pace. By 2030, we are looking at an annual e-bus market of 40,000 to 50,000 buses with a market share of 30%. We would like to have a reasonable market share and be profitable because that’s when it becomes sustainable for a business to grow.
