SWITCH Mobility Bags 840-Bus Delhi Order: 420 Nine-Metre and 420 Twelve-Metre AC Electric Buses Under PM E-DRIVE Phase I

SWITCH Mobility has secured an order for 840 electric buses from Antony Road Transport Solutions, the operator selected for Delhi under CESL's PM E-DRIVE Phase I tender. The order is split equally between 420 nine-metre and 420 twelve-metre air-conditioned buses, which will run with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi's Transport Department. SWITCH announced the order on 28 September 2026. It has not shared the contract value, delivery schedule, battery capacity or range.

What SWITCH Mobility Has Announced

SWITCH Mobility, part of the Hinduja Group, says the agreement has been signed with Antony Road Transport Solutions. The operator was selected for Delhi under the CESL PM E-DRIVE Phase I tender, and the buses will be deployed for passenger services in the national capital.

Here is what the company has confirmed so far:

SWITCH CEO Ganesh Mani framed the mixed bus sizes as a way to serve different passenger needs across the city. Jimmy John, Director at Antony Road Transport Solutions, said the operator's long relationship with Ashok Leyland and its trust in the Hinduja Group led to the order.

Also Read: PM E-DRIVE Scheme Extended to March 2028: Revised Outlay & Guidelines

Where the Order Fits in Delhi's PM E-DRIVE Phase I Plan

Phase I of the bus programme covers 10,900 electric buses across five cities. Delhi's share is 2,800.

The Delhi Cabinet approved the 2,800-bus plan in mid-July 2026. The fleet is an equal split of 1,400 nine-metre and 1,400 twelve-metre low-floor AC buses. The nine-metre buses are meant for narrow roads and last-mile routes, while the twelve-metre buses will serve high-demand corridors. Service contracts run for 12 years, and the first vehicles are expected from April 2027, with full integration by August 2028.

Set against that plan, SWITCH's order looks like this (the percentages are Evfy's calculation, assuming the order sits within Delhi's Phase I allocation, as the company states):

Under Phase I terms, central assistance is capped at ₹35 lakh per twelve-metre bus and ₹25 lakh per nine-metre bus.

How the Gross Cost Contract Model Works

This order looks unusual at first glance: a bus maker is selling to a private operator, not to DTC. That is how the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model is built.

Under CESL's aggregation approach, private operators own, operate and maintain the buses. They also develop charging infrastructure and energy management at depots provided by the city. The city transport agency then pays the operator a fixed per-kilometre fee. Bus makers such as SWITCH supply the operators, who win the tender.

In practice, DTC is the service owner on the road, Antony Road Transport Solutions is the contract holder, and SWITCH is the manufacturer.

The Buses: What SWITCH Has (and Has Not) Confirmed

Both sizes are built on SWITCH's EiV platform. The company lists the following features (all company-stated):

• Modular battery configurations, advanced electric powertrains and regenerative braking
• Dual-gun fast charging for quicker turnaround and better fleet utilisation
• Low-floor access, spacious interiors, comfortable seating and USB charging
• Fire Detection and Suppression Systems and multi-level battery protection
• SWITCH iON connectivity for real-time monitoring, diagnostics and fleet management

SWITCH has not said which specific variants will be supplied, and it has not published battery capacity, range or charger ratings for this order. For context, the company introduced its nine-metre EiV9 at Prawaas 5.0 in July 2026, with a motor rated up to 213 kW peak and dual-gun CCS2 charging, according to Sustainable Bus. We have not seen confirmation that this exact model is what Delhi will get, so treat it as background, not as this order's spec sheet.

Who Else Won in Phase I

CESL closed the 10,900-bus tender in late December 2025 with 16 bidders in the process and 14 technically qualified financial bids opened. Reports at the time named the following allocations:

The same reports said Tata Motors, VE Commercial Vehicles and JBM Auto received no orders, and that Ashok Leyland's bid was not successfully submitted. Its subsidiary OHM Global Mobility was reported to have challenged this in the Delhi High Court. We have not found an update on that case.

A note on the numbers: the December 2025 reports mention roughly 420 buses for an "Anthony Travels" consortium, while SWITCH's release refers to Antony Road Transport Solutions and 840 buses. The public record does not explain whether these are the same entity or how allocations were later arranged, so we are not treating them as the same.

What This Order Means for Different Readers

Delhi commuters. Nothing changes on the road immediately. The Phase I fleet is expected to start arriving from April 2027. The mix should mean more feeder buses on narrow routes, plus larger buses on busy corridors.

Operators and fleet investors. The order shows that OEM relationships still matter in a GCC tender. An operator with a long-standing tie to one manufacturer has chosen to place a large order with it.

Rival bus makers. SWITCH gets a large, visible Delhi order without having been named among the direct Phase I winners in December 2025 reports. Competitors should expect operators to keep shopping across OEMs.

Pros and watch-points at a glance:

Evfy's Take

The scale is easy to miss. According to Vahan data cited by Sustainable Bus, SWITCH registered 830 electric buses in all of H1 2026, a 28.2% share of 2,944 registrations. This single order of 840 buses is larger than that entire half-year figure. Deliveries will spread over multiple years, but the order book signal is significant.

The operator route works. Because GCC separates the tender winner from the bus maker, an OEM can build volume by supplying operators even when it is not the headline winner. If the December 2025 reports about Ashok Leyland's bid are accurate (they come from a single source), this order is a clean example.

A rough ceiling on central support. Using the Phase I caps, 420 twelve-metre buses at ₹35 lakh come to ₹147 crore, and 420 nine-metre buses at ₹25 lakh come to ₹105 crore, a combined ceiling of about ₹252 crore. This is Evfy's own arithmetic on maximum assistance, not a figure SWITCH has reported as revenue.

Also Read: 400 New Electric Buses Join Delhi Fleet Under DEVi Scheme