Leafy Bus Is Setting up Private Bus Terminals in India

As India’s intercity bus market begins its gradual transition towards electric mobility, the biggest constraint is no longer the availability of electric buses but the ecosystem that supports them. Charging reliability, turnaround times, land access and passenger experience remain fragmented, particularly for long-distance operations. Delhi-based electric intercity operator Leafy believes the solution lies in building private bus terminals designed specifically for electric buses.

Rohan Dewan, founder and CEO of Leafy Bus, told Autocar Professional in an exclusive conversation that the company’s strategy is centred on combining electric intercity operations with captive infrastructure, allowing it to control charging, turnaround times and passenger experience as it scales.

Founded in late 2024, Leafy currently operates 22 electric sleeper buses across four routes — Delhi–Dehradun, Delhi–Agra, Delhi–Jaipur and Delhi–Lucknow. By the end of the current financial year, the company plans to scale its fleet to around 55 buses. Over the next three financial years, Leafy is targeting a fleet of close to 500 electric buses, supported by nearly 80 hubs across India.

At the heart of Leafy’s operating strategy is a hub-and-spoke model built on captive infrastructure. Instead of relying on conventional bus stands or public highway charging stations, the company is developing its own private hubs that integrate charging, parking and servicing. Over time, these hubs are intended to evolve into full-fledged private bus terminals, with passenger waiting areas, controlled boarding, and food and beverage outlets.

“These are closed, secure facilities where buses are charged on schedule and passengers can board in a predictable environment,” Dewan says. “In effect, we are building private EV bus terminals.”

For electric intercity bus operations, predictability is critical. While public charging infrastructure on highways has expanded rapidly, utilisation levels, uptime and access priority remain inconsistent. Leafy believes relying entirely on public chargers introduces operational risk, particularly as fleet size scales up and departure schedules become tighter.

To address this, the company has partnered with Glida to deploy high-capacity 360 kW DC fast chargers across its hubs in North India. These chargers are capable of fully charging an intercity electric bus in around one hour. The charging setup follows an asset-light model, with Leafy paying on a per-unit basis while retaining exclusive access to the chargers at its hubs.

The fleet strategy mirrors this asset-light philosophy. While Leafy initially inducted buses on its own books, it is now shifting towards a leasing-led procurement model. Around 80 percent of the fleet is expected to be leased under long-term contracts, typically structured as 7 years and a 10 year AMC. This allows the company to scale without locking significant capital into depreciating assets.

On the OEM side, Leafy is working with Eicher and JBM Group as it expands its electric intercity fleet. Dewan said the bulk of the near-term expansion is anchored by a large order with Eicher, under which fully built electric sleeper buses are being inducted in phases through FY26, while JBM supports fleet diversification as the company prepares for the next phase of growth.

A defining aspect of Leafy’s procurement strategy is its insistence on OEM-built buses rather than traditional body-built configurations assembled by third-party vendors, a long-standing norm in India’s sleeper bus market.

The decision, Dewan says, is driven primarily by safety and long-term reliability. Recent accidents involving sleeper buses have highlighted structural vulnerabilities in body-built vehicles, particularly in high-impact or rollover scenarios. According to Leafy, factory-built buses engineered end-to-end by OEMs offer significantly higher safety standards due to integrated chassis-body design, better weight distribution and validated structural performance.

“A fully built OEM bus is closer to a car in terms of structural integrity,” Dewan says. “For overnight sleeper services operating long distances on highways, safety cannot be compromised.”

All buses inducted into the fleet are covered under long-term AMC arrangements with the OEMs, typically extending up to 10 years and covering critical systems including batteries and drivetrains. This reduces operational uncertainty while improving visibility on maintenance and lifecycle costs.

From a commercial standpoint, Leafy claims to be unit-economics positive across routes. Passenger pricing averages close to ₹2 per kilometre, broadly in line with premium diesel sleeper buses. The company has consciously avoided charging a premium for electric travel, believing customers should not have to pay extra to move away from ICE-powered buses.

Beyond ticket revenue, the private terminal model is expected to unlock additional income streams. As land leases form a significant long-term cost, Leafy plans to monetise its hubs through food courts, retail leasing and solar power installations to reduce electricity costs. Over time, the company may also open up charging and terminal access to other bus operators, creating a secondary revenue stream while improving charger utilisation.

Smaller operators transitioning to electric buses often struggle with charging anxiety and infrastructure costs. Dewan believes Leafy’s hubs could eventually function as shared mobility nodes, offering ready-made infrastructure to the wider ecosystem.

Since commencing operations, the company has covered close to 12 lakh kilometres and served around 1.5 lakh passengers. Repeat usage, particularly among younger travellers, has been increasing, supported by Leafy’s own booking app.

While the intercity EV bus segment remains at an early stage, Leafy is betting that building infrastructure ahead of demand will create a defensible advantage. Expansion, Dewan says, will remain disciplined and tied closely to route-level profitability rather than aggressive fleet growth.

“The opportunity is large,” he says, “but unit economics will always come first.”