Ashok Leyland eyes EBITDA break-even for Switch Mobility India in FY25

Ashok Leyland expects the India business of its electric vehicle subsidiary Switch Mobility Ltd to break even on an operating basis during this financial year. 

“We are happy with the performance of Switch…Switch India is expected to achieve EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) break even in this fiscal,” Ashok Leyland Chairman Dheeraj Hinduja told reporters on Friday.

EBITDA break-even does not mean the company is profitable overall, but that the  company can meet its operating expenses using the revenue generated from operations. Operating expenses do not include interests, taxes and depreciation and amortization expenses.

Switch Mobility marked Ashok Leyland’s foray into electric buses and light commercial vehicles. The company has manufacturing bases in Chennai and the UK. Its products include the EiV series of buses and the IeV series of LCVs.

In India, Switch Mobility has rolled out two electric buses - EiV 12 and EiV 22 Double Decker. It also has plans to launch one low-floor electric bus for city rides that is being developed on a new platform. 

“Switch Mobility has an order of 2,000 buses, which it expects to supply in the next 12 months,” Hinduja said. Switch recently expanded its annual capacity in Chennai to 3,000 electric buses as it looks for more orders to supply electric buses across various states in the country. 

On the electric LCV side, the company has two offerings – IeV4 and IeV3, which it launched this year. With these two products, the company believes that it can cover at least 80% of the addressable market for electric vehicles in this segment.

Switch Mobility anticipates the penetration of electric vehicles in in LCVs (goods carriers under 7 tonnes) to reach 5% in the next two to three years, and improve further to 12-13% by 2030. The company is targeting a market share of 15-20% by the end of the decade.