India’s transition to electric mobility is gaining momentum, but the real test lies in scaling electric adoption across heavy commercial segments such as trucks and buses. While the economics of electric fleets are becoming increasingly viable, challenges around financing, infrastructure, and operational integration continue to slow down widespread deployment. Addressing these gaps requires not just better vehicles, but a complete ecosystem that supports fleet operators at every stage of the transition.
In a recent interaction with Sanjana Negi, Ms. Alpna Jain, Co-founder and CBO at Drivn, discussed the evolving landscape of heavy electric mobility in India and the systemic barriers that still need to be overcome. She emphasized that structured financing, risk mitigation, and lifecycle management are critical to enabling fleet operators to adopt electric vehicles at scale. According to her, traditional asset ownership models are no longer sufficient for high-value EVs, where leasing and flexible financing solutions can better align with operational realities.
Ms. Jain also highlighted the importance of a purpose-built charging ecosystem and data-driven software platforms to optimize fleet performance. She noted that with the right combination of capital, technology, and infrastructure, India has the potential to lead in building a scalable and sustainable logistics network powered by electric mobility.
What are the biggest challenges currently slowing down the adoption of heavy electric vehicles in India?
The economics of running electric trucks and buses are increasingly compelling, but the real challenge lies in enabling the transition. Access to structured financing remains a key barrier, as many fleet operators need partners who understand both asset risk and operating realities. These challenges are even more critical for heavy commercial vehicles segment. In other words, besides whether electric vehicles make sense economically, adoption is equally about building the right ecosystem of finance, technology, charging, and operational support to make the transition practical and scalable.
Why do you believe buying electric trucks today can be financially risky for fleet owners?
Buying electric trucks today can be financially demanding for fleet owners because of the high capital intensity involved. A single heavy electric truck can cost upwards of a crore, and when you factor in lifecycle elements such as battery management and comprehensive annual service contracts, the ownership economics become complex.
Financing these assets through traditional borrowing means placing them on the balance sheet, which can quickly consume borrowing headroom for growing companies. It also exposes operators to multiple asset ownership risks technology evolution, battery lifecycle management, and long-term residual value.
Leasing helps shift these risks away from operators. It allows them to focus on what they do best—running efficient transport operations—while the asset owner manages the capital, lifecycle, and asset-related risks.
How can fleet operators better evaluate the total cost of ownership when transitioning to electric trucks?
Fleet operators need to move beyond just comparing the upfront purchase price and instead evaluate the total costs of ownership over the asset’s economic life and the underlying contract term. This depends on several interlinked factors. First, operators must assess route suitability and utilization—daily kilometers, load factors, terrain, and charging windows—because EV economics improve significantly with higher and more predictable utilization. Second, they need to factor in costs related to battery replacement, energy costs, and comprehensive AMC costs.
In your view, are current government policies targeting the right segments to achieve real decarbonization in the transport sector?
Policy has done well to focus on intra‑city public buses, which helped prove the concept. But the bigger opportunity lies in private inter‑city buses and heavy trucks, which account for the bulk of emissions. Recent PM-E drive does have a lot of focus on enabling electrification of corridors and HCVs which augurs well for the transition. Addressing barriers to adoption and charging incentives to these segments is what will really move the needle on decarbonization.
What policy changes are needed to accelerate the transition to heavy electric mobility in India?
We need policies that reflect the realities of heavy EVs. That means longer‑tenure financing, derisking facilities for existing financiers to transition to heavy EVs, payment security mechanisms for private operators, and incentives for charging infrastructure along highways and industrial corridors. Recent MOEFCC notification on emission intensity reduction trajectory is a critical development, it will be great to see through its implementation by the obligated entities. Policy unlocks are also needed in the utility interface of the CPOs/ charging infra developers while setting up on ground HT connections. Without these, adoption will remain slower than the economics suggest.
Many companies are investing in EV charging infrastructure. Do you believe some current charging players may struggle to succeed?
Charging infrastructure today has largely evolved around passenger EVs, which benefit from a more visible and distributed public charging network. However, infrastructure for commercial electric fleets is now scaling rapidly as adoption accelerates. Vehicles in categories such as M2, M3, and N2/N3 commercial vehicles require very specific charging solutions—typically high-capacity chargers installed in depots or captive facilities rather than public charging points.. A lot of this infra gets planned on a use case to use case basis and is often captive. The right ecosystem combines depot charging, on‑route fast charging, and partnerships with charge point operators who can scale with fleet demand.
What kind of charging ecosystem is required to support large-scale deployment of heavy EVs like buses and trucks?
It has to be purpose‑built. Depot charging for start and end of trip use, highway fast charging for opportunistic charging on stop points, and industrial corridor hubs for mid‑mile logistics. And it all needs to be integrated with route planning so operators know exactly where and when charging will happen, minimizing downtime.
How could software platforms play a larger role in shaping the future of logistics and highway transportation?
Data and tech is the invisible backbone of EV logistics. With AI‑driven analytics, operators can optimize routes, manage driver rosters, predict maintenance, and balance charging schedules. In EVs, efficiency is data‑led, and whoever controls the data layer across thousands of vehicles effectively controls utilization and economics.
What are the hidden financial or operational risks of treating heavy EVs as traditional depreciating assets?
Treating heavy EVs—such as electric buses and trucks—as traditional depreciating transport assets can overlook several financial and operational nuances unique to electric mobility. Unlike diesel vehicles, the value of an EV is tied to battery health, underlying use case asset is operating onand evolving technology standards. Treating them like traditional depreciating assets ignores these dynamics. Without AMC contracts and redeployment flexibility, operators risk stranded assets. That’s why bespoke leasing solutions very much like project‑finance are a better fit.
Looking ahead, what role do platforms like Drivn see themselves playing in India’s transition to sustainable logistics?
We see ourselves very much at the cutting edge of this transition. By combining capital scale, long‑tenure financing, and a technology layer, we make heavy EV adoption viable for operators at scale. In doing so, we’re not just financing vehicles—we’re building the ecosystem that will allow India’s highways and industrial corridors to run cleaner, smarter, and more efficiently.
Click Here to get the latest EV news and exclusive updates from EV Mechanica on WhatsApp!