The Sherburn-based company has supplied its first two vehicles to the Spanish city of Benidorm
North Yorkshire-based Ashok Leyland subsidiary Switch Mobility has announced what the relaunch of its E1 electric bus, designed for the European market and first seen in 2022. The manufacturer first showed the fully low-floor 12m electric bus in mid-2022, exhibiting a prototype later that year at Euro Bus Expo. The company believes it is the first electric bus of its kind to be designed and manufactured in the UK for European markets.
The company, which employs around 275 people in a facility near Leeds, says it has ambitious plans to sell the vehicle across Europe and will also soon be conducting trials in the Middle East. The E1, now styled as ‘E1’ in Switch’s communications rather than ‘e1’ at launch, can accommodate up to 93 passengers, and has three doors in a standard European layout. It has a battery capacity of 385kWh, and a maximum speed of 50 miles (80km) per hour.
A Spanish operator is the first to commit to the immediate delivery of E1 buses, the company has confirmed, with two vehicles already making their way to the country. The manufacturer says it is currently in advanced discussions with a number of other countries across Europe.
Chairman of Switch Mobility Dheeraj Hinduja commented: “It gives us enormous pride to have designed and built this vehicle in the UK. This is a pivotal moment for us as we look to grow our business in the UK and beyond, and over time we expect the vehicle to make an important contribution to the UK’s electric automotive exports. We look forward to announcing more European sales in due course and advancing our long-term vision to democratise electric mobility on a global scale.”
Chief Executive Officer Mahesh Babu added: “We are delighted to unveil the Switch E1 in Europe, a design built on our Global EV architecture. The Switch E1 has crafted the EV technology to deliver efficiency, passenger comfort and best-in-class safety for all. As pioneers in the electric vehicle sector, we are thrilled to be contributing towards a more sustainable future.”
The E1 was first seen in public at the Paris motor show in June 2022 and was described by Switch as a concept vehicle for evaluating the market in Europe. At the time of launch, Switch said the model would be one of the lightest 12m buses available in Europe, coming in at under 10,800kg, and offering a range of around 390km from its 389KWh NMC battery. The manufacturer said when introducing the model that it would be built at a new production facility at Valadolid in Spain.
Asked whether the two buses being delivered to Spain were the two buses already in existence, the company told CBW: “Based on the study [of its concept vehicle], the development of the buses started and we are now ready with production-ready buses, which are being delivered. The two Switch E1 buses were built in our Sherburn, Leeds facility in the UK. These buses are built as per the tender from Benidorm, Spain.”
The manufacturer said that the two buses had reached the south coast of Spain by early December, following shipment from the UK, ready for testing and acceptance by the customer. “We’re pleased that the testing of the Switch E1 vehicles has already been completed both in Spain and in the UK, using our prototype. The E1 has already passed the type certification test required for the Spanish market. These two buses have been tested as per the quality standards needed in production and are now in Spain, ready to be delivered to Benidorm before the end of the month.”
The buses have been purchased by Benidorm city council, which Switch explained will then supply to the city’s bus operator.
Speaking about the Spanish production facility, when asked whether there were still plans in place for that to go ahead, a spokesperson said: “Our existing UK facility can produce 120 Switch E1 buses per annum. Once the capacity is fully utilised, we will activate the Spanish facility if needed, at appropriate time.”
Switch did not confirm that any further orders have yet been received, but commented: “We look forward to participating in tenders across Europe for future deliveries. We expect around 300 to 400 buses to tender in Spain within the next year alone, adding that delivery lead time would be ‘based on tenders, which we are pleased to share that we will be participating in now’ with tender delivery timelines of between eight and 12-months expected.
Speaking about Switch’s UK production, the spokesperson said that current UK deliveries were being supplied according to schedule and added: “We are proud to be delivering the highest number of buses this year to date. We expect to deliver close to 100 buses this year. We are also engaging with our customers regarding future orders. We have orders in hand to serve the UK market and now with the Europe launch, we expect to serve even more orders.”
Asked whether there might be any changes to Switch’s UK line-up in the near future, the company said: “We are currently working on future models to serve in various markets.”
Looking to the future, the company said: “We have over 100 vehicles registered globally and plan to have more than 600 vehicles registered across the globe this financial year. We plan to double this within the next financial year globally.”
