Ashok Leyland bus subsidiary Switch UK has announced it is currently weighing the merits of closing its e-bus plant in Yorkshire. To this end it has launched a consultation process that “could potentially lead to cessation of its manufacturing and assembly activities”; meanwhile the company board is looking to refocus its efforts in its native India.
“While Ashok Leyland remained committed to the UK market over the last 15 years, adoption of zero-emission passenger vehicles has been tepid. This seems to be the right time to cut down losses in the UK market,” said Managing Director Shenu Agarwal in a statement. “On the other hand, the EV bus market in India is doing exceptionally well. Switch India is likely to achieve EBITDA breakeven in FY25, and is hoping to treble volumes in FY26, on the back of 1800+ e-Bus orders in hand.”
India has been pushing hard to accelerate the adoption of e-buses in public transit. Over the last couple of years it has implemented two subsidy schemes intended to stimulate orders—the PM e-bus Sewa scheme and PM E-DRIVE, respectively. Combined, the two initiatives seek to deploy some 24,000 e-buses on Indian roads. Ashok Leyland is one of several major beneficiaries of the scheme, although Tata Motors leads it in volumes.
E-bus adoption in the UK has been slow in comparison, although it does lead Europe. Nevertheless, Switch UK has found some customers, perhaps most notably Transport for London (and not without controversy). In 2022, the transport network recalled 90 of the busmaker’s MetroDecker e-buses from roads after six of them burst into flames at a depot garage.
Switch UK opened the Yorkshire plant in 2011 and is one of three plants operated by the company nationally. At least 200 jobs could be affected by the closures, which come in the wake of the company posting losses just north of £20m (US$25.9m) earlier in 2025.
