Understanding SwitchLabs’ EV-as-a-Service Model for Heavy Commercial Vehicles

December 16, 2025 commercial vehicles, electric trucks 7 min read

Heavy commercial electric vehicles are emerging as a viable alternative to diesel trucks—particularly in closed-loop, fixed-route applications. SwitchLabs operates as a full-stack EV-as-a-Service provider and partners with leading OEMs such as TATA Motors, Montera Electric, EIM, and SANY India. This discussion with CEO and Co-founder Ajay Pratap Singh explores their operational approach, the economics of electric versus diesel trucks and deployment strategies for fixed-battery and swappable-battery configurations.

SwitchLabs deploys and manages heavyweight e-trucks. Can you help us understand the business model and stakeholders involved?

SwitchLabs operates as a full-stack EV-as-a-Service model, deploying, financing, and managing heavy electric trucks for large industrial clients. Our role includes vehicle ownership, charging/swapping, drivers, energy management, telematics, and uptime assurance.

The key stakeholders in an EV truck deployment include the Truck OEMs, battery/charging OEMs/charging partners, logistics teams at the client site, drivers, financiers, and SwitchLabs’ operations team.

We bring these parties together to deliver a reliable, predictable, low-cost, low-carbon, cost-per-ton-km logistics service without the client having to deal with any hassle. The deployment is as smooth as the deployment of a new Diesel truck for the client.

Does SwitchLabs own the vehicles? How does ownership or leasing work?

In most deployments, SwitchLabs owns the trucks through a mix of debt and equity.

In some cases, we use long-term operating leases or financial leases, depending on the route economics. The client pays us per trip or per km under multi-year contracts, while all capex and operational responsibility rests with SwitchLabs.

What’s the difference between Financial Lease, Operating Lease and Battery-as-a-Service? Which model do you prefer?

Financial Lease: The vehicle sits on the lessee’s balance sheet. It’s EMI-driven and cost-effective, but the lessee bears residual value risk.

Operating Lease: The lessor owns the truck and leases it for a fixed tenure. It’s more flexible and off-balance-sheet for the user.

Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS): The truck is purchased without a battery; the battery is subscribed separately on a per-swap or per-kWh basis. This reduces upfront capex and enables very high utilisation.

We prefer own-and-operate or financial lease structures for fixed-battery trucks and BaaS for high-utilisation swappable-battery fleets.

What makes closed-loop fixed-route logistics the most suitable usecase for e-trucks?

Closed-loop routes offer predictability and high asset utilisation, which is essential for heavy EV operations. The same distance, same load, and repeatable driving conditions allow precise planning of energy consumption and charging, and thus higher utilisation (in terms of km). Fixed routes also make it feasible to install dedicated charging/swapping, reduce downtime, and maximise utilisation—resulting in better economics than diesel.

For a cement manufacturer, how does e-trucking compare with ICE truck economics?

For most cement loops, EV trucks already deliver 2-10% lower operating costs than diesel trucks due to lower fuel costs (INR 35-40 per km diesel consumption compared to INR 12-16 per km electricity consumption). Electricity is significantly cheaper per km than diesel, and EVs have fewer moving parts, resulting in lower maintenance costs. When combined with predictable routes and high utilisation, EVs offer a clear cost advantage without compromising performance.

What kind of utilisation does a 55-ton e-truck need to break even and become more economical than ICE?

A typical 55-ton EV truck becomes competitive at 250 km/day. At 300-400 km/day, EVs outperform diesel in total operating costs. Swappable-battery trucks can exceed 500 km/day, unlocking even stronger economics.

Do you currently benefit from any government subsidies on commercial EV trucks?

Though there is a central government subsidy for zEV trucks under PM-E drive, the condition of scrapping a truck of a similar category makes it unviable.

However, several states offer incentives such as zero road tax, registration waivers, concessional electricity tariffs, and accelerated depreciation benefits. These improve the financial viability of deployments.

You recently deployed Energy In Motion (EIM)’s battery-swappable trucks. Which applications suit fixed batteries vs swappable batteries?

Fixed-battery trucks are ideal for routes requiring 250-400 km/day with planned charging windows. They offer lower capex and excellent overall efficiency.

Swappable-battery trucks are suited for high-demand loops above 500 km/day or 24×7 operations where downtime must be minimal. They have higher energy costs but enable extremely high utilisation and uptime.

Economically, fixed-battery trucks win on lower energy and capex costs, while swappable trucks win on utilisation-driven revenue.

Does SwitchLabs install charging infrastructure? How do you handle charging and swapping for heavy trucks?

SwitchLabs develops end-to-end charging infra for its routes. We install in-plant chargers, depot chargers, and route-side fast chargers.

For swappable-battery deployments, we set up dedicated swap stations or integrate with partner networks. Our approach ensures high uptime and removes charging responsibility from the client.

What is the current scale of operations at SwitchLabs? Which OEMs and clients are you working with?

We currently operate heavy EV trucks across cement and chemical routes, with:

12 trucks deployed as of November 2025, scaling to 52+ trucks in the next 2 months.

Long-term contracts with JK Lakshmi Cement, one large chemical company, and one large leading cement company, along with additional deployments in manufacturing and industrial logistics.