Jain said the funding is largely structured as asset financing, enabling the company to scale its fleet quickly while simultaneously triggering the rollout of supporting charging infrastructure.
“The financing that Drivn has secured—$80 million—is primarily asset financing. That will put a fleet of 1,000 vehicles on the road,” Jain said. “What it, in turn, does is assure off-take for charging infrastructure, which will then be concurrently deployed over the next six to nine months.”
Rollouts underway across key inter-city routes, cement logistics
Drivn has already begun deploying vehicles on high-density inter-city corridors in both North and South India. Jain said electric buses will soon be visible on routes such as Delhi–Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada, while trucks are initially being placed into cement logistics, a sector with heavy diesel dependence.
“These early deployments will make us an EBITDA positive company right at the beginning,” she added.
The company’s model focuses on owning and leasing electric commercial vehicles over the long term, reducing upfront burdens for fleet operators while ensuring operational reliability through ecosystem partnerships.
Uptime guarantees and ecosystem coordination at the core
Drivn is entering the commercial EV market with multiple MOUs spanning OEMs, charging players, energy partners, and maintenance providers. Jain said coordination across this ecosystem is essential, especially in heavy transport where uptime and reliability remain key adoption barriers.
“We approach this segment with the discipline of a financier,” she said. “We structure rigorous back-to-back contracts with OEMs and energy management providers that enforce uptime guarantees and strengthen our underwriting model.”
India-US trade deal could unlock cheaper capital, advanced EV technology
Looking beyond the immediate fleet rollout, Jain described the India-US trade agreement as a “massive accelerator” for India’s commercial EV ecosystem, particularly for heavy vehicles that depend on high-performance global supply chains.
“Heavy commercial vehicles are a different beast altogether,” she said. “They rely heavily on high-performance components controlled by global supply chains. The pact lowers tariff barriers and signals stability to US institutional capital.”
Jain noted that access to US technology funds could ease capital constraints and reduce financing costs for players scaling commercial EV fleets.
Shift from cost procurement to value-based partnerships
With deeper technology cooperation on the table, Jain said Indian EV firms must think beyond cost arbitrage and instead pursue value-driven sourcing strategies.
“We should move from a cost-based model to value-based procurement,” she said. “We aren’t just looking at procuring inputs; we are looking at importing technology and innovation and combining it with the scale of Indian manufacturing.”
Commercial demand rising beyond subsidies
Drivn’s expansion also aligns with India’s policy push through schemes such as FAME and PM e-bus SEVA, but Jain believes adoption is increasingly being driven by pure economics rather than incentives.
“Two years ago, I would have said it is policy-driven,” she said. “Today, the conversations have shifted. CEOs in steel or mining are talking about total cost of ownership, not subsidies.”
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Building the financial backbone of India’s commercial EV transition
Looking ahead, Jain said Drivn is positioning itself not just as a fleet operator, but as a long-term financing and infrastructure platform for India’s commercial EV segment.
“We are imagining Drivn as the financial backbone of the commercial EV segment,” she said. The company plans to scale from its initial 1,000-vehicle rollout to a 5,000-vehicle model over the next two to three years, supported by long-term leasing and asset ownership.
As India pushes to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors such as logistics, cement, steel, and mining, Drivn is betting that institutional capital, stable policy frameworks, and global technology partnerships will accelerate the shift away from diesel-heavy transport.
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