For years, the conversation around India’s electric vehicle (EV) revolution has been dominated by two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and electric cars. But the final frontier of the energy transition – intercity buses and heavy-duty trucks – just got a big boost.
Drivn, a full-stack electric mobility platform founded just last year, has secured a financing commitment of $80 million (about Rs 665 crore) from the global financial services giant Nomura. The capital is set to fuel Drivn’s ambitious Phase 1 rollout, which aims to put nearly 1,000 electric commercial vehicles (CVs) on Indian roads by the end of FY27.
Solving the diesel dilemma
While intracity buses have seen steady electrification thanks to government schemes like PM-eBus Sewa, the long-haul, heavy-transport segment has remained reliant on diesel. The primary roadblocks are massive upfront costs – for instance, electric trucks cost 2.5 times their diesel counterparts – and a lack of financing.
Drivn’s model, however, isn’t just about lending money, but an infrastructure play. The company buys, owns, and leases these high-value assets under long-term contracts, taking the balance-sheet pressure off logistics and bus operators.
“For electric mobility to work at scale in heavy transport, the solution has to go beyond vehicles,” Manav Bansal, co-founder & CEO of Drivn, told the Financial Express. “It also has to address capital intensity, operational risk, and long-term reliability.”
Data over diesel
What makes Drivn’s entry unique in 2026 is its tech-first approach. In a segment where vehicle uptime is the difference between profit and loss, Drivn uses a proprietary data stack to monitor battery health, real-time load efficiency, and charging readiness.
Kushagra Pant, managing director at Nomura, noted that heavy commercial transport is the most high-impact leverage point for decarbonisation. “Drivn stood out because it is not approaching this as a financing play alone, but as a long-term infrastructure platform,” he said.
1,000 EVs by 2027
Drivn has locked in strategic partnerships with logistics operators and charging providers, and the goal is 1,000 EVs deployed by the end of FY27. Alpna Jain, co-founder & chief business officer, Drivn said that targeted sectors include high-emission, hard-to-abate industries like cement, steel, and e-commerce logistics, and the aim is helping India edge closer to its national target of 30% EV penetration by 2030.
By bridging the gap between global private credit and the dusty realities of India’s national highways, Drivn aims to position itself as the operational backbone of a zero-emission logistics corridor.