DRIVN, an electric commercial vehicle leasing platform, and Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions Private Limited (Purple Bus), a leading private intercity bus operator in India, have expanded their electric bus partnership, taking their total committed fleet to 276 buses.
Under the expanded partnership, DRIVN will support Purple Bus through its asset-light operating lease model and technology for fleet utilisation optimisation. The arrangement is aimed at enabling Purple Bus to scale its electric intercity bus operations across key corridors in India while supporting the wider adoption of electric mobility in passenger transportation.
The companies’ earlier agreement covered 100 electric buses across key intercity corridors in South and West of India, including Mumbai–Pune, Bengaluru–Chennai and Hyderabad–Vijayawada. Under the new LOI, the total commitment will increase to 276 buses, with additional routes like Nagpur–Chandrapur, Nagpur–Amravati, Bengaluru–Tirupati and many other carefully selected routes.
DRIVN’s route intelligence, real-time vehicle and battery data, and fleet performance insights, helps assess route viability and will enable optimisation of fleet deployment as this strategic partnership scales.
Purple Bus will leverage DRIVN’s proprietary tech through a full-stack electric fleet model spanning asset financing and leasing, charging infrastructure, battery and asset-health monitoring, fleet operations and lifecycle management. This integrated approach brings together the financial, operational and technology capabilities required to scale electric intercity fleets.
Alpna Jain, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, DRIVN, said, “Expanding our partnership with Purple Bus marks an important milestone for us at DRIVN. Increasing the initial agreement from 100 buses to a commitment of 276 reflects the strength of the relationship we have built with the team. Our focus is to simplify the transition to electric commercial vehicles by bringing together the financing, vehicles and tech capabilities operators need to run their fleets effectively. We look forward to continuing our work with Purple Bus as its requirements evolve.”
Saurabh P. Patwardhan, Director, Purple Bus, said, “Our experience with the initial deployment has reinforced a key learning: scaling electric mobility requires not only putting more electric buses on the road, but also building the right ecosystem around them. A nearly three-fold growth in the commitment from our partner reflects our confidence in that approach and our intention is to make electric mobility a larger part of our operations. DRIVN combines operational expertise with a strong technology platform, using real-time data and insights across routes, vehicles and fleet performance to support smarter deployment. We believe this combination will be critical to scaling electric intercity mobility sustainably and efficiently.”
The expanded commitment reflects both organisations’ shared push to decarbonise intercity passenger mobility in India. By pairing Purple Bus’s operational legacy with DRIVN’s tech-first leasing model, the two companies aim to build a scalable template for electrifying heavy commercial fleets across the country.
