Switch Mobility (originally called Optare) is an English bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company would be responsible for the EV operations of the group with Ashok Leyland focusing on its core business of diesel-powered vehicles as well as work on alternative fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen. After being rebranded from Optare to Switch Mobility in November 2020, it announced plans in 2021 to set up a plant in India for its electric vehicle business. Later, it acquired the EV division from parent company Ashok Leyland via a slump sale of ₹240 crores. Switch Mobility has two subsidiary companies. The first subsidiary is Switch Mobility Automotive Ltd, which brings together Ashok Leyland's Indian based EV operations with the expertise of the UK-based bus manufacturing division. The second subsidiary is named OHM Global Mobility Private Ltd which provides Mobility as a Service (eMaaS) solutions in India. History Formation of Optare In September 1984, Leyland Bus closed its Charles H Roe vehicle bodywork building business in Leeds. In response, Russell Richardson, a former plant director at Roe, backed by the West Yorkshire Enterprise Board and many redundant former employees, formed Optare in February 1985. The company was created at a very difficult time for the bus and coach industry, with the challenges of privatisation and deregulation meaning very few orders for new vehicles. The first orders came from the still publicly owned West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE). The publicly owned but arms-length company Yorkshire Rider, as successor to the WYPTE bus fleet, also took early vehicles. When the Roe business closed down, WYPTE had an unfulfilled order for five Leyland Olympian coach-seated double-decker buses in place for its Metro coach operation. These five part finished buses went from Roe to Eastern Coach Works as shells for completion, but subsequently ten more were completed as Optare buses but to the Roe design, the first of which was completed in September 1985, the 17th Optare bus body. Five went to WYPTE, and five to its successor Yorkshire Rider, and a further five standard seated Olympians were also delivered to WYPTE, two as convertible open top buses. The first Optare designed bodies were fourteen Dennis Dominos for the SYPTE built starting in February 1986. Optare also bodied fifteen Leyland