When Macquarie Asset Management quietly launched Vertelo in April 2024, committing US $1.5 billion to electric fleet leasing in India, it wasn't just a bet on green transport—it was a quiet revolution in EV asset financing. Vertelo’s approach treats EV fleets not as consumer products, but as infrastructure-grade, income-generating assets. With 95% of capital allocated toward the vehicles themselves (and only 5% toward supporting infrastructure), this isn’t speculative equity—it’s structured, asset-backed investment.
At the same time in the UK, a £100 million fund co-led by Aviva and Rock Rail started leasing battery-powered buses to Go Ahead Group. The UK Infrastructure Bank supported the project with debt, using models typically reserved for rail networks. This was one of the first signs that globally, electric vehicle investments were being treated with the same seriousness as public utilities and long-term infrastructure projects.
These stories reflect a pattern that’s now reaching Indian streets, where the shift from ownership to electric vehicle leasing models is quietly gaining speed. India’s electric vehicle market is already expanding rapidly—forecast to grow from ₹2.4 billion in 2025 to nearly ₹20 billion by 2030, especially in commercial and shared segments. But the uptake hasn’t been driven by consumers alone. Instead, it’s been powered by financiers: NBFCs, EV leasing platforms, SMEs, and increasingly, individual investors—who see EVs not just as green alternatives, but as revenue-generating assets that offer fixed, predictable income.
Take Revfin, for example, a fintech NBFC founded in 2018 that has issued over ₹1,000 crore in EV loans to 75,000+ borrowers across India. What’s notable isn’t just the number—it’s the profile of the borrower. Around 25–28% of its customers are underbanked women entrepreneurs in Bihar and UP, who are evaluated using a proprietary psychometric lending model built with IIT Kharagpur. These individuals, many new to credit, are now turning EVs into sustainable micro-businesses, with Revfin as the capital bridge.
The mechanics are straightforward: the financier or investor buys the vehicle and leases it to an operator under a structured contract, often spanning 2–5 years. The operator pays a fixed monthly fee. Over that term, the investor receives fixed IRR returns — typically between 8% and 14%; with the added safety of owning the underlying asset. If things go wrong, the EV can be redeployed or sold. In financial terms, it behaves like a secured corporate bond—except the bond happens to have wheels.
This model isn’t limited to India or to EVs. In Europe, Railpool raised over €1 billion in green finance to lease electric locomotives to operators. In Australia, Team Global Express electrified a 300+ truck fleet with $190 million in blended finance from public and private institutions. Across Africa, Spiro, a mobility platform, secured over $100 million to scale battery-swapping e-bikes—financed as commercial fleet assets.
Even intellectual property is being financed this way. Alcatel Lucent raised €1.6 billion against its patent portfolio. In agri-tech, firms like Indigo received $100 million in IP-backed loans—a model not dissimilar to what we now see in EV leasing in India.
But perhaps the most telling transformation is what’s happening at the local level.
Ritu, a 28-year-old in Delhi, started out delivering groceries on a rented scooter. With financing from a city-based SME, she leased her first electric three-wheeler. Today, she sub-leases two additional EVs to other drivers, collecting monthly payments, managing minor upkeep, and building a small income stream of her own. She doesn't have equity in a startup. What she has is a financeable EV asset — a steady, real-world income engine.
Stories like hers aren’t isolated. In fact, they’re becoming the default. According to NITI Aayog, India will need ₹3.7 lakh crore (~$44 billion) in EV financing by 2030 to meet climate goals and market demand. The focus is shifting from consumer lending to fleet-scale asset leasing not only for ride-hailing and delivery, but also in staff transportation, government fleet decarbonization, and intercity logistics.
In this world, EVs aren’t just green — they’re investible. And that’s a radical shift for Indian investors.
That’s the invisible infrastructure quietly being built across Indian mobility: connecting demand, vehicles, drivers, financiers, and operators into a layered system. At the core of this system are EV asset leasing platforms—say aggregators—who vet drivers, manage vehicles, oversee payments, and offer access to a new asset class of EV investments in India.
This is where platforms like Milo Drive operate, not loudly, but systematically. They build the foundation for investors to co-own vehicle pools, earn predictable returns, and enable climate-friendly growth. Whether it’s through leasing, co-financing, or structured rentals, they let capital plug into mobility — without needing to run the show.
The appeal of this model is easy to see. For investors, it means:
For cities, it means more vehicles on the road that don’t pollute. For drivers, it means asset ownership without upfront capital. And for India as a whole, it’s a model that’s beginning to make EVs not just something we drive, but something we invest in. Over time, this will likely become the backbone of India’s long-term green mobility future — making EVs both a climate solution and an investible asset class.
