India, Nov. 12 -- Every rocket launch is decided in its first few minutes. Gravity pulls hardest close to the ground, and the vehicle must keep accelerating until it reaches escape velocity, roughly 11.2 kilometres a second. Once it crosses that threshold, the rest of the journey demands far less effort than the climb that came before it.

Commercial electric mobility in India is in that climb today. Two-wheelers and three-wheelers have already broken through, and an electric auto on a city street no longer draws a second look. Buses and goods vehicles carry a heavier load: Higher capital costs, longer duty cycles, thinner margins and very little tolerance for downtime. Yet from where we sit at Switch, the signs that this segment is appro...