India’s big cities are learning that electric buses need trained drivers to handle them. Public electric buses in Bengaluru caused 18 accidents, six of them fatal, over 15 months ending August 2025, while two crashes in Mumbai between December 2024 and January 2025 killed a dozen people. More than 10,000 electric buses already operate across 50 Indian cities, with 20,000 more in procurement, according to the World Resources Institute. “With electric buses, there’s not a lot of exposure to the technology, exposure to the drivetrain,” Gopinath told Rest of World. The pressure on institutions to generate revenue adds stress to ground staff, Gopinath said.