Own an Ather Electric Scooter? EV Giant to Refund Charger Cost Worth Rs 140 Crore to 450X Owners

Following Ola Electric, Ather Energy released a statement regarding the reimbursement of its customers' out-of-pocket expenses for EV chargers. The EV manufacturer has stated that it will reimburse the impacted customers as soon as the two-week window for starting the process has passed. About 95,000 customers who purchased electric scooters from Ather Energy will receive refunds totalling Rs 140 crore. In response to what appears to be an apparent irregularity in the FAME II subsidy guidelines, Ather and other electric two-wheeler manufacturers like Ola Electric, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motor have agreed to refund the cost of EV chargers that were separately invoiced to customers. According to reports, the reimbursement from these three OEMs will be Rs 287 crore. All customers who purchased Ather's electric scooters, such as the 450X, the 450, or the 450 Plus, before April 12 and paid separately for the EV charger will be eligible for the refund, as per the firm. Within the next two weeks, the EV maker will email every customer with information about the refund process. According to Ather's statement, "In order to be fair to customers who had bought the vehicle prior to this change, we have decided to refund the invoiced amount of the chargers for vehicles bought before April 12, 2023."

Also Read: Ather 450X New Base Variant Launched at Rs 98,183 in India

According to the manufacturer of electric two-wheelers based in Bengaluru, the cost of the EV charger was not included in the package that was previously offered with its electric scooters. To include charger costs in the overall ex-showroom price of the electric scooters, the company claimed that it had been in discussions with the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). "While there is no legal compliance requirement to bundle chargers, after discussions with MHI and in the larger interest of the EV ecosystem, we recently made the change to bundle the charger with the vehicle," reads the statement released by Ather.

Ola Electric Announces Refund of Rs 130 Crore

Earlier, Ola Electric also disclosed that it would reimburse customers who had purchased EV chargers separately. This came after the Ministry of Heavy Industries recently discovered Ola Electric to be in contravention of FAME II EV subsidy guidelines. Since then, the OEM has acknowledged the violations and consented to pay consumers back roughly Rs 130 crore for the off-board charger that was offered as an extra accessory to S1 Pro buyers. TVS Motor and Hero MotoCorp have also complied. Reimbursement from the three OEMs is expected to total Rs 287 crore, according to reports.

After discovering the loophole that required customers to pay for the chargers separately, the government ceased issuing subsidies worth Rs 800 crore. Since then, the majority of electric vehicle manufacturers have made the change and now include EV home chargers in the vehicle's invoice.

Also Read: Top Electric Scooters Under Rs 1 Lakh in India: Ola S1, TVS iQube, Ather 450X & More

Ather 450X- Battery, Range, and Features

The Ather 450X electric scooter has an improved user interface on the 7.0-inch touchscreen instrument cluster and new MRF 12-inch tubeless tyres - 90/90-12 front & 100/80-12 rear. With the 450X, Ather also includes a slew of new accessories, such as a tyre pressure monitoring system and a new footstep. The 3.7kWh lithium-ion battery pack in the model replaces the 2.9kWh unit in the previous model. In ideal conditions, the claimed range is 146 kilometre per charge. Furthermore, the Ather 450X e-scooter has a TrueRange of 105 kilometre per charge.