Ola Electric and Ather Energy to reimburse EV charger amount

Electric vehicle makers Ola Electric and Ather Energy said that it will reimburse the amount it had collected from customers for chargers. ET reported on May 2 that the government had closed its probe against Ola Electric and that the company would refund ₹130 crore for EV chargers it had sold and billed separately to 1 lakh customers.

ET also reported on May 4 that Ather, TVS and Hero MotoCorp will follow suit.

The decision comes after Ola and Ather came under government scrutiny following a whistleblower complaint that multiple companies had mispriced vehicles to claim the FAME-II subsidy.


"While there is no legal compliance required to bundle chargers, after discussions with the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) and in the larger interest of the EV ecosystem, we recently made the change to bundle the charger with the vehicle," Ather said in its statement.

It said that high performance connected scooters are a totally new category, and that concepts like fast charging, interactive display, OTAs etc came into the industry only in 2018. "Understandably, a lot of the regulations around a product like this have been continuously evolving with a view to reduce ambiguity- charging being one of them," it said.

Creative accounting?

All the companies bill the charger and software separately from the vehicle so as to keep the ex-factory price of the vehicle below Rs 1,50,000, thereby complying with FAME-II norms. The companies argued that the charger is not an integral part of the vehicle, is not homologated with the vehicle, and that customers can choose to use public charging stations. The software was also considered an add-on accessory and hence billed separately.

In addition to these four companies, other EV companies, including Hero Electric and Okinawa, have come under the government’s scanner for not adhering to localisation norms.

The Indian government offers financial support for 10 lakh electric two-wheelers under the FAME II incentive scheme. Electric vehicle companies can offer a discount of up to 40% on the cost of locally manufactured vehicles and claim it as a subsidy from the government. Some of the companies have been accused of passing off vehicles made with imported components as locally made.