Four electric two-wheeler manufacturers in India, Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS, and Hero MotoCorp’s Vida, have agreed to reimburse customers for paying for “off-board chargers,” following Ola Electric’s lead. In letters sent to the Ministry of Heavy Industries on Wednesday, the companies expressed their willingness to repay customers, with a total amount of Rs 287 crore to be reimbursed by all four OEMs. The companies have also agreed to add the off-board charger to the ex-factory scooter price. Ather Energy will refund Rs 140 crore to 95,000 consumers of its 450X model of E2W, and Hero MotoCorp will repay Rs 2.23 crore to 1,100 consumers who purchased VIDA V1 Plus and VIDA V1 Pro models of e-2W until March 2023. Ola has already agreed to reimburse Rs 130 crore to 100,000 consumers who purchased the Ola S1Pro until March 30, 2023, and TVS will refund Rs 15.61 crore to 87,000 people who bought its iQube S model between May 2022 and March 2023. The Ministry of Heavy Industries has developed a formula to reduce the working capital burden on the industry, which will reimburse the subsidy withheld by the government but reduce it by deducting the amount that companies must pay off to customers. The formula will help E2W players like Ather and Ola the most. The ministry sent notices to the company in February after receiving complaints of ex-factory price breach, and the investigation is likely to conclude in a matter of days.
