Why Are Ather, Hero, TVS Electric Scooter Companies Giving Money Back?

Ather, TVS, & Hero Electric are returning money to their customers who've brought the charger as an accessory. The total refund exceeds 150 crores.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ather Energy, TVS, & Hero MotoCorp to refund the amount
• Customers who brought chargers will get a refund
• The refund amount will be equal to the charger cost

After Ola, Ather Energy, TVS, & Hero HotoCorp will be returning money to their customers. These companies have been found illegally charging customers for chargers. Also, their products are priced falsely to gain FAME 2 subsidy benefits. Read more details about it below. Meanwhile, you can join our 91Wheels Whatsapp Group for all of such latest updates from the automotive industry.

Also Read - Ola S1 Electric Scooter Customers To Get Refund - Here's Why!

Refund Story - What Went Wrong?

A few days ago Ola was found charging its customers illegally for chargers. An online report went viral and brought the EV maker into the limelight. Before any legal action by the government, Ola started refunding money to its customers. The amount was more than Rs 130 crores! However, it is now found that Ola isn't alone in this fraud. Companies like Ather, TVS, & Hero are also on this list. Hence, these EV makers have also followed the same route of refund.

But, how is it possible? Well, as per the rules, the charger is a standard accessory and isn't chargeable. However, these companies were charging for selling the chargers. This solved two things for them - cost cutting & FAME 2 subsidy barrier. The FAME 2 subsidy is only given to e-scooters that cost less than Rs 1.5 lakh. Hence, this helped in keeping the prices down for these e-scooters.

Now, Ather is bound to return Rs 140 crores to 95,000 customers. It is for the customers who purchased the 450X before 12 April'23. Similarly, TVS will refund Rs 15.61 crore to the customers of its iQube S between 2 May'22 to March'23. The newly launched Hero Vida V1 customers will also get a total refund of Rs 2.23 crores for 1,100 consumers.

Verdict

The EV revolution has definitely proved to be a big step ahead in the Indian two-wheeler industry. However, such unjust practices need to be taken care of properly. Hence, the government intends to correct and readjust the laws related to EVs in order to make things easy for customers in the future.

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