After Ola, TVS & Hero, Ather decides to offer refund to customers for chargers
TVS and Hero MotoCorp have also been ordered to pay back the cost of the chargers to buyers after the government found that chargers were being billed separately, which is a violation of the FAME II guidelines.
Ather Energy, an electric vehicle startup, is offering refunds to customers for charging devices of its scooters bought before April 12, 2023. The refund offer is valid only for those who have purchased the Ather 340 model. The company has not yet announced any plans for the refund offer for the Ather 450 model.
TVS and Hero MotoCorp have also been ordered to refund the entire cost of the charger to buyers after the government found that chargers were being billed separately, which is a violation of the FAME II guidelines.
Ather Energy, TVS and Hero MotoCorp have all announced that they will be refunding money to customers who have purchased their respective electric vehicles. Ather Energy will be refunding Rs 140 crore to 95,000 customers who purchased the 450X up to April 12, 2023. TVS will reimburse Rs 15.61 crore to 87,000 customers who purchased the iQube S between May 2, 2022, and March 2023, while Hero MotoCorp will refund Rs 2.23 crore to 1,100 buyers who have purchased the Vida V1 Plus and V1 Pro. This is great news for electric vehicle buyers and shows that the manufacturers are committed to providing quality products.
Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturers have been under scrutiny for allegedly overpricing their products to make them eligible for subsidy under the Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. As per the policy, electric 2-wheelers that cost more than Rs 1.50 lakh are not eligible for benefits under the scheme. Also, chargers and proprietary software cannot be sold by a company at an additional cost.
to all our customers with the refund amount”
Ather Energy has announced that it will be bundling chargers with its electric vehicles, following discussions with MHI. In order to be fair to customers who had bought the vehicle prior to this change, Ather Energy has decided to refund the invoiced amount of the chargers for vehicles bought before April 12, 2023.
