- Ather asked to refund Rs. 140 crore
- 95,000 customers of 450X will get a refund
- Amount is for the chargers they had to purchase separately
Ather Energy has been ordered to refund Rs. 140 crore to approximately 95,000 customers who bought their electric scooters.
According to a report, a few EV companies have been separately charging their customers for portable chargers. This route was taken so the company could make their vehicles eligible for FAME incentives. As a result of this approach, customers who purchased the 450X had to pay for the charger over and above the ex-showroom cost of the EV.
Ather Energy has been ordered to refund an additional Rs. 25 crore to customers for providing reduced battery capacity and buying upgraded software. Just yesterday, we mentioned that Ola had to reimburse a large chunk to its S1 pro customers.
It looks like the government is serious about firms using some loopholes to maximise the FAME benefits in their favour. There’s a high chance of this investigation going on for a while as the government wants to promote green vehicles in a big way but not at the cost of making Indian customers pay more.
