Thread by @jshilanjanm

Rs 420cr wrongly charged by @atherenergy & @OlaElectric to scooters owners? 📛📛📛

This wild & unethical play has got the Govt up in arms against them!

Here’s all you should know 👇

As per Govt’s Vahan portal, the number of scooters sold by Ola & Ather to date (as per Vahan) stand at 1.72L & 1.25L.

But Vahan portal doesn’t yet include sales from Telangana & Lakshwadeep. Thus, let’s round up the sales to account for some of that:

🔆 Ola: 1.8L
🔆 Ather: 1.3L

But, what really drove those big numbers?

🔆 Govt’s FAME scheme which has been massively subsidising electric scooters

🔆 In layman terms, the scheme says that after subsidy, the ex-showroom of a price of a scooter should be <Rs 1.5L. And this subsidy could go up to Rs 60k!

🔆 Means, the companies can sell a Rs 2.1L scooter for Rs 1.5L, with the Govt paying the remaining Rs 60k directly to them

Why is Govt doing this?

To grow EV sales, and boost manufacturing in this sunrise sector 🙌🙌

But, irrespective of the price, if someone was to buy a scooter, they would also buy a charger.

Thus, Ather acted smart & begun selling the charger separately for approx Rs 11.5k.

And when Ola began sales, it did the same for approx Rs 15k per unit.

😓😓

Thus, how much money does that translate into?

📛 Ola: 1.8L * 15k = Rs 270 cr
📛 Ather: 1.3L * 11.5k = Rs 150 cr

However, the duo has also run promotion campaigns from time to time, giving away the chargers free, or at a discount.

Thus, even if we exclude 25% of the sums arrived at above, that comes to a massive Rs 315 cr! 📛 Ola: Rs 202.5 cr 📛 Ather: Rs 112.5 cr

This went on rampantly until the second half of ’22.

And then, after several consumer complaints, the Govt took notice of the shenanigans and got up into action. What did the Govt say? Here’s the vibe:

❌ What the heck bro! What good is a Rs 1.5L scooter without a charger? An artefact with a decaying battery? Is that what you are selling?

❌ When you sell a scooter, the Rs 1.5L has to include the charger! That’s common sense!

Govt shot off letters to the duo, demanding a detailed breakdown of the pricing. And, it also stopped disbursing subsidies, until the matter is settled.

Over 6 months have passed & hundreds of crores remain stuck.

And the two companies are hurting bad 📛

Result? Days ago, the two silently agreed to their follies.

Both began giving chargers with scooters, w/o any separate costs 👏

But, the Govt isn’t pleased. It wants them to return the sum charged to the customers over time.

The good news is, Ola is said to have told the Govt it is ready to do that.

What about Ather? Nothing more is public so far.

Kudos to Govt for doing the right thing 👏👏

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Tags: @bhash, @tarunsmehta | #ElectricVehicles #EVs #GreenMobility #ElectricMobility #Ather #Ola #OlaElectric #OlaScooter