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Ola Electric To Refund Rs 130 Crores To Its Customers – Other EV Makers Likely To Follow
In a recent turn of events, Ola Electric announced that it will return Rs 130 crore to its customers who had previously purchased charging accessories or offboard chargers for their electric scooters.
This decision to refund Rs 130 crore comes after an investigation that found that the charging accessories were being sold at an additional cost, which apparently is a clear violation of the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles) scheme guidelines.
Diving into details, the FAME scheme guidelines clearly states that integral parts such as chargers and proprietary software must not be sold as accessories to the customer. This is to ensure the price of an EV remains affordable to further encourage the adoption of EVs.
As such, any violation of the FAME scheme guidelines can result in subsidies being withheld. This can put EV manufacturers in a difficult position as it may incur a major loss for the company.
It is found out that Ola Electric had sold off-board chargers as accessories for its Ola S1 Pro electric scooters. These chargers cost Ola customers anywhere between Rs 9,000 to Rs 19,000. Moreover, the refund is only applicable to bills that were generated from FY 2019-20 to March 30, 2023.
While Ola Electric has accepted its fault and is doing the right thing, some EV makers are yet to accept this violation, and the government is planning to recover as much as Rs 249 crore from these EV makers.
Thoughts About Ola Electric's Refund
Though Rs 130 crore is a huge amount of money, Ola Electric has accepted its fault and decided to refund the money to its customers. This is a step in the right direction for the EV maker and we expect more EV makers to follow this decision.
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