New Delhi
The government has raised questions on Ola Electric Mobility in a fresh regulatory action, wherein the company has flouted the norms of not informing the change in price of its product.
In an email by Pune-headquartered Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), it has asked Ola to furnish ‘clarification’ and ‘factual position’ at the earliest.
ARAI is the test agency which operates under the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI).
In the letter, ARAI has asked the Bhavish Aggarwal led EV company to provide clarification about a price reduction for its S1 X 2 kWh electric two-wheeler in its recently announced sale.
“This is with reference to PM E-DRIVE eligibility certificate issued to your Ola S1 X 2kWh model based on latest EMPS-2024 certificate issued on May 27, 2024. The ex-factory price declared by Ola for this model to ARAI is ₹.75,001 and based on this and battery energy of 2kWh, this model is certified for ₹.10,000 subsidy,” the ARAI letter said.
ARAI Letter
The ARAI letter said that during the PM E-DRIVE certificate based on EMPS, Ola has submitted declaration to ARAI that specifications, ex-factory price etc, of this model are unchanged and based on this declaration, ARAI has issued PM E-DRIVE eligibility with same amount of subsidy of ₹.10,000 for model Ola S1 X 2kWh.
However, from the company’s website the ARAI got to know that this particular model was being sold at ₹.49,999, it said.
Therefore, “This change in price will have impact on subsidy eligibility for this model. As per Operational Guidelines of EMPS-2024 and PM E-DRIVE scheme, vehicle OEM (manufacturer) is required to inform changes(s) in ex-factory price of EV model, if any, subsequent to eligibility approval. In this particular case, Ola has not informed ARAI about this change in price of model Ola S1 X 2kWh,” it added.
Ola has not commented anything on the case yet.
The PM E-DRIVE got kickstarted from October 1, and as per the scheme, the electric two-wheeler incentive has been fixed based on battery power at ₹5,000 per kilowatt hour (kWh), but the overall incentive will not exceed ₹10,000 in the first year. In the second year, it will be halved by ₹2,500 per kilowatt hour, and the overall benefit will not exceed ₹5,000.