Simple One Electric Scooter Deliveries Deferred To 2023: Is it A Scam?

Simple Energy has deferred the deliveries of its Simple One electric scooters again. The company announced that customers who had booked the EV will now be available to get their hands on the scooter in Q1 2023. For the unversed, the Simple One electric scooter was launched back in August 2021 and was supposed to go on sale in 2022. But after this delay, it will be delivered a year and a half after it was announced.

What's The Reason Behind The Delay?

Simple Energy has cited the revised battery safety norms issued by MoRTH as a reason for the delay. There was a huge rise in EV battery fire incidents during the summer in India and the government issued a probe into the matter. The government's findings revealed that the inferior materials used in the battery packs were the major causes of the fire incidents.

Suhas Rajkumar, CEO of Simple Energy, commented, "Adhering to the new battery safety guidelines issued by the government, Simple has taken a call to defer the deliveries of the Simple ONE to thus ensure that our vehicles are certified as per new standards."

Simple One: Is it A Scam?

When you visit the Simple One official product page, you are greeted with a dialogue box that reads, "We are not appointing any dealers at the moment." This brings us to a couple of questions. Why is a brand that had vouched to invest 2500 crore rupees to build a mega scooter factory not appointing dealers? Reportedly, Simple Energy is sitting on 65,000 bookings for its Simple One electric scooter. How is the brand planning to offer sales and after-sales support to these customers?

Also, Simple Energy has made tall claims about the driving range of its electric scooter. It is said to pack in a 4.5kW battery pack, which will offer up to 236km range on a single charge, which is significantly higher than its rivals. While it was partially digested, the brand also announced an updated version of the scooter, which will offer up to 300km range with a 4.8kW battery pack.

The Ola S1 Pro packs in a 4kW battery pack and claims around 180km of range. With just 0.8kW more, Simple Energy is claiming that its Simple One scooter can do 300km. This seems too good to be true with a small-capacity battery. Moreover, the standard variant of Simple One is priced at ₹1,09,000 ex-showroom before subsidies, which makes it cheaper by ₹30,999 compared to the Ola S1 Pro. That's another red flag for the Simple One. Probably, the simple thing to do would be to wait for the deliveries to commence or choose from a wide variety of EV scooters already available in the market.