It was last year on the 15th of August when Simple Energy opened bookings for its electric scooter. However, even 10 months down the line, there is no sign of deliveries or even test drive updates. It seems buyers of Simple One electric scooters will have to wait longer for their scooters to arrive. Deliveries have been postponed citing potential government policy changes in the light of recent fires in EVs. The brand has posted a tweet on Twitter to give an update on deliveries.
The Bengaluru-based firm, which introduced its e-scooter last year, had planned to begin deliveries by early this year. This got shifted to June. And now, according to a recent update, vehicle deliveries will now begin in the first week of September, and test drives will begin in July. So far, the brand has garnered 30,000 reservations.
Reason For Delay?
Recently, some electric two-wheelers have caught fire, resulting in fatalities and injuries. The government has launched an investigation into the incident, and the Centre for Fire Explosives and Environmental Safety (CFESS) has been tasked with digging deeper into the problem and providing answers.
Following the conclusion of the study, the EV industry may see certain policy adjustments, notably in the areas of battery packs and testing standards. Simple Energy has deferred deliveries in order to comply with the upcoming safety standard. In a way this is good as longer / better testing in real world environment help in various things. It will not only ensure higher safety standards, but also a product that has devoid of glitches. This is something that has plagued Ola for a while.
Simple One Scooter
For its claimed driving range, the Simple One caused quite a stir in the market. The e-scooter comes with a battery capacity of 4.8kWh and an 8.5kW motor. This provides 72 Nm of peak torque resulting in a stated driving range of 236 kilometres. The company introduced an extra 1.6kWh battery earlier this year, bringing the total capacity to 6.4kWh and claiming a range of over 300km in optimum conditions. The extra battery pack costs Rs 35,000 and will be installed in the boot of the scooter eating up a significant amount of boot space.
The Simple One electric scooter is claimed to sprint from 0-40 kmph in just 2.85 seconds. In contrast, the top speed is 105 kmph. Different driving modes will be available on the Simple One e-scooter, affecting its performance and acceleration. The Simple One electric scooter costs Rs 1.09 lakh (ex-showroom) for the standard and Rs 1.44 lakh (ex-showroom) for the longer battery version.