Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta Pokes Fun At Ola Electric

SUMMARY

The CEO of Ather Energy supposedly heard an Ola Electric representative say that its the first OEM to talk about "True Range"

On Ather’s website, it quotes a certified range estimate of 116km and a true range of 85km (in eco mode) for its flagship electric scooter—the 450X. Meanwhile, OLA advertises a certified range of 181 km and true range of 135km for its flagship S1 Pro Scooter

Hero Electric remained the biggest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in the country last year followed by Okinawa, and Pure EV

EV manufacturer Ather’s CEO Tarun Mehta took shots at Ola Electric—another EV manufacturer by accusing the latter’s salesperson of co-opting the term ‘TrueRange’ on Twitter yesterday.

According to Mehta, an Ola sales representative was supposedly asserting that it was the first OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to talk about true range. He countered this supposed claim with a tweet pointing out that Ather Energy has trademarked the term ‘TrueRange’.

Ather Energy had received a class 12 trademark for the usage of the word ‘TrueRange’ in India from the Indian Trade Marks Registry.

“Just heard an Ola rep says that they are the first OEM to talk about TrueRange (the range that you will actually get in city conditions) ..when Ather LITERALLY has the trademark on that word. Not even kidding,” reads the full tweet by Mehta.

Needless to say, this is not the worst Ola has faced in recent times. For example, last month, we had reported on how the EV unicorn would be forced to postpone mass production of its vehicles due to the ongoing chip shortage.

Reports suggested that an over-dependence on imported components had caused Ola’s ‘superfactory’ to operate at much below its full capacity, leaving the automaker struggling to deliver the 90k orders it has received for its vehicles so far.

While the issue may seem to be a minor one, the leadership company personnel in this space have expressed their proclivity to stir the pot in the past as well. We have seen Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj taking potshots at Ola Electric and other EV startups, asserting that legacy manufacturers will get the better of the new kids on the block.

As competition continues to heat up in the segment, Hero Electric remained as the biggest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in the country with more than 40,318 sales between January and November last year followed by Okinawa (23,899), Ather (14,152) and Pure EV (9,363).

TVS is the highest-ranked legacy automaker on the list, coming in at sixth rank with 4,068 sales, followed by Bajaj (3,841) at eighth.