Electric scooters have caught on, and in the love-hate relationship that the segment had, one name stood out — Simple Energy. The start-up’s name stood out not for catching fire, but for its launch date. Initially showcased in 2021, the Simple One electric scooter was to make its debut the same year, however, it was reserved till 2022, but again, delayed.
It was on May 23, Simple Energy finally launched the Simple One with the deliveries set to begin from June 6. However, over three years, the electric scooter has undergone a few, but notable changes, along with a price hike, and as per the company, it is now finally ready to take on the Indian roads.
The Simple story to date
When the start-up first unveiled the Simple One, the scooter was different, but over the course of the period it underwent multiple changes and upgrades, however, the scooter did not make its market debut till yesterday.
When Simple Energy opened bookings the Simple One was priced at Rs 1.10 lakh ex-showroom. However, the start-up claims that to make the Simple One comply with the latest battery safety norms, it delayed the launch by another year, and now has updated the pricing of Rs 1.45 lakh ex-showroom.
This hike it says is due to the additional cost that was added to incorporate the changes. As is the trend with most automakers, till date, Simple claims to have received over 1 lakh bookings for the e-scooter. Meeting customer deliveries however is another story. It is also important to note, that the booking amount for the Simple One was Rs 1,947, and does not merely translate to actual sales.
Third time’s the charm
Owing to the delays, customers were furious, and many took to social media channels asking Simple about the launch and the reason behind the delay. The start-up’s response was “We didn’t rush things. We took the time to get it right.”
“We took our time to get our batteries certified according to the AIS 156 amendment 3 norms,” told Shreshth Mishra, Co-Founder of Simple Energy to FinancialExpress.com. Simple Energy has updated features and has opted to keep the hybrid battery system that uses one fixed battery and a removable one, to help users charge it in various conditions. The e-scooter has also gained about 19kg. “We chose this because customers have complained about the unavailability of charging infrastructure,” adds Mishra.
Simple Energy says that its plant situated around 35km away from Hosur, right beside the highway, cost Rs 110 crore to set up to date. The plant can manufacture 3 lakh units a year, and Mishra says that Simple Energy can further scale up with additional shifts. As per sources, the start-up has manufactured under 100 units of the e-scooter so far.
This actually raises the question if Simple can deliver the scooters on time, as it plans to begin deliveries starting June 6, initially in Bengaluru. Mishra says that the current order list will be cleared in the next 3 months, and going forward, the wait time will depend on the colours and availability, which should take only weeks to deliver from the time of booking.
Simple Energy is looking at online sales currently and is also looking at getting dealers onboard. The first Experience Centre is currently being set up in Bangalore, giving customers the choice to experience the Simple One first hand.
Also, another thing to note is that Simple claims to have received over 1 lakh bookings for the scooter under the Rs 1.10 lakh price tag and customers who booked the Simple One almost a year ago, will have to pay the new price of Rs 1.45 lakh.
The EV maker says it has got funding from various investors to the tune of Rs 437 crore, the latest being Rs 165 crore in a Series A funding, and is now engaging working to get more investors onboard for future plans.
So what’s next?
Simple Energy is not done with an electric scooter alone and has multiple products in its pipeline, including more scooters, electric motorcycles, and even an electric car. This might sound like Suhas Rajkaumar, the Founder and CEO of Simple has bitten the same pie as Bhavish Aggarwal from Ola Electric, but that’s the route Simple plans to take.
