Production of the Simple One, whose launch was delayed to conform with new battery safety norms, began on May 5.
14 May 2023 | 36612 Views | By Autocar India News Desk
Bengaluru-based electric vehicle start-up Simple Energy, which began production of its first electric scooter, the Simple One, from its Shoolagiri plant in Tamil Nadu on May 5, is to officially launch the EV on May 23.
The company had previously showcased the scooter and announced a price, but there was radio silence about commencement of deliveries after that. In the meantime, a number of incidents of electric scooters catching fire (due to thermal runaways) surfaced online, prompting the government to clamp down on makers and sellers of re-badged Chinese electric scooters. Subsequently, the Automotive Industry Standards (AIS) amendment 3 was introduced, which ensures better battery safety. At the time, Simple Energy had said that it will push forward the launch of the Simple One electric scooter to comply with the new norms. The company claims that the Simple One is currently the only electric scooter to comply with the new norms.
The Autocar India team had a chance to check out the One electric scooter in July 2022 and were pretty impressed with what the Bengaluru-based start-up had come up with. Its sharp design, performance and handling were some of its highlights. The scooter, at the time, had an 8.5kW motor that produced 72Nm. Its 4.8kWh lithium-ion battery capacity translates to a claimed range of 236km, which is higher than any other scooter sold in India. Nevertheless, there were some quality related niggles, which hopefully have been addressed in the production scooter.