What an electric scooter battery warranty covers in India

The short answer: on most electric scooters sold in India, the battery is covered for the same period as the scooter, which is three years and roughly 40,000 to 50,000 km. The long covers you see advertised, five years, eight years, 80,000 km, are optional top-ups, and some of them are only sold to buyers who have already paid for a feature pack. The clause worth finding before you sign is whether the warranty pays out only when a battery fails, or also when it simply gets weaker.

The standard cover, brand by brand

TVS states a warranty of three years or 50,000 km on the iQube vehicle and battery, whichever comes first. Bajaj covers the Chetak product and its lithium-ion battery for 50,000 km or three years, whichever comes earlier, with the small auxiliary battery covered for 18 months and tyres for 12 months. Bajaj also sells two extended plans for scooters under two years old and below 50,000 km, adding either one year and 10,000 km or two years and 20,000 km.

Ola's base cover is three years or 40,000 km, with an additional 10,000 km for the battery, and it offers paid top-ups of five years and 60,000 km, or eight years and 70,000 km. Both top-ups are transferable if you sell the scooter.

Read the kilometre figure, not the years. An eight year cover that stops at 70,000 km is generous for a short city commute and almost irrelevant for a delivery rider, who will hit the distance limit first.

Failure versus degradation

This is the real difference between warranties. Every policy replaces a battery that is defective. Far fewer promise anything about capacity fading, which is what actually happens to a lithium battery over years of fast charging.

Ather's Eight70 is the clearest example of degradation cover. Autocar India reports it runs to eight years or 80,000 km, costs ₹4,999, and replaces the battery if its health drops below 70 per cent. It is transferable on resale, includes free labour on a claim, and covers deep discharge if the scooter is left standing. The catch is eligibility: it is sold only to buyers who have taken the Pro Pack, which costs ₹13,000 to ₹20,000 depending on the model. So the headline is eight years, the bill is the pack plus ₹4,999.

Ola says its cover applies to manufacturing and design defect faults or if battery health degrades, and lists natural wear, physical damage, negligence and modifications as exclusions. Bajaj says battery replacement is at the company's discretion and may use new, refurbished or reconditioned genuine parts, and that damage from voltage spikes above 250V or faulty earthing is the owner's responsibility. That last line is a quiet instruction to get your home wiring and earthing checked before you start charging a scooter in the porch.

Renting the battery instead

The other route is not owning the battery at all. On the Vida VX2, Hero sells Battery as a Service plans that Autocar India lists at ₹0.90 to ₹1.47 per km, with monthly payments from ₹1,103 to ₹2,160 and committed monthly distances of 750 km to 2,400 km, plus a one time documentation and stamp duty fee of ₹1,199 on the Plus plans. At the end of the plan you own the scooter and its batteries.

The trade-off is plain. You pay less upfront and the battery's health stops being your problem during the plan, but you pay every month and you pay for the committed distance whether you ride it or not. For a rider doing long daily runs the per km rate can work. For a buyer doing 300 km a month, owning the battery and buying the longest degradation cover on offer is usually the simpler maths.

Three questions to ask at the showroom: is degradation covered and at what percentage, does that cover need a paid pack, and does it transfer when I sell.

Sources

• TVS Motor Company warranty policy
• Bajaj Chetak battery warranty: what is covered and what is not
• Ola Electric battery warranty
• Autocar India: Ather range now gets 8 year, 80,000km battery warranty option
• Autocar India: Hero Vida VX2 battery rental BaaS cost explained