When Ola launched its electric scooters- S1 and S1 pro, they were expected to revolutionize the electric scooters market in India. But user reviews now seem to suggest that they haven’t really met our expectations.
Ola S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters were launched in August last year with much fanfare. It was a good business strategy as Ola was trying to tap into the nascent electric vehicles market.
However, around nine months after its launch, Ola scooters are making news for the wrong reasons.
Tamil Nadu man sets his Ola S1 pro on fire
A man from Tamil Nadu set his three-month-old Ola S1 pro on fire.
Prithvi Raj, the owner of the electric scooter, was troubled by technical and performance issues with the Ola scooter. He purchased the scooter in January but Ola didn’t facilitate the registration process.
In April, Ola confirmed the registration will take place in Gudiyatham, around 50 km away from Prithvi Raj’s home in Ambur. However, he was turned away at the registration office due to jurisdictional issues.
On his way back, Prithvi Raj’s scooter stopped working and Ola customer care conveyed that it will take seven to eight hours to help him out. Frustrated, Prithvi Raj called his friends, asking them to bring 2 litres of petrol which he later used to set the scooter on fire.
Prithvi Raj says he has no regrets about burning the electric scooter worth Rs. 1.5 lakh and he wanted to send a message to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Electric.
Other Incidents
Recently, another frustrated customer tied his Ola S1 pro to a donkey in protest. The owner Sachin Gitte paraded the electric scooter after tying it to a donkey. He was reportedly frustrated with the scooter because it stopped working after a few days and customer care didn’t respond to him.
In March, an Ola S1 pro scooter in Pune caught fire. Ola had then stated, “We are aware of an incident in Pune that happened with one of our scooters and are investigating to understand the root cause and will share more updates in the next few days. We’re in constant touch with the customer who is absolutely safe.”
The statement further read, “Vehicle safety is of paramount importance at Ola and we are committed to the highest quality standards in our products. We take this incident seriously and will take appropriate action and share more in the coming days.”
Recently, Ola also announced the recall of over 1,400 of its electric scooters. The company stated, “Our internal investigation into the March 26 vehicle fire incident in Pune is ongoing and the preliminary assessment reveals that the thermal incident was likely an isolated one. As a pre-emptive measure, we will be conducting a detailed diagnostics and health check of the scooters in that specific batch and therefore are issuing a voluntary recall of 1,441 vehicles.”
Why are customers unhappy?
Apart from the isolated cases, customers are generally giving bad reviews to Ola S1 and S1 pro.
Some customers have complained that they were delivered damaged scooters with scratches and dents. And no one likes a dent on a brand-new vehicle, especially at the time of delivery itself. On the other hand, some users have complained about mechanical issues, leading to towing away of the scooters.
Still, some other customers have complained about range issues and a few customers also had to send their scooters back to the company for repairing issues like braking noise.
Ola scooters had raised our hopes when they were launched, but several months later, they are turning into more of a disappointment.