Ola’s S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters had been imagined to revolutionize the electric scooter {industry}. But now many of the first house owners to obtain their new scooters are sharing worrying particulars about quality concerns.
Ola’s electric scooters had been unveiled with an industry-shaking mixture of low value and excessive efficiency.
The scooters are succesful of speeds reaching between 60-70 mph (100-115 km/h), but begin at costs equal to round $1,050.
The scooters offered like hotcakes when orders opened earlier this 12 months, with gross sales reaching 4 scooters per second at one level. Currently solely out there within the firm’s home market of India, Ola has introduced plans to enter worldwide markets together with the US by as early as subsequent 12 months.
Despite working delayed on production, Ola just lately started delivering its electric scooters to the first reservation holders.
The scooters got here with a elaborate, high-tech design, however now we’re seeing an growing quantity of complaints from early house owners about quality points.
Last week Karthik Varma posted photos exhibiting physique panel scuffs and scrapes that he says had been there upon supply.
The photos additionally present what seems to be a a number of millimeter-wide hole within the physique panels across the massive shade display.
As Varma defined:
All the autos that acquired delivered at this time and even the present ones in Bangalore have this hole between the LCD Panel. If it rains, LCD will get broken and the guarantee is not going to be coated and can take cash from us once more.
Varma complained concerning the broken physique on the scooter and the panel gaps, and was first advised that the harm can be repaired. Ola then knowledgeable him that he would really obtain a brand new alternative scooter.
He additionally complained that the true vary of the scooter was decrease than that seen within the take a look at rides scooters that had been out there for reservation holders to journey earlier this autumn.
According to Varma, the take a look at drive autos confirmed a variety of 152 km (94 miles) with a 98% charged battery, however his scooter was solely exhibiting a variety of 135 km (84 miles) with a 100% charged battery.
In all equity although, for many electric scooters, it’s common to see a big distinction between the acknowledged most and real-world vary.
My private NIU NQi GT Pro electric scooter had a “maximum” vary ranking of 140 km (87 miles), although these numbers are normally calculated at slower metropolis speeds. I usually get a real-world vary of round 70% of that most theoretical vary when I’m driving principally at full pace on open roads.
Another Twitter consumer defined how his S1 Pro suffered points with its brakes after simply 6 km (4 miles) of driving.
He needed to have it towed to a store, the place it will definitely acquired a brand new brake caliper and head gentle.
Ola responded to the tweet on the identical day, saying, “Hey, we’re going to fix this for you right away! Please DM us your contact details & we’ll reach out to you!”
Owner Rahul Prasadh took to Twitter to share photos that he claims present a design flaw with how the seat and seize bar intervene with the physique panels.
His photos present harm in that space on each the take a look at journey scooters beforehand made out there to reservation holders and to his personal electric scooter.
In this case, too, Ola responded to the proprietor and confirmed {that a} new scooter can be supplied. However, the corporate didn’t handle what may very well be a scientific design problem with the seize deal with.
Other customers have complained of charging points.
One scooter has apparently run into a problem of randomly interrupted charging when leaving the scooter to cost in a single day.
The proprietor was in a position to resolve it each instances that the issue occurred by energy biking the charger and the scooter, and believes it’s a software program problem that ought to be mounted in a future replace.
He nonetheless appears fairly constructive concerning the scooter, replying to a vital remark, “these are software issues and will be fixed in an update… Still it’s a good scooter buddy, if something is fixed with an restart then it’s just software issues.”
Electrek’s Take
It is difficult to say how widespread these points may very well be. If the problems are restricted to simply these 4 scooters out of a number of a whole bunch already delivered, it won’t be such an enormous downside for an organization that’s nonetheless understanding the kinks in its production.
But these are simply the first 4 we’ve seen to date, and may very well be emblematic of bigger systematic issues.
Owners are rightfully involved, and the corporate has but to publicly handle some of the extra evident oversights like misaligned physique panels across the LCD display that would result in water harm.
I’m positive they’re frantically going by way of their production course of to make sure these issues don’t reoccur on future scooters. But it’s a must to ask how some of these may have left the manufacturing facility like this?
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