Ola S1 Pro users continue to report varied kinds of quality issues with the scooter, even metal parts give up
While Ola Electric continues to market its maiden EV, S1 Pro, with a lot of initiatives like free scooter giveaways, quality issues continue to haunt the company with multitudes of customers taking their problems to social media in the hope of catching the brand’s attention.
While all this time, the issues pertained to registrations, sudden range drop, poor range, screen hang, non-charging, inconsistent panel fit and finish, delayed service, delayed refunds for cancellations, uncontrolled honking, sudden reversing, suspension arm breakage, and 1 instance of fire, customers now report altogether different problems especially about various parts giving up.
Looking at customers’ complaints we can see even basic parts like side stand and levers giving up. A Twitter user by the name Yash Ahire has said that his scooter’s stand has been broken and that no 1 from Ola has attended his case yet.
Another user by the name Rahul Kumar has said that his S1 Pro’s grab rail has given up and that Ola service team’s effort to melt the body panel for a jugaad fix didn’t yield a result.
An user named Robby vented out his frustration that his scooter’s stand broke twice in a row and that he has been forced to rely on his petrol scooter.
A Twitter user by the name Kalim said he has been forced to send off his scooter to the service centre every Sunday to get his stand fixed. This aside, owners also complained about the levers getting broken even for a fall.
An user by the name Syed Tahir said that his scooter’s left brake lever got broken even on a mere fall that too due to an unstable stand. He had reportedly called the service team for no avail. Syed also claimed that the fall had lead to scratches on his scooter.
A Twitter user Ayush Maheswari reported a similar issue as Syed showing the picture of his S1 Pro with the brake lever broken. He questioned the scooter’s built quality. Another user Arikanth Undi brought to light another serious problem of the rear suspension oil leaking.
Owing to, most probably, unaddressed complaints, Ola faced a downward trend in May, 2022, sales with Okinawa overtaking it for the first place in the EV segment.
Ola suffered a M-o-M downfall of 27 percent when compared to its April, 2022, performance which lead to the slip in position. While Okinawa too suffered a M-o-M downfall selling 9303 units against 11,012 units in April, it wasn’t as pronounced as that of the Ola.
Ola Electric recorded 12,691 unit sales in April but all it could manage in last month was 9225 units, a massive drop of 3466 units. While Ola did bring in some customer benefits like 14-day promised delivery with some scooters getting delivered in just 24 hours, the initiatives didn’t convert into sales.
The recent suspension arm breaking incidents were among the frightening ones which must have prevented potential buyers from making the purchase. With the scooter capable of touching a top speed of 115 km/hr, the suspension arm getting broken could be fatal.
During the start of April, an Ola S1 Pro user in Guwahati landed in a major accident which resulted in his limbs getting broken although the exact reason for the accident hasn’t been established yet.
Even earlier, an S1 Pro caught fire in Pune all of sudden. Another user in Ambur, Tamilnadu, set his scooter ablaze after facing unaddressed complaints with respect to range and registration.
Despite all these issues, Ola Electric is yet to issue a mass recall to sort out issues with the affected scooters. It also hasn’t posted an explanation for the parts giving up reported by users now.