SUMMARY
Ola Electric called the concerns about the front fork arm of S1 escooter “unfounded” but offered a free upgrade to a new front fork
The Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup said it has recently upgraded the front fork design to further enhance the durability and strength of its escooters
Last year, one of the startup’s escooter had caught fire, while a user also complained about faulty regenerative braking system of Ola S1 Pro after an accident
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Even as Ola Electric continues to march ahead in terms of sales of electric scooters, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company continues to face complaints from many of its customers. The latest in this series is concerns from customers about the front fork arm of its Ola S1 series escooters.
The company addressed the matter on Tuesday and denied any safety issues with the front fork arm. However, it offered a free upgrade of the front fork arm to the customers.
“Recently, there have been some concerns amongst the community around the safety of the front fork arm. We assure you that this is unfounded,” the leading electric two-wheeler startup said in a statement on Twitter.
The company said that all components of its scooters, including the front fork arm, are tested under extreme conditions and engineered with a factor of safety much higher than the typical loads encountered on vehicles
“As part of our continuous engineering and design improvement process, we have recently upgraded the front fork design to enhance the durability and strength even further. To alleviate any concerns that you or any of our community members might have, we are giving an option to our customers to upgrade to the new front fork,” it said, adding that the upgrade will be free of cost at Ola Experience Centre.
The appointment window for requesting the upgrade will open on March 22.
Ola Electric claims that in just over 12 months, it has emerged as one of the biggest EV companies with over 2 Lakh ‘community members’.
However, Ola Electric continues to face questions about the safety of its S1 scooters. Last year, an Ola S1 scooter caught fire, making Ola one of the many escooter manufacturers to come under scrutiny for such an incident. Besides, after a tragic accident, a user had claimed there were issues with Ola S1 Pro’s regenerative braking system.
Despite customer complaints about the components of its escooters, after-sales service, and more, Ola Electric is aggressively launching new products. The startup recently launched two new and more affordable variants for its Ola S1 and S1 Air scooters.
In December 2022, Ola boss Aggarwal also disclosed plans for launching more electric two-wheeler models in 2023 and 2024, including a mass-market motorcycle, multiple premium motorcycles, and new escooters models.
While the fire incident last year led to a significant dip in the demand for the country’s escooters, Ola Electric’s sales gradually rose in the latter half of 2022. The company sold the highest number of escooters in 2022, beating its major competitors like Okinawa Autotech, Ather Energy, Pure EV, and Hero Electric.
In 2023, the startup is again leading with 42,904 vehicle registrations.
Recently, Ola Electric also came under the government’s scrutiny for allegations about it falsely claiming FAME-II subsidies by artificially keeping the vehicle prices lower.
Amidst all these, Ola Electric continues to move ahead with its plans for cell and battery manufacturing. Last month, it announced an investment of around INR 7,600 Cr over the next five years in Tamil Nadu to set up manufacturing facilities for EVs, EV components, and batteries.
Earlier, Aggarwal also said that the startup will launch its electric car in 2024.
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