[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by Maverick_4662

Very interesting scooter. This may be an unpopular opinion but is a sub 100kg electric scooter going 115kph safe? My Honda aviator is very unstable at anything over 70kph. Oh god imagining the 'squids' zooming around on this speed machine is scary. Scooter seems solid otherwise.

125 Kg for the top end pro model. As you said, small wheels + high speed not really a great combo. A test ride at higher speeds will reveal more.

Cheers,

Jay

[MaheshY1]

Let me start off by highlighting my usual deal-breakers:

- I hate Ola. it's difficult to pinpoint why.
- I hate live location tracking and internet connectivity in my vehicles because of privacy concerns.
- I hate scooters.
- I don't need a vehicle right now - or in the next 5 years.
- I NEVER buy first-gen products or products with critical first-gen technology until it's proven.

Still, after the 10k discount on the pro, I'm on the verge of impulsively buying this thing even though I don't need it. I'm a hardcore numbers guy. Assuming the batteries last some 50,000km, even with high electricity prices in RJ, this scooter is paying itself back - in just 40,000km.

Real-world range expectations: 140km for pro
At Rs. 8.0/kWh, operating cost / km: 0.24
Cost for 40,000km: Rs. 10,000

The Activa's realistic fuel efficiency of 35kmpl (after factoring in the evaporation) boils down to Rs. 3.14/km + 0.13/km for maintenance (petrol RJ 110/litre).

Entire investment recovered in just 40,000km worth of ownership costs.

Bhavish wasn't kidding when he said: "We don't want to be the Tesla of India. We want to be the Ola of India." I can't even imagine what kind of damage he's going to inflict on the 4-wheelers.

[starke]

Originally Posted by Sran

Remove the gizmos, drop the price and bring some sanity to driving. I haven't owned a 2 wheeler since 2008 so I may be out of touch. I was thinking about buying ola scooty because I don't have a 2 wheeler in my garage but this is pricey imo. Ola should probably introduce a neo or lite version, a plain basic scooty which does its primary job.

Exactly the same as what I thought.

Here is my take

Remove that big large touch screen, and put a basic minimal instrument cluster that gives out

-SoC
-Speed
-Range
-Charging speed, Time to full charge, Km earned/minute
-SoH maybe? Temp etc.
-Drive mode indicator
-Basic tell tales

All the above in a basic LCD screen is enough for a scooter

Bring down to cost at least 20k less easily by removing all the hardware and gizmo amortization will do wonders for a common man.

[DarthVeda]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

The only people sad would be those who expected removable batteries, but otherwise, all others will be happy with this.

You forget the folks who want to carry LPG cylinders and water cans on their scooter, they are also disappointed that they can't do that.

[udaikalra01]

Powerdrift walkaround

https://youtu.be/Vs7inGOfntE

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Sran

*On board Telemetrics with Navigation*
People need navigation in scooty? Its not like they will take these cuties to inter state travels or to obscure locations. Do common people not know their way in their own city? Even if one shifts to a new city, within a month they get to know about directions of major centers. Or what about asking for routes from locals? You don't even have to move your head unlike in a car.

*Reverse function*
In a scooty? I will be damned. Is it satire?

*Hill hold*
What happened to good old legs and brakes?

*Cruise Control*
I don't know any major city in India where it can be used.

*Voice controls*
Even a person with best in class loud voice can not use it. With so much noise around, can it be used?

*In-built speaker*
Yeah, now I understand all the money the ola owners have earned, they have used it to roam in alps, nile basin or andes mountains, where they have listened to the quite. Do they want us to listen to songs because this is mental bankruptcy at its best? Do they want us to listen to navigation because it wouldn't work under helmet and in traffic noise.

*Ability to attend phone calls*
So that everyone can hear it except the rider because they are wearing helmet?

What exactly is the use of these gizmos in a scooty? Just give people a scooty to go from point A to point B in a safe manner. Good tyres, comfortable seats, proper shockers and headlights. Removable battery is a must for people who live in apartments.

Remove the gizmos, drop the price and bring some sanity to driving. I haven't owned a 2 wheeler since 2008 so I may be out of touch. I was thinking about buying ola scooty because I don't have a 2 wheeler in my garage but this is pricey imo. Ola should probably introduce a neo or lite version, a plain basic scooty which does its primary job.

You are echoing most of my thoughts. As i said in my previous post, most of the features won't be useful in daily routine. It looks very attractive at the beginning when we get the vehicle, but over time, it fades away and will be unused. Only basic and absolute things will be used (like large boot storage pace). Its like our mobile phones. Many people buy it seeing a big list of bulleted marketing items, but really don't use all of the features/apps in the mobile and will end up using only few things what they really need. In that sense, this will become more of a "Tab" (or) "Phone" specific product than the 2W.

People need to focus on the road and traffic around us, potholes, hot/cold weather conditions for safer ride in a 2W, than to focus on the touch screen content/listening to music etc. How will the gizmos help a parent dropping kid to school (obviously post pandemic situation), doing short errands, or an elderly citizen for basic commute?

Agree to your last comment - Reduce/remove the gizmos to bring the cost down that will really make a revolution and competitive pricing which will force even petrol 2W makers to bring down the cost disrupting the market in whole. Yes, its important to modernize and transform, but at the same time, things should be more useful as well to feel the value of the product.

-Ravi

[Ultim8]

Originally Posted by guru_max

Many of the newer features are not that costly to implement in an EV. The majority of the increased cost is still due to high costs of power train. Manufacturers are just trying to add value with these features which do not cost that much.

Originally Posted by starke

Here is my take:
All the above in a basic LCD screen is enough for a scooter
Bring down to cost at least 20k less easily by removing all the hardware and gizmo amortization will do wonders for a common man.

Implementing those "fancy" features in a touchscreen console is not expensive. While considering the humongous manufacturing volumes, implementing the computing unit & those additional features will be as cheap as an entry level smartphone, or even lower.

Originally Posted by Sran

*On board Telemetrics with Navigation*
People need navigation in scooty? Its not like they will take these cuties to inter state travels or to obscure locations. Do common people not know their way in their own city? Even if one shifts to a new city, within a month they get to know about directions of major centers. Or what about asking for routes from locals? You don't even have to move your head unlike in a car.

I doubt everyone knows every nook & corner in a metropolitan city. Having navigation with map visibility in vehicle display is a huge boon, trust me. We don't have to fit a phone holder, take out phone & see, or have to ask someone. I have a hard time remembering, let alone understand multiple turns while asking for directions. I prefer having map navigation, which also provides real time traffic information.

As for distraction, only specific touch responses will work while the scooter is on the move, which reduces the distraction significantly.

Originally Posted by Sran

*Reverse function*
In a scooty? I will be damned. Is it satire?

People would've said the same when they'd have seen Apple launching their touchscreen phone with very few buttons, and having to deal with the tiny fonts.

OLA Electric has painted a masterstroke by offering more reasons to buy OLA S1 & more value for our money with the unique features, and attracting the youths also, which they otherwise cannot, if they are offering a barebones scooter with a price tag higher than that of gasoline scooters.

The curvy design, silent & instantaneous acceleration with top speed in triple digits and those modern features will leave the youths drooling.

Even though I am not even considering buying one right now irrespective of financial status, I am impressed with their offering, which tries to target wide range of customers.

[DDIS_RE650]

I agree about too much gizmo on scooter. If I have to buy for my dad, what I need a key to start ignition, full range, remaining range and speedometer. But just forget for a moment who is going to use, I believe 5-6 years back our parents were reluctant to give away their Nokia basic mobile but today they are addicted to smart phone thanks to Mr. Ambani. People will get used to all the gizmos eventually. If what Ola claiming is going to be true 70% it will be writing on wall for Honda and Hero unless they come very aggressive with cutting edge EV technology.
I do not need a new scooter but Ola is too tempting to ignore. Also people who are claiming that high rise apartment user will not be customer for Ola. Do Ola need to worry for them as two wheeler are being sold uniformly in every nook and corner of Country. Also 80% of sales are contributed by likes of Activa and Splendor. Ola nailed it perfectly to do over all India launch while Ather is still struggling in-around Bangalore.

[GautamJ]

Walkaround of Ola Scooter by :-

Autocar India

https://youtu.be/1W1pi1hr1n0

ZigWheels

https://youtu.be/zIBjd84WFsY

Ola Scooter Specifications.pdf

[sri_tesla]

Detailed specifications including dimensions, charging times, features, etc... The interesting thing to note is features like Cruise control, Hill hold, Voice assistant are available only in S1 Pro. The remaining all other smart features are available in both variants.

[Axe77]

I don’t understand why everyone is cribbing about too many features.

If Ola delivers what it is promising, it would actually be offering a product that offers more than all the existing competition at a price that is lower than them as well.

Looks: check.
Performance: check.
Range: check.
Price: check!

Take out a couple of features and people are constantly cribbing about lack of this and lack of that. Here is a well priced, high performance, feature packed offering and people are still complaining.

I think this is a great spec sheet to launch the product. Let’s see whether they’ve truly delivered something that will change the market and if they can have the service and network to boot.

Far more important immediate parameters are the speed with which they create their local city support (its one thing to deliver a scooter at your doorstep and another to provide ongoing back up); understanding their strategy on this front; assessing the speed with which they can roll out their fast charging network; their ability to manage waiting periods etc. Whether or not it should have maps or reverse mode is really trivial in comparison.


EDIT: FYI, just rode the electric Chetak yesterday with my wife as pillion. As a complete newbie rider, the one thing she loved about the Chetak was its reverse mode. She’s 5 foot nothing and while an excellent car driver completely raw at two wheelers. She finds when the scooter is parked at a slight decline, its nice to be able to “reverse” out using the throttle. So there’s always someone who’ll appreciate a certain feature. If its targeted at younger buyers many of them first time riders, they may certainly appreciate it.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by Sran

*On board Telemetrics with Navigation*
People need navigation in scooty? Its not like they will take these cuties to inter state travels or to obscure locations. Do common people not know their way in their own city? Even if one shifts to a new city, within a month they get to know about directions of major centers. Or what about asking for routes from locals? You don't even have to move your head unlike in a car.

*Reverse function*
In a scooty? I will be damned. Is it satire?

*Hill hold*
What happened to good old legs and brakes?

Truer words have not been said!!

Thanks for being the devils advocate and calling out the gimmicks.

I was thinking, Wow! Hill hold assist! Then I realized after reading your post that in cars, this is necessary as there is a lag between release if brakes and clutch engaging. Not the case with mopeds

[udaikalra01]

Ola to launch electric car by 2023. Looking at their pace, I think they will be able to launch one before Maruti
New website is live now:
https://olaelectric.com/

[KungFuPanda]

I am firmly in the camp that this is a great offering by OLA. What we need is manufacturers who push the boundaries of a great product - especially when it is a generational change and an opportunity to define what tomorrow looks like.

There are umpteen examples of manufacturers sticking to fat profits and showing no intent to improve the quality of automobiles (read Toyota) in the country. We need more manufacturers to push the needle so that at the end of the day the customer benefits. I say more power to OLA. We need a lot more of this, rather than half a**ed measures of just offering the bare minimum to get by, protecting fat profits in the short term.

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by Maverick_4662

Very interesting scooter. This may be an unpopular opinion but is a sub 100kg electric scooter going 115kph safe? My Honda aviator is very unstable at anything over 70kph. Oh god imagining the 'squids' zooming around on this speed machine is scary. Scooter seems solid otherwise.

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

125 Kg for the top end pro model. As you said, small wheels + high speed not really a great combo. A test ride at higher speeds will reveal more.

Cheers,

Jay

What is very important is where the weight is placed.

OLA has packaged the heaviest component (the battery) at the lowest point of the scooter (floorboard). When mass sits so low, it actually improves handling and stability. Traditional scooters on the other have engine/gear box located mid way and even higher is the fuel tank.

I think the OLA will be extremely chuck-able. This combined with the acceleration and top speed it will be a squids delight.....I'm afraid!