[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by amol4184

There goes my plan of buying it for mom. She will fret at this thing not having a key and explaining how it works is going to be near impossible.

If it is implemented in the ideal fashion - this might just be a small matter of getting used to! With the phone, there is nothing you have to do other than to walk upto the scooter with the phone in the hand/pocket/bag. And without the phone, you hit a six digit number on the screen instead of taking the key out and turning it - prompted visibly on the screen when you hit the start button.

However, your concern is valid for too much technology being a barrier in the widespread adoption of this scooter. However - this is more of a flagship and OLA will be introducing a cheaper version or a different cheaper scooter altogether, which could skip most of these features for a lower pricetag. Might be worth the wait - both in terms of her requirements and a refined riding experience that OLA should be able to provide by then!

Regarding the brakes - I think it should be fine for her usage. The tyres (110/70 R12) are on the wider side compared to competition like Ather. The rear does struggle for grip and locks when the disc brake is pushed hard, but happens for the enthusiastic riders in us.

Originally Posted by udaikalra01

For me the right time to buy this scooter is 5 to 6 months after the launch when all the niggles will be sorted.

Ideally - They expect the improvements to happen during this initial period as well, where the existing owners will also get the benefit of the same due to OTA updates. If it were not for OTA updates - would have totally made sense to stay away from the initial batches.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Little concerned on the power and torque available and the current inconsistencies around that. If you yourself, being an expert rider and used to high performance bikes were surprised and caught off guard with the behavior, it may take significant getting used to for regular ICE scooter users who make the shift.

Cutting the accelerator completely upon a slight touch of the brakes - was poor calibration indeed! I see even seasoned EV owners like Hemanth were surprised by this behaviour. Along with the freaky silence of an electric vehicle - I feel many ICE scooter owners will wonder if the scooter got switched off or something when it fails to respond with the hand lightly tapping the brakes - till they get used to the behaviour. My wife just couldn't accept the silence on the Ather in fact, and I expect her to freak out with this throttle behaviour.

But the good part about these electric scooters is that such core aspects can also be improved over time with OTA updates. Hence not a deal-breaker to be ruled out.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Absolutely wowed by the review! Ola can use your photos for marketing material probably. I think the rain helped you in making your photos more delicious!

Thanks Hemanth! On the other hand - I wish I could do better because the rain gods didn't have pity on us the entire day of this media drive. Bangaloreans will remember this day last week when rains started at around 4AM and just kept going for a week almost. Despite waiting from 7:30 AM till 5PM for a dry spell to start the shoot - we finally had to do it soaking wet anyways.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

My experience was opposite with this point. Build quality was flimsy and plastics were of poor quality. Possibly they've carefully chosen the vehicle for the media folks and not as careful with the others.

May be also got to do with the benchmarks we have for scooters - yours being Vespa/Ather - and mine being Meastro/Activa. In general - I haven't been very impressed with the plastics on scooters (generally with coarse texture and grey'ish colour) - and the OLA feels better to me. There are some sore points though - as mentioned in the review, and also noticed by you in the test rides.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I thought it is a monoshock telescopic suspension. The right side cover which looks like a sided swingarm is actually a cover for the disc pad housing and its related hydraulic connections I thought. Spec sheet mentions Front suspension as "Single fork"

Not just a cover to one side, but the fork is also connected to the center of the wheel with a single side arm. Also unlike the Ather, the fender is connected to this moving unit, and not to an immovable part of the double sided forks.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I was told that this would be part of the accessories along with a side step and all round body guard

I received a confirmation that a body guard is indeed a part of the accessory list, but no confirmation on a side step despite asking for it specifically. Would be a deal-breaker for many, so I sure do hope it is provided.

[Electromotive]

Excellent review. OLA has hit home on first attempt. In a few months the assembly lines will be fine tuned and running at full speed. Truly a watershed moment for electric two wheelers in India. RIP Honda.

Only two cons I will note:
- the switches are not ideal
- floor board is too high

OLA vs Ather is now going to be an interesting case study. It is a story of hard work and stubbornness (Ather) vs good business acumen (OLA). Ather decided to do everything in-house and from scratch wasting time getting to market and now it is going to cost them heavily. Bhavish and team appears to have made the correct strategic decision of not wasting too much time on product engineering and devoting all their energy on large scale production. They bought Etergo, beefed up the product and now here they are less than two years later all ready to sell 2 million units a year.

Ather is about to lose market and mind share to OLA and will eventually be bought out by Hero Motors. Seems like Hero and OLA are going to corner the electric 2 wheeler market by 2023.

The direct sales model is also great. EVs don't need anything beyond DIY maintenance for the most part and I applaud cutting out the middle men (dealerships) entirely. Fewer middle men means better pricing and lower probability of getting fleeced by crony, incompetent dealerships. I hate sales people and service advisors so much!

I do not understand why GoI is not encouraging setting up of Li battery production in India. Li cells are a critical component and are entirely imported. Li is the new oil. We don't have Li deposits in India but at least we should have domestic cell manufacturing capability. Another opportunity being missed like we missed with semiconductor fabs.

[ninjatalli]

Excellent review. Rating it 5 stars!
(Suggestion: Can we have a scooter EV comparison chart like we do for official car reviews)

A few questions
1. Is there an image of two individuals on the scooter? The leg room (and footrests) seem very narrow as compared to a normal Activa.

2. Did anyone (if not you) test ride the Scooter with a pillion? If yes, how was the comfort-levels on the pillion, given the higher acceleration as well as the 'issues' observed with braking (and suspension, etc.)?

3. Is there no main stand for the scooter? Not even as an optional accessory. Given the heavier weight, it feels a completely missed out aspect (adding to the 4 you had highlighted).

4. Is there a 'safe' mode (that applies when the battery % goes low) like most EVs seem to have these days?

5. What would be the expected service schedules (any information shared by Ola till date)?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by immortalmechano

Did you guys during the review feel everything was sturdy enough to last the rigour of a 5-8 year ownership cycle in the city?

Tough to predict - because we can only comment on the build quality from a day's drive and reliability depends on so many other factors! That said - overall based on the timelines, you friend has shared a valid concern indeed. We have also mentioned 'rushed to market' as one of the major cons, just based on the amount of fine tuning that is pending on the scooter - and is promised to be delivered later via OTA updates.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I was reading the Autocarindia review here and found this below paragraph. What was your experience about this CrAzY dRiVeR?

No such issues with the unit we received Hemanth. I had multiple throttle wide open runs from 0 to ~90kmph and didn't notice any performance issues, except for the throttle concerns noted in the review. We had access to a private facility for these speed runs.

That said - the temperature during the said period would have around 20 degrees at best, with incessant drizzle and intermittent heavy downpour. So not at all a scenario where I can comment authoritatively on an overheating situation and Autocar were neither in the same media batch as mine, but also seems to have received a different 'Neo Mint' unit for their testing.

Quite a concern if it can overheat in Bangalore - during days that saw maximum temperature of around 25 degrees, that too just occassionally!

[Livnletcarsliv]

A new product (EV Scooter) from a new brand (OLA) venturing into a new industry (Auto Manufacturing). Definitely a huge gamble for every owner of the first lot.
Reliability, Ownership experience, Aftersales experience, Practicality, etc, are big questions.

At least from these initial experiences and processes of Ola bringing this scooter to the market, I feel it's overhyped and overrated. Already missed a lot of deadlines. And still, no roadmap for the deliveries to start and complete (at least with the existing bookings).

The product is revolutionary. However the only plus points (over the competition) I think are the technology (gizmos/features), the design, and the range.

As a prospective buyer, I don't want to become the guinea pig. I will better deep test the waters well before I buy one. Only time can tell.

[umohan98]

A great review!

Looking forward to having more charging stations in semi urban parts of the country and in smaller cities before making the leap to EVs. The charging times do seem good enough though.

Agree with other members that having smartphones and touch screen as sole medium of unlocking may trouble older and less tech savvy people. They could have gone the way of Tesla Model 3, that has a credit card style key. Even that would have sufficed.

But do love the attention EV Startups like Aether and Ola have brought into the sector. Mighty impressive to see this on road before the Chetak EV. Now that even Hero and Suzuki are jumping into 2 Wheel EVs, hope we have charging stations around.

It would have been awesome if Ola used a standard charging port, like the CCS2 on Aether.

Future does look good.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

No such issues with the unit we received Hemanth. I had multiple throttle wide open runs from 0 to ~90kmph and didn't notice any performance issues, except for the throttle concerns noted in the review. We had access to a private facility for these speed runs.

I wonder if it's intentionally limited as there are many unknowns at this stage as there is limited real-world long term usage. There was a similar limitation on Tesla Model S and X till recently. They improved it in the latest Model S refresh. Many car companies are also keeping higher battery buffers initially. Over time, they are reducing the buffers and increasing the usable battery capacity resulting in a higher range (ex: Audi e-tron, Ford Mach e, etc...)

At least from these initial experiences and processes of Ola bringing this scooter to the market, I feel it's overhyped and overrated. Already missed a lot of deadlines. And still, no roadmap for the deliveries to start and complete (at least with the existing bookings).

Delays are common in the automotive world, especially for EVs. Ather never sold their first scooter (450) outside Bangalore and Chennai. They started expanding with their second scooter (450x) to other cities but the price increased drastically without much improvements to the old model. Still, it's only available in major cities. The situation of Chetak and iQube is much worse. For almost 2 years, they are only available in 1-2 cities. Again, price increased by 40 to 50% and even today only available in very few cities with long delivery times.

[fuzzydealhunter]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I received a confirmation that a body guard is indeed a part of the accessory list, but no confirmation on a side step despite asking for it specifically. Would be a deal-breaker for many, so I sure do hope it is provided.

Thank you for the detailed review. Did they happen to drop any nuggets about other accessories on the way?

This reminds me of
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/03...ality-kia-90s/

I am not at all surprised that a new manufacturer is having issues to sort out with such an aggressive timeline. Even stablished automotive giants such as Volkswagen have had initial units they rush to the market end up with debilitating issues (ahem..Skoda Kushaq).

I for one am willing to give Ola the benefit of the doubt as unless there is a substantial shock to the Indian automotive eco system the Hero's and Bajaj's will continue to mass manufacture the ICE scooters. I fully expect us to get a benefit on the pollution front if we can atleast move the 2 wheelers to electric. Every small step counts. In this case I hope Ola helps India take a large step.

On a separate note, they have not opened test drives in my city yet. Looking forward to sharing my experience.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

A few questions
1. Is there an image of two individuals on the scooter? The leg room (and footrests) seem very narrow as compared to a normal Activa.

2. Did anyone (if not you) test ride the Scooter with a pillion? If yes, how was the comfort-levels on the pillion, given the higher acceleration as well as the 'issues' observed with braking (and suspension, etc.)?

3. Is there no main stand for the scooter? Not even as an optional accessory. Given the heavier weight, it feels a completely missed out aspect (adding to the 4 you had highlighted).

4. Is there a 'safe' mode (that applies when the battery % goes low) like most EVs seem to have these days?

5. What would be the expected service schedules (any information shared by Ola till date)?

1 and 2. No buddy! Was working alone. Space is average IMHO - not a deal-breaker, but definitely not as spacious as the Ather with its stepped seating and a longer bench.

Even the pillion footrests are better positioned in the Ather, coming at a chair-like 90 bend for my height (as seen in the Ather review), whereas there is a slight bend at the knees for the OLA. However, the rear seat is just as flat and wide on both the options.

3. No main-stand available. Was not informed of any accessory either.

4. Yes, the option is mentioned in the specifications. Not something we could test though

5. No service schedules mentioned. The process explained to us was more akin to the support for a smartphone - where the user has to request service via the app/call center, and a 'champion' will visit the owner at his place and convenient time for service. Only for major issues - the scooter will be transported to the nearest workshop and returned post service.

Originally Posted by Livnletcarsliv

The product is revolutionary. However the only plus points (over the competition) I think are the technology (gizmos/features), the design, and the range.

Once the teething issues are sorted, the plus points are likely to be -
1. Performance
2. Running costs
3. Worry-free range for city runs
4. Gizmos

Though it looks nice, I doubt the design will be a major selling point for the future, given it may end up being a common product.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Once the teething issues are sorted, the plus points are likely to be -
1. Performance
2. Running costs
3. Worry-free range for city runs
4. Gizmos

Though it looks nice, I doubt the design will be a major selling point for the future, given it may end up being a common product.

1, 2, 3 will be common for any EV 2 wheeler in the upcoming months if not in the present. Now it all depends on how soon the niggles are fixed and how soon the brand stabilizes (ownership, aftersales, reliability).

[Electromotive]

A few quick questions:

1. How well do LCD displays weather prolonged exposure to sunlight, heat and UV? Quick search tells me there is contrast loss and degeneration of crystal matrix. The display needs extended warranty like the battery.

2. Do the scooters come with a pre-programmed six digit authentication code by default (as in old nokia phones) or is that part of the setup process? This seems like a vulnerability that can be exploited by bad actors.

3. Is the usb charge port de-activated when the scooter is powered off? If not that's another vulnerability. Hope it is fused and data lanes are disabled.

4. How is the battery, BMS and controller cooled? Heatsink and fan?

.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

A few questions
1. Is there an image of two individuals on the scooter? The leg room (and footrests) seem very narrow as compared to a normal Activa.

2. Did anyone (if not you) test ride the Scooter with a pillion? If yes, how was the comfort-levels on the pillion, given the higher acceleration as well as the 'issues' observed with braking (and suspension, etc.)?

The Autocarindia review has an image witha pillion and they say it is cramped

The lack of space is a function of the scooter’s compact dimensions, and that extends to the seat as well, which felt cramped with two full-sized occupants on it.

Image source: Autocarindia review

Originally Posted by umohan98

It would have been awesome if Ola used a standard charging port, like the CCS2 on Aether.

Ather also doesn't have CCS2. It's a proprietary one. Ather have made it open-source though if someone else want to take it over.

Originally Posted by Electromotive

A few quick questions:

1. How well do LCD displays weather prolonged exposure to sunlight, heat and UV? Quick search tells me there is contrast loss and degeneration of crystal matrix. The display needs extended warranty like the battery

. Ather applied an UV film by 3M on initial batches of 450 scooters when many screens turned yellow. Newer 450x scooters don't have this issue at least till now.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

The Autocarindia review has an image witha pillion and they say it is cramped

Thank you. That was my thought seeing @crazy driver's pic sitting alone. Even in the image you share, those are pretty fit/slim folks. Imagine two well-rounded gentlemen on that tiny seat and the slim footrests and this is going to get interesting on the road. Parents have already booked one (in spite of my suggestions to wait for the first batch to hit the road for feedback) so guess I'll soon know.

[umohan98]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Ather also doesn't have CCS2. It's a proprietary one. Ather have made it open-source though if someone else want to take it over.

Oh, I stand corrected. I belive Tatas and Konas and MGs use the CCS2.

Was doing some readup and found that Chetak has NO DC fast charging, and even TVS iQube has some proprietary port.

Isn't Hero lining up to use Ather's technology and port?

Will a EU like rule to make Type C ports mandatory be needed here to have a common standard?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I was reading the Autocarindia review here and found this below paragraph.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

No such issues with the unit we received Hemanth. I had multiple throttle wide open runs from 0 to ~90kmph and didn't notice any performance issues, except for the throttle concerns noted in the review. We had access to a private facility for these speed runs.

That said - the temperature during the said period would have around 20 degrees at best, with incessant drizzle and intermittent heavy downpour. So not at all a scenario where I can comment authoritatively on an overheating situation and Autocar were neither in the same media batch as mine, but also seems to have received a different 'Neo Mint' unit for their testing.

Quite a concern if it can overheat in Bangalore - during days that saw maximum temperature of around 25 degrees, that too just occassionally!

Even Shumi and Singhee ran into overheating issues with the Hyper Mode, as mentioned in the Powerdrift and Zigwheels videos respectively. And with two different units as compared to ACI! Looks like the initial media batches were spared from the downpour and ran into overheating issues with Hyper mode instead.

A concern indeed - If it can't manage 25 degrees in Bangalore - what about peak summer in Delhi or Chennai?

Originally Posted by Electromotive

Do the scooters come with a pre-programmed six digit authentication code by default (as in old nokia phones) or is that part of the setup process? This seems like a vulnerability that can be exploited by bad actors.

Media scooters came with the simplest of six digit passcodes - All zeroes, as anyone could have guessed! In fact, no one even informed us of the code during the briefing and I saw everyone just guessed it and started using anyways! However, we were informed that the customer scooters will need to have a custom code to be setup during the delivery process.