[pogo0120]

Split seats on a plastic base? Someone should fire the engineer/marketing person who came up with this nonsense idea! Now, I am worried about the mechanical strength of the back seat, where my wife sits. Seriously, overhanging beam-type seat and removable support, I am worried!

[TusharK]

Hero's first Vida Experience Centre opens in Bangalore

Vida, Hero MotoCorp’s electric vehicles sub-brand, has announced the opening of its first ‘Experience Centre’ in Bangalore.



The Vida showroom is located at Vittal Mallya Road. The facility, spread over 8,500 sq. ft. has a display for the Vida V1 scooter and includes charging stations, an in-house coffee bar and a library.

The Vida experience centre in Bangalore started offering test rides of the Vida V1 today. The company will open similar showrooms in Jaipur and Delhi soon.



The Vida V1 was launched last month. The electric scooter is available in two variants – Pro and Plus, with prices starting at Rs 1.45 lakh (ex-showroom). Deliveries will commence in the second week of December 2022.

The Vida V1 electric scooter comes with swappable batteries. The V1 Pro is said to have a range of 165 km, while the V1 Plus can cover 143 km on a single charge. Both variants can be charged at a rate of 1.2 km per minute. According to Hero, the V1 Pro and V1 Plus can accelerate from 0-40 km/h in 3.2 seconds and 3.4 seconds, respectively. Both variants have a top speed of 80 km/h.

Link to Team-BHP News

[ritesh_44]

Good to see Vida fast chargers are also available for Ather users. IMHO, there should be standard port across all 2 wheeler fast chargers, since these are mostly for emergency top ups.
(source)

[TejasV]

Late to the party but I hope and pray the big guns like TVS and Hero are better equipped with solid lasting products in this space. Ather is good but still too small for the masses to trust and Ola just ruined the idea of switching for many.

I think Vida centres will surely help prospective buyers switch to EVs faster than Athers and Olas did. Good for the buyers, and I hope the service staff trained to handle these products as well as their regular scooters.

[am1m]

So many questions.

Is this another Chinese import re-branded? Albeit, with better QC and Hero support. (Not that I care for jingoistic reasons, but would be good to know.)

When they already have the Ather brand, why not just back that with increased production? Was assuming this might be the lower priced ev from them, but doesn't look like that.

+1 to the point about common chargers. Great that Ather and this scoot can share chargers. Surely I'm missing something that all these major and smart companies can't have. But why not a common charging connector across e scooters? Surely that makes sense and now is the time to get that right.

[Torino]

Originally Posted by am1m

So many questions.

Is this another Chinese import re-branded? Albeit, with better QC and Hero support. (Not that I care for jingoistic reasons, but would be good to know.)

The Vida V1 e-scooter was developed from ground up at Hero MotoCorp's Centre of Innovation and Technology located in GJ in collaboration with Hero Tech Center in Germany. According to Vida, the V1 e-scooter took 25,000 hours to develop and 1006 prototypes were tested across 200,000 kms in India.

Since the industry shifting to EVs is evitable, Hero MotoCorp is leaving no stones unturned in order to carry forward its leadership into EV. So far Hero MotoCorp has invested in Ather, partnered with electric two wheeler battery swapping tech leader Gogoro, launched its own phygital two-wheeler resale platform called Wheels of Trust(likely that this platform will be used to accelerate the transition to Vida for existing ICE users), investment in leading electric motorcycles brand Zero Motorcycles and now launched its own brand Vida.

Vida V1 e-scooter being the most expensive e-scooter right now is something I don't understand why.

Lack of common charging connector is due to absence of a regulatory standard and lack of cooperation among companies.

[mail2sekh]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Hero's first Vida Experience Centre opens in Bangalore
Vida, Hero MotoCorp’s electric vehicles sub-brand, has announced the opening of its first ‘Experience Centre’ in Bangalore.
Link to Team-BHP News

Paid a visit to this showroom the other day. Swanky ? Yes.Was a letdown otherwise - the benchmark set by the Ather ‘experience’ centre in IndiraNagar ( Their first one I believe ) back in 2019 is hard to beat.
Apart from the standard drivel , most of my real-life queries here were responded with 1) Don’t know 2) Company has not disclosed 3) even incorrect answers ( For eg: “Each battery takes 5-6 hours to charge so total around 10 hours “ - cannot be true)

Hero , if you are reading this please put your own best people at the site instead of college interns. It can be a deal breaker for many.Especially since it’s your first and the only offline showroom in the entire country as of today ! Again at Ather , apart from a solid offering - the technical depth, professionalism and confident manners of the staff was what had made me take the EV plunge.

For the ask ( 1.69L INR on road after the fame subsidy) the scooter itself should have been impeccably built. But I was left wanting. The fit and finish of the body panels, the control switches, the battery compartment ( was reminded of my struggle with my 2006 enfield toolbox lock), the floorboard, turn indicators - another iteration is clearly in order.
The flimsy/clumsy weird-double-seat had to be beaten down into position every single time it was closed.
College intern: “You will get used to it sir”
Me: :-|

The one reason for me considering a switch is the removable battery - the process however is likely to be tedious and strenuous considering that you got to lift 22Kg (~11 kilograms each) and carry it up to your apartment and back. Provided you manage to take the key out of the fob and unlock that horrendous battery cover. But then you can charge only one battery with the provided charger at home. For that reason , you are likely to end up carrying only one out at a time.

The ride quality and acceleration was smooth I admit. Compared to my 450’s connected-to-the-road feeling, this was floating over bad roads. Got only a few minutes in the test ride - cruise control, power boost while overtaking, manoeuvrability etc could not be tried out. Deliveries are likely only from Jan-23. Hoping that the production models are sewn up better.

[pogo0120]

Originally Posted by mail2sekh

Hero , if you are reading this please put your own best people at the site instead of college interns.

Don't even bother to say this! Donot expect this from anyone vendor from India. Bounce, Bajaj, even tech support OLA, all the same.

Even Maruti and Mahindra dealers behave the same on new launches. Worst part is, people there do not have 1% interest to read, try to understand...

Kuch kuch bol ke chalo is the moto, if you know what I mean!

[ritesh_44]

Originally Posted by mail2sekh

But then you can charge only one battery with the provided charger at home. For that reason , you are likely to end up carrying only one out at a time.

Their FAQ page says both batteries can be charged simultaneously with y-connector:

● REMOVABLE BATTERIES: Batteries can be carried along to charge anywhere using the portable battery charger. This comes with an additional Y-connector to charge both the batteries at the same time. We recommend you to charge both the batteries together, if in situations you can only charge one battery at a time please interchange the batteries between charges.

[SKC-auto]

Deliveries of the Vida V1 e-scooter will begin in the second week of December 2022.

When are the deliveries starting? I was told last year that established players always deliver as promised.

Don't know when we will see iQube ST deliveries and Vida V1, atleast I see no criticism, only silence.

[PreludeSH]

I had seen this at Vega City mall weeks ago. I was trying to get a feel of the handle and switches and things felt loose. Didnt like the build quality and was not interested !

[ritesh_44]

Hero is setting up fast chargers proactively at petrol pumps. Not sure the logic of setting two chargers with 4 guns total at one place. Would be better to have one each at two locations. These are on but not activated to use yet.

(location: Bharat Petroleum pump, Hennur)

[Venkatesh]

Deliveries of Vida electric scooter have officially started today.





Link

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by ritesh_44

Hero is setting up fast chargers proactively at petrol pumps. Not sure the logic of setting two chargers with 4 guns total at one place. Would be better to have one each at two locations. These are on but not activated to use yet.

Attachment 2392270(location: Bharat Petroleum pump, Hennur)

Oh no its a good thing. Back when I had the Ather, I remember having to wait at chargind points because someone else was charging their vehicle. With more than one gun in place, its much more likely that an end user will get a chance to charge their vehicle soon if not immediately. Good to see such an initiative by Hero!

[mail2sekh]

Any ownership reviews likely to come here soon? My delivery window is open. It shows 2.2L since I have the Ather already. Guess the subsidy is based on the registered mobile number.So should be able to buy in my wife's name.

3 years with the Ather now. Lease is ending and I have an option to return the scoot.

I don't see any other swappable-battery models in the near future. Well , Simple is still there but it is complicated

So thinking of taking the plunge with the Vida.

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

Deliveries of Vida electric scooter have officially started today.

Link