Beware of the Vida Chargers

Ather 450 Charging
1

I am writing to express a serious and urgent concern regarding the poor state of maintenance and operational reliability of Vida charging stations, specifically those located in Pune. The current condition of these chargers is severely impacting users.

Observed Issues

  • Lack of Maintenance: The majority of charging units appear unmaintained.

  • High Failure Rate: A significant number of chargers are non-operational.

  • Damaged Infrastructure: Many units exhibit broken charging heads, rendering them unusable.

I recently experienced an incident: while relying on the charging station at the 93 Avenue Mall in Pune as I had work in mall upstaris, I found that only one out of the four chargers appeared functional; however, even after connecting to the working unit, it suddenly ceased operation within approximately two minutes, and repeated attempts to reconnect were unsuccessful, while the remaining non-operational chargers were visibly vandalized and unusable. This critical failure occurred while I was conducting necessary work, forcing me to interrupt my tasks and locate an alternative charging solution, which, given my extremely limited remaining battery range (6km), presented a significant logistical challenge and safety concern until I successfully charged at a nearby Ather service center (Shaw Ather).

This experience resulted in considerable disruption and loss of work time. The current state of the Vida charging network is unacceptable I urge Vida to immediately address the maintenance and reliability issues at these key public charging locations. I will be refraining from using Vida chargers until these reliability concerns are demonstrably resolved.

1 Like
2

But why is the Vida charger story posted here? I understand that Vida uses the LECCS standard developed by Ather, but the charging stations, their maintenance, and everything related to them are handled by Hero (Vida). It has nothing to do with Ather or the Ather Grid.

1 Like
3

They are actively listed on Athers charging maps also smart routing show them as preferred options at times so it seems relevant.

3 Likes
4

Yes, they do show up on the Ather charging map. But understand the reason behind it. Ather and Hero announced an interoperable fast-charging network simply because the option exists, and Hero also holds a significant stake in Ather (around 40%). But remember, these are still two completely separate companies. And they don’t share any data or R&D with each other. Ather will not fix issues with VIDA chargers just because users complain. VIDA chargers use a port compatible with Ather scooters, and if something doesn’t work properly, Yes we can report it. but that won’t make Ather fast-track or resolve problems on VIDA’s end, because it’s outside their scope and not their responsibility.

2 Likes