1000+ cities in less than a month!! Very bold but quite a lot of challenges. Also, another series of push of dates? 
Tried…aahhmmm…yes
Loved it…really?? Did i read that correct or heard and understood the reviews wrong?
Here’s more reading raising more eyebrows…
Ola is offering more mileage n bigger battery then Ather at lesser price… It’s good I guess for new buyers…
Those who have taken test drive what’s your opinions on suspension setup , stability and Flickability compared to 450x ?
Hi, took ola s1 pro test ride on 28.11.21 and the very next day I drove Ather 450x to compare the ride experience. Both vehicles are comfortable to ride personally I found ola’s suspension superior to that of 450x. Handling because of weight distribution is excellent in both 450x and ola.
What I noticed while driving 450x the footboard height is little too high for me. However the ola s1 pro has a hump In the middle of the foot board, which could be a hindrance to place your luggage on foot board.
Hyper mode is excellent in ola but when you compare it with Ather you will enjoy warp mode more because of sound that drive belt and motor cooling fans create!
Twin Head lights on ola are very powerful gives excellent eye sight!
After having booked the scooter and having made the full payment on November 13th, I was told that the scooter will be delivered between November 15th to November 30th. Now S1 was not perfect but not bad as Okinawas and other chinese brands. But three things that were still bugging me:
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Overheating issue: A major issue pointed out in S1 pro reviews after riding in Hyper mode. I had ignored this issue as ours would be a S1 and there is no hyper mode.
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The dead acceleration on braking: It was something that I didn’t like but had ignored this as my father is a very slow rider and he can manage / get used to this. I also had hopes that Ola might correct it in a future OTA update.
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The absence of a flat floorboard: This is one major complaint that my father has of his Vespa now. He always tells me that I got him a bad vehicle after selling his activa. I had ignored this issue during my test ride because the Ola’s under-seat storage space is huge!
I was certain that the Ola scooter delivery will be postponed and as per the expectations I got an email on November 20th that the delivery schedule is pushed ahead by a month. This additional time allowed my father to take a look at the scooter (he hadn’t accompanied me earlier). Straight away he told me that he doesn’t want this scooter solely for the floorboard not being flat. I told him that the under seat storage was huge and he has enough space to put all the things he puts and moreover I told that he is used to Vespa now.
He said that when we are changing the Vespa any which way, he wants a flat floorboard scooter. His argument is that how much ever the under-seat storage is, the convenience of a flat floorboard is a different thing as he can’t keep on opening the seat every time he buys some small things. I concurred with him as 1, his point was correct and 2, I didn’t want to hear the same “you got me a bad scooter” complaint going forward too 
On 21st November, I tried to cancel my order and on the app or website I couldn’t find any option to do so. I called their helpline and requested them to cancel. They told me to write an email for cancellation which I did. The email reply I received said that I have to cancel on the app!! Again I called the helpline number…for 4 days this loop happened 3 times and finally on 25th November, the support person told me that the software was designed to cancel the order only till the first two payments were made. since I had made the third and final payment also the cancel button was not appearing for me. Finally she told that the backend team have worked on this and the cancel button will appear by the end of the day. It did appear and I confirmed the cancellation there. 6 days later, on 1st December I got a refund transaction reference number. It took another 5 days and today I got the full amount on ₹110k back in my account.
Now the hunt for my father’s next scooter is back to square one. In ICE vehicles, Activa is his preference. Although I don’t want that, I’ll not get to hear any complaints. Jupiter would be my pick in ICE scooters. However the petrol prices is making him think of an EV. His daily running is 30kms and he feels the pinch every time he visits a fuel station.
Following are some of the OTR scooter prices in Bengaluru.
TVS Scooty - ₹65k Honda Activa 110cc (or any other 110cc scooter) - ₹90k Ola S1 - ₹110k TVS iQube - ₹120k Ather 450+ - ₹130k Ola S1 Pro - ₹140k Ather 450x - ₹155k Bajaj Chetak - ₹155k
We are clear that don’t want to spend much over 1Lakh and hence the S1 was perfect from a pricing point of view. Now that it is out, I really have real choice and we’ve hit a dead end! Considering all the points, one option I can think of is a pre-owned Ather 450 or Bajaj Chetak If I can get a good one. The search is on and till we find that, My dad has to ride the vespa and I’ve to continue listening to his complaints…
For your situation, TVS iQube would have been a perfect choice but unfortunately, its pricing is too high and they charge extra Rs ~11K for the charger. Currently, they are fine with limited sales (<1000 per month) but as their ICE sales start to decline due to multiple factors (fuel prices, awareness about upcoming EVs resulting in the Osborne effect, etc…) they really need to start thinking about increasing the production capacities and be ready to cannibalize their ICE sales to survive.
2 wheeler market in the country peaked in 2017-18 and since then sales are stagnated and declined even. This year for the last few months sales saw a rapid decline YoY. It’s not just due to fuel prices alone. I believe many are postponing their purchases as they are waiting for good electric models with reasonable pricing available.
Would the epluto 7g or Bounce infinity also be another option?
if they had given the scooter for 107k as they advertise WITH THE CHARGER, I would’ve gone for iQube for the usage. But it is 120k; I would rather buy the 450+.
The build quality is cheap and those hub motor scooters are something that I wouldn’t touch. Okinawa/Ampere/Bgauss/Heroelectric/epluto/Bounce all come with this hub motor setup.
Please consider epluto from PureEV. They are doing really well IMO. I see several of those in my city (Bombay)
Don’t even think about those epluto and other cheap ones. How many kms does your father cover in a month? If the covers average of 10kms per day, getting Ather 450 Plus does make sense as you will be saving on petrol costs. Over a period of 5 years, you will end up with similar or lower TCO with Ather 450 Plus or TVS iQube compared to Activa.
Also, if your father is the primary user of scooter, I strongly suggest to take him for a test drive of Ather 450 Plus, iQube and let him compare it with Activa. It is his scooter at the end of the day and his opinion/preference must take precedence over your taste. If he picks Activa in the end, let it be Activa.
Hey all,
I have test ride OLA today in Pune
Pros:
- Torque and Acceleration is mind blowing
- Speaker sound (horn, indicator) quite loud.
- Finishing and Design
- Tyre grip (broader tyre) is good as compared to other EV scooters
- Running noise is bare minimum (I doubt it is belt driven, but it is)
- Boot size is biggest than any other scooter (also fits in a L size full face helmet)
- Range of 150 KMs puts range anxiety to rest even for long rides.
Cons:
- Handling bit tedious unless you get used to
- Charger socket cover flap quality
- Side stand quality
- Appears and feels tall as compared to others (less height ladies might have hard time to ride and control)
- No key for start and opening boot
- The hump on foot board may not be liked by few people.
The stretch of road they had given me to ride was just about 150 to 200 m and was very plain. So couldn’t test suspension quality. Other features they couldn’t demonstrate.
Overall, it is a promising full featured and bold scooter. But for now, I won’t buy as it has not been tested on roads for longer duration and I cannot be a R & D customer for them.
What sort of test ride is being offered by Ola???
In a few cities, they are offering only in and around the building where the test ride location is. It’s mainly because of too much demand for test rides and vehicles need to be charged frequently if the rides are longer. That means an even longer waiting time. Still, they are giving longer test rides for some of the customers based on the time of the day.
Looks like deliveries are about to start for the Ola scooter. Many customers who purchased the scooter first are getting the emails and calls regarding delivery. Registration and insurance are in progress. I am part of a Telegram group that has members from different cities and even small towns. They also got delivery, registration related calls, and emails.
Here are some of the screenshots related to that:
So they don’t have a showroom, No service centre, No Backend team yet, No Grids(not that I have seen even 1 in Chennai, correct me if I’m wrong) and have started deliveries. This has to be the overconfidence in a product. I had to cancel this one.
Without any service assurance, how will they manage this product? I’m gonna wait for a year to see what happens.
I wonder why isn’t Ather trying to scale up faster? I have zero trust in the ola model. What if we get the scooter and the call centre number is like one of those banks? Half our to talk , another to register a complain and then multiple follow ups? Nah i would rather have a place where i could give my vehicle to service , even if the service is not upto the mark.