Back in feb 2019 my wife's 10 year old scooty started giving constant engine troubles. Having had enough, we decided to replace it and search for new scooter began. This scooter would be used mostly for local run-about and dropping/picking up my daughter from classes. Max daily usage will be around 7 KMs.
After TDing almost every scooter she liked, we zeroed in on Honda Grazia. I was about to make full payment of scooter and get delivery. It so happened a friend had purchased a hero optima and was giving good reviews. Looked at the specification and optima checked all the boxes
1. Removable battery : Cannot have permanent charging station, as our abode is an apartment
2. Range of 50 Km per charge: Charging once a week should be sufficient
3. Belt less design: Motor is very quiet
4. Sealed Lithium battery: Lightweight and zero maintenance.
5. Reliability of Hero Brand.
(4,5 would mean little as I realized later)
Called up a nearby hero electric dealer (normal hero showrooms do not sell EV's) - Chennai Eco motors perungalathur, Chennai and booked the TD. To our pleasant surprise, sales rep reached our place within a hour with the vehicle. TD done, booked the vehicle the same day by paying 5k Advance. Wait period was 15 days.
At this point I must complement Chennai Eco motors for their excellents service. The sales executive Mr.Karthik kept calling and updated me about status of my booking. Vehicle was delivered 2 days before the expected wait period.
Pros/Cons after using vehicle for few days (comments mostly from my wife who is the primary user)
Pros
Literally no fuss vehicle. Turn on the key twist throttle and ride away.
No noise
Checking air pressure is the only maintenance involved.
Cons
NO ODO!!
Update: The ODO flashes for a second when the scooter is turned on
No engine braking!!! Takes sometime getting used to this.
Does not have a start/stop button-Need to be careful around kids.
Realistic range is 40 KM per charge- the battery indicator starts blinking after this and leads to range anxiety.
Service Experience
The Vehicle has 3 main parts- Controller, Motor and Battery. Except for charging the battery, there is no other maintenance needed. In both first and second free service, vehicle was cleaned with a wet cloth and brakes were checked.
Fast forward to OCT 19
Good things dont last long- so they say. One day when taking out the battery for charging, I noticed that it had bulged!! Bulged lithium batteries always turn on my safety radar due to my past experience involving a sony Viao laptop . Also, considering the fact the vehicle was used by my wife and Kid, I immediately called the service center and also sent a mail to hero. This is where things started going downhill.
Hero sent me the phone number of their service engineer. I called him and informed him of the battery bulge issue and told him I have safety concern over battery bulge. His immediate response was "Overcharging could have caused the bulge" and gave me an example of how mobile battery can bulge when overcharged. This is in direct contradiction with what hero says about battery management system in their user manual (page 7)-
User Manual
I requested him to look at the vehicle and ensure that it is safe to use.
Vehicle was taken in for battery test. I kept insisting that I am more concerned about safety of battery than mileage. After 3 days of "Mileage tests" vehicle was returned to me stating there is nothing wrong. The service engineer also called me to say battery is safe to use and I can only hope he has done due diligence. (I have recordings of all calls- just in case)
Scooter runs fine but the nagging concern remains.
Lessons Learnt
- Lithium battery technology has a long way to go before it is completely safe for everyday use.
- This is still India!! safety takes a backseat no matter who manufactures/services the product. Govt should/would wake up at some point and frame regulations regarding battery safety and consumer rights.
- Companies can get creative w.r.t warranty policies of batteries. Check page 14 of user manual- Wish I had seen this before purchasing the vehicle.
This experience has been enlightening in the true sense.