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-   -   Ola S1 Electric Scooter Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/244398-ola-s1-electric-scooter-review-28.html)

I appreciate the benefit to the S1 customers.

From a legal point of view, if Road tax is calculated on the value of the vehicle ex-factory, how is the tax in this case where the product is fully loaded and only needs a software update to unlock the features.

I can get a product that costs more for less, and then upgrade and avoid some of the tax. The insurance company will have to be informed in such a case as the value of the vehicle has increased.

It is not an issue at all. I can give you the example of Ather here. Ather 450Plus and Ather 450X are same from a hardware point of view. 450plus has some features disabled by software. In the vehicle Invoice, both 450Plus and 450X have the same Ex-showroom pricing. So Road tax won't change (and moreover, road tax is 0 for BEVs in most of the states).

The Performance pack (the software that turns the 450Plus into 450x by unlocking all features) is listed as an accessory in the Insurance. Based on this Accessory, the IDV changes.

This is the same way how s1 and s1pro will be invoiced. For example at a later date, if someone buys this performance pack and unlocks feature, it is his task to get this accessory added into the insurance if he wants higher coverage. The IDV will be less if he doesn't add it but not illegal.

Good points there but here we are looking at a slightly different scenario in terms of hardware unless there are 2 different battery packs in Ather.

I think these are few points worth pondering which are.

1) S Pro has 30 percent more battery which means about 5 kilos or so more which is a constant dead weight.
2) The battery pack is the costliest part in the scooter and fitting a bigger battery would add to the company's initial cost if people upgrading is less in number. Am hoping that Ola believes differently.
3) How does the Fame II subsidy work if you want to unlock on a later date. S1 Pro has 4KW battery and 15000 Rs per KW translates to about 60000Rs subsidy. The government may take off the subsidy when the 1 million 2 wheeler mark is reached and 10000 Cr outlay for rebate is exhausted.
4) How does the battery management work in 4Kw battery for S1 which has been unlocked for 3Kw battery only.
5) How will the Vaahan registration look on a later date if i unlock the S1 Pro option.

I have taken delivery of my S1Pro Midnight blue and its pretty good . I have noticed a couple of bugs for the battery charging which got sorted after a hard reset.

The product is pretty good in its critical functioning pickup, ride, handling ,carrying 2 people ,decent range ( 110 Km for my enthusiastic riding)

I guess these the are important questions that need a good discussion plus the future on how the Ola service planning and product reliability pans out.

After much thinking, i cancelled my Ola scooter. Not sure if i did right or not but going by this post, it looks to me its worth a wait until all features are available as promised. Currently, I have two 2-wheelers which are hardly being used because of work from home option. I am prepared to wait for an EV for a little longer. Hope to see OLA delivering on all the features they are currently promising today. I would love to own OLA scooter. The only thing I did not like about the scooter was the bulge in the middle from apron to the footboard. Other than that, if the scooter performs around 100 km on a single charge, I am fine with it. Just my 2 cents.

Did not know that the underseat storage was so BIG!

There is a lot of comments going on here that have nothing to do with the scooter so I am just going to move past them.

Just came to post that when my scooter was delivered they were not able to dispatch the scooter cover with it. My Ola champion came by today to drop off the cover. I have to say I am pretty impresses by the cover. It is a good quality cover that I think I might actually end up using. Good job Ola!

No we are not. Ather does not have two different battery packs and neither will S1 and S1pro. S1 will have slightly lesser usable capacity (which is good in a way)

When Ola has announced that they will "upgrade all s1 customers to s1 pro hardware" It means that S1 will come out of the production line just like a S1 pro. if anyone unlocks, there is not "fitting of the battery" or mechanical intervention done to the scooter. A different software will be installed to the scooter that's all.
FAME subsidy will be ₹59550 for both. Take a look at the S1 and S1 Pro price breakup at the time of announcement...



Now if S1 customers are being upgraded to S1 pro hardware their invoice should show ₹163549-₹59550=₹103999 for the scooter. If they give S1 Pro hardware and invoice as per S1 prices like they had announced, it is providing false information to the Government authorities which might land Ola in trouble. They cannot have same battery pack but different prices. This is how Ather also invoices 450x and 450Plus.



So IMO, Ola has the following options:

1. waive off the 17K for the performance upgrade and ask S1 customers to pay 13k more or wait for an year. This may not go down well with the S1 customers.
2. waive off 17K and the 9k of the charger too and ask S1 customers to pay ₹4k more. Most of the S1 customers might agree, but this may not go down well with the S1pro customers as they are charged ₹9k for the charger
3. waive of 17K and 9k and another 4k as discount so that S1 customers will not have to pay anything more than the ₹99,999 that they have paid. This will surely anger the s1 pro customers as they would be paying ₹30k more than S1 customers for a performance upgrade that is worth only ₹17k.
4. they may also waive off ₹9k for S1 pro customers as well

Knowing Ola, I think they'll choose option 1.

BMS is also same from a hardware perspective. the firmware will take care. It will not be a problem. Also this software update need not be updated in Pariwahan or anywhere else. Think of it as a remap provided by the OEM.


Well the Etergo App scooter caught a lot of attention due to the under seat storage it offered. More because the way it was announced by Etergo. If you watch from 22:00 of this Unveil video, the founder takes out a case of 24 beers from the boot. if you observe the shape of the under seat storage, it is nearly rectangular for this reason :)

I wish you did not mentioned this publicly. Please do not highlight this again, atleast until I receive my S1lol:

Bottom line, no matter how much negative publicity OLA has, S1 looks good to me. Once OLA and others start selling scooters in quantities of 50K to 100K per month, all these subsidies will disappear. Total subsidy is planned for 1 million vehicles, Not sure, how many got counted already...

When can we have team bhp review on S1 pro? Also, all those new owners, how are they managing scooter without Key? What about handle lock to avoid stealing? What if you have to give it your friend for one day or for emergency? Like you are in office and some relative urgently wants scooter?
How are people living with these everyday irritations? I think this forum must talk more on user advantages and disadvantages, than S1 non availability..

Thought I ll jump in and answer some of your questions. So far I have not really missed the key as my family is interacting with it the same way we would a smartphone. It is nice that I can just sit enter the 6 digit passcode and ride away. All friends and family have test ridden the scooter at home but no one really had to borrow it. That being said I am looking forward to the app so we can auto unlock the scooter when you get close to it and just ride away. That feature feels so futuristic to me.

I am sure if someone really wants to steal a scooter they can but with the esim built-in I would not be surprised if Ola can not only locate it but also brick it if required. Even if you forget the pin for the scooter you have to call and get Ola to reset the scooter for you. Right now I think it's too new for someone even if they steal it, to do something with.

With regards to performance I moved from a Activa 125 and I always felt it was very comfortable in the 50-60 range without the motor making a huge racket or revving too much. Ola is such a bliss that you do not realize that you are riding in 60's before you know it. I try not to ride at higher speeds inside the city as someone always jumps in the way. But I have taken it up to 100 on the highways and oh my does it feel well planted at such speeds.

Can the owners of the scooters give me the stats on Vampiric drain (if at all if it exists)?

This is the loss in SOC when you leave your scooter switched off/parked overnight. On my Ather 450, this has been a problem, since you are advised not to shutdown while SOC is above 50%, I lose 100% charge to 50% in matter of few days. With his lockdown, I don't take out the scooter much, so you can say this has been a bane with that scooter in particular.

I am not an owner yet, but one of the owners (Raghu VS) in a telegram group mentioned that he observed around 2% per day loss. Below is what he had to say about this in his own words.

So, SOC went down from 73% to 66%, which is a loss of 7% after 4 days.

There are at least 3 team-bhp members who got their vehicle based on this thread. Maybe they can chime in with more details on this.

This is natural as all the sensors need battery to run diagnostics 24*7 which consumes a min battery. Only suggestion is if you do not want to use scooter for a longer period, say more than 8-10 hours shut it down so that you will not have a drop in battery % & range

This may be a dumb question. How do you shutdown scooter. Is there a manual key or touch screen thing. How much time does it take. Why can't this be done just like starting ice scooter!

This is one feature I hate the most. AFAIK it it completely dependent on your smart phone. There is no physical key.

Not sure what the scenario is if my mobile has run out of charge or I have decided not to take my phone. I suppose there will be a combination number lock that will enable you to use the scooter.