Ola S1 electric scooter: Observations after 100 kms of riding

Ergonomics are average. A flat foot board would have been more comfortable. You have to reach to find the horn button.

BHPian sunilg33 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After a lot of follow up, My ola S1 was finally delivered yesterday and here are my observations after close to 100 kms of drive:

• The delivery experience was smooth and on the expected lines.
• Earlier, S1 customers were given the full range of the S1 Pro including the hyper mode but mine only is limited to S1 features by software. So no hyper mode and restricted range. But since the battery is the same as in S1 Pro I still don't know how exactly they are achieving it.
• The vehicle is a definite looker.
• The artificial sound some EV scooters make is totally absent and only the motor sound is heard. So put, a speed of 30 sound is almost absent and will have to use the horn extensively to make your presence felt.
• Ergonomics are average. A flat foot board would have been more comfortable. You have to reach to find the horn button. There are too many buttons on both sides and without a backlit button, it was difficult during the night.
• The UI is very simple and smooth, with no major lags.
• Starting from an incline, is very tricky as the motor is cut off until we release the breaks. So the vehicle tends to move back before it finds enough power to move forward. This is even more tricky with 2 people on board.
• Apart from the initial pick up, the vehicle rides like a dream. You will be doing high speeds without noticing especially in the Sport mode.
• Even though the vehicle feels heavy, the overall build quality is flimsy.
• You feel every part is made to look good than to last long. The side stand feels like it can break at any time, and the seat base is also very light. If you look at the front suspension setup, it feels very fragile and it's always on the back of my mind when I take a pothole.
• The true range shown on the screen is pretty accurate.
• When indicators are used, the vehicle makes a sound and it's pretty loud and annoying. There is no way to reduce the volume or turn this off.
• After the related stories, I'm afraid to touch the reverse button even though it worked as expected.

So overall apart from the average build quality the vehicle ticks all the boxes. Fingers crossed on the long-term reliability and hope that the bugs are fixed soon.

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