BHPian bijims recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
As expected with Ola (they are notorious for having poor after-sales and customer service), there was ZERO response after this. With me being busy for my trip to Muscat, I decided to try out all the features and functions of the scooter for the last couple of days before my trip, thankfully, most of the features work as expected, except the Proximity Unlock which has a mind of its own (It's still in Beta though) as well as Hill Hold which doesn't work at all when riding with a pillion and on the quite steep incline on the way to my house.
However, Hill Hold does work when I am riding solo, don't know whether it is something with the software or hardware, Everything else apart from that including the modes, regen settings, Bluetooth connectivity, Maps, and Party Mode works as expected.
The scooter is fun to ride and I have tried out all the modes (Eco, Normal, Sport and Hyper). What I have found out is that you don't need to ride in Eco to get the maximum range, you can ride even in Hyper too provided you maintain a steady speed of around 40 to 50 km/h, somehow, I have achieved my best efficiency figures in this Hyper mode, moreover, the torque in Hyper Mode is on another level, and you can easily overtake anything on the road.
I have tested all the regen modes as well and found the best is to turn it off and use forced regen (twisting the throttle in the opposite direction) when required and it works like a charm, it can take care of most of your braking needs in city traffic and at low speeds too (however it works only below 90% SOC).
Now, I noticed that idle battery drain was around 3% per day, so I figured why not try the Vacation Mode on my trip to Muscat, and so I put my Scooter in Vacation Mode on the 17th at around 75% SOC and it has been over a week and the scooter still shows 72% SOC, which translates to around 0.5% idle drain a day, These figures are in line with what OLA says (Battery may drain from 100% to 0% in a month i.e. around 3.33% per day and Vacation Mode battery drain from 100% to 0% takes around 200 days, i.e. 0.5% per day)
Being satisfied with the scooter's features and performance, my only gripe is the poor fit and finish, which is sadly what Ola considers to be the norm. Hopefully, everything else works out fine and I can have a happy and niggle-free ownership experience.
However, a couple of things I would like Ola to solve is the service, which needs to improve drastically, the service centres, staff etc need to improve a lot. Firstly, they need to ramp up the service network, I don't think 600 service centres would be enough going by the numbers they sell. The time required to solve even the simplest of issues is enormous and this is a major issue which needs attention. The next is the QC, I don't think they have set any standards for the same or their tolerance levels are sub-par, how else can you explain these panel gaps that are an eyesore?
If these things are taken care of, I am sure OLA would rule the entire two-wheeler segment (not just the EV 2-wheeler segment). Simply selling the scooter and not looking back may make you the best-seller for a while (Ola is on course to sell over 40,000 scooters this month), but proper after-sales, a good quality product and customer service will ensure you remain there.
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.