Ola Electric boasted its highest-ever monthly sales in November and rules the two-wheeler EV space with a 35 per cent market share. But even as its sales figures roar on the charts, its customers are causing an uproar, complaining about poor services and reliability issues.

In the past two days, multiple groups of people across locations have staged protests outside Ola’s retail outlets. In Karnataka’s Hubballi, for instance, 50 customers rued the inconvenience and losses caused by the purchase of Ola two-wheelers.

D Sheryansh, a 21-year-old college student who purchased an Ola S1 Air with his internship money, was shocked to see the bike turn off while riding.

“I have reached out to the service centre, but due to excessive demand, the repair waiting period is three weeks now,” he said.

Just like Shreyansh, many other Ola customers are facing difficulties due to delays in the supply of spare parts and repair waiting times ranging from three days to two weeks.

Ola Electric launched its latest model S1X in three variants — S1 X+, S1 X, and S1 X – in August this year.

Customer woes

Several Ola customers complained about the reliability issue and complained online about repair times or difficulties in finding servicing slots, according to a review of social media posts.

Yogendra Kumar, who has an Ola S1 Pro, said that after a recent update, his scooter stopped working.

“There was a 3.0.3 update, and since then it is not working. It turns on but doesn’t move. Even despite repeated requests, no action is being taken,” said Kumar.

Another user who requested anonymity said that in a span of eleven months, his Ola S1 Pro broke down thrice and it took nearly 5–15 days for the vehicle to become operational.

“The service centre manager informed that due to the shortage of staff, it will take a while to solve issues,” he lamented.

Another social media user, Saif Khan, was frustrated with the lag in connection.

“The scooter is mainly controlled by a screen. The screen is not responsive. It requires 2-3 touches, and it gets input after a 5-second delay – there is a lag,” he said.

Ola did not reply to a detailed questionnaire sent by businessline.

Ola Electric posted its highest-ever monthly tally on the back of strong festive demand and clocked 30,000 registrations (as per Vahan data) during November with a month-on-month growth of 30 per cent and 82 per cent year-on-year growth.

Ola has attracted marquee investors, including Japan’s SoftBank and Singapore’s Temasek, and is gearing up for a $700 million Indian IPO.

(with inputs by BL intern Sanjana B)

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