New Delhi: Ola Electric has denied that an accident involving its flagship electric scooter in Guwahati last month had anything to do with defective brakes.
Instead, the company released a statement Friday saying, the “rider was over-speeding and had lost control of the vehicle”.
On 26 March, the rider of the newly-purchased Ola S1 Pro met with an accident in Guwahati.
His father and owner of the vehicle, Balwant Singh, blamed a “fault in (the) regenerative braking” in the two-wheeler. He said the new scooter, instead of slowing down when the speed breaker was pressed, accelerated and produced so much torque that it became airborne.
The scooter went airborne crashing and skidding. My son was severely hospitalised on 26th March where he had fractures in left hand and 16 stitches in right hand due to fault in ola S1 Pro @bhash @OlaElectric pic.twitter.com/nwjTDv7SBA
— BALWANT SINGH (@BALWANT1962) April 15, 2022
Singh shared pictures of his injured son, saying he had fractures in his left hand and 16 stitches in his right. His son had to be flown to Mumbai for surgery “to save his left hand from lifelong disability”, the father said.
Refuting Singh, Ola Electric disclosed the speeding data of the vehicle on Friday. The company claimed the rider had reached a top speed of 115 kmph around 11:45 pm. The accident took place shortly after midnight.
“Our data shows all three brakes being applied together – front brake, rear brake and regenerative brake (reverse throttle) likely due to an obstruction on the road. This brought the speed down from 80 kmph to 0 kmph in 3 seconds. In the data, no sudden torque or acceleration is observed after braking, contrary to customer claims. The vehicle is detected by our sensors to have fallen on the right side,” the statement read.
Ola scooter mishap in Pune
An Ola S1 pro electric scooter had caught fire in Pune’s Dhanori area on 27 March, prompting the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to order a probe into the incident.
In a video, the electric scooter, parked on the roadside of a busy commercial area, was seen completely engulfed in fire.
Also read: Why electric scooters are catching fire & should this really make you worry about EVs