Ola Electric Releases Statement On S1 EV Fork Breakage

CEO of the company Bhavish Aggarwal has released a video of the S1 Pro with advanced rider-assist system

Ola Electric has released a statement in a bid to quell the controversy surrounding its decision to replace the front fork of its S1 range of EVs for free. The company has now released details about the updated component and the process that led to the announcement of optional and free replacement of the S1 electric scooter’s fork.

The Indian EV company claims that its unique fork design has “75 per cent safety margin over and above compared to conventional twin fork systems”. Furthermore, the upgraded suspension has now, Ola says, raised the margin to a claimed 250 per cent.

Going by the stress test images shared by Ola Electric, the new fork has additional internal reinforcements, which should make it more robust than the unit it replaces. 

Ola Electric has also stated, “We have had 218 failures out of more than 2,00,000 vehicles on the road and more than 700 Mn kms driven. Out of these, 184 are accident cases. 34 are inconclusive or not accident linked. 34 out of 2,00,000 is 0.015% and 34 in 700 Mn kms is 1 in 20 Mn kms.” The company claims, despite the low number of incidents, it is providing free replacement to all its customers.

Will share more in a tech demo soon! pic.twitter.com/8GVirNMOAP

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) March 18, 2023

In other news, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola Electric has tweeted a video of an Ola S1 with what appears to be adaptive cruise control, something similar to what the Ducati Multistrada V4 and the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R have. It would be interesting to see how Ola implements the technology in its EV for Indian riding conditions.