HOW OLA WILFULLY ENDANGERED RIDERS

The electric scooter maker has to find a permanent solution to the SI model’s critical safety issues.

- Alisha Sachdev

Last April, images began to circulate of a blue Ola S1 Pro lying on its belly with its front wheel out, reportedly after a head-on collision in a Maharashtra city. The incident set off alarm bells among Ola's suppliers, a Mint investigation found, and they asked the company for an explanation. It appeared that the SI Pro, Ola Electric's flagship scooter, had a front fork arm that did not hold up in tough Indian conditions.

In a two-wheeler, the suspension unit determines how effectively it navigates rough terrain. It is what decides how smooth and balanced your ride is going to be. In the Ola S1, the suspension, however, is connected to the wheel by a large piece of high-pressure aluminium die-casting, called the front fork arm. The suspension does not buckle unless the fork arm casting breaks. Ola’s fork unit uses a cantilevered design, where the weight of the structure is supported only on one-side. It is the only scooter in India’s 20-million-strong two-wheeler market that uses this fork-arm as a joint between the suspension and the wheel.

In some cases, with the S1, this arm simply snapped when a rider applied the brakes suddenly. As more such incidents emerged, it was becoming clear that the scooter, a Dutch design suitable for the smooth roads in Europe, posed critical safety risks for riders on Indian roads.

When the first incident surfaced on social media, Ola had fewer than 50,000 scooters on the road. It had the opportunity to get ahead of the problem. The company, however, put off redesigning the part, which would have involved big changes. Instead, it continued to ramp up production, people familiar with Ola’s supply chain and procurement operations told Mint.