India: Irate over repeated snags, man sets his e-scooter on fire

Having faced numerous performance issues and technical snags with his three-month-old electric scooter, a man hailing from southern Tamil Nadu state set his vehicle worth Rs 1.5 lakh (US $2,000) on fire.

G Prithviraj, a physiotherapist from Ambur, took the extreme step after a harrowing experience with the company and its customer service.

WION spoke to Prithviraj to understand the turn of events that led him to empty two litres of petrol from his electric scooter and set it ablaze.

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He reasoned that didn't want those from economically weaker sections to have high hopes and invest in an EV scooter, only to be cheated by poor performance and customer service issues.

Prithviraj had purchased an Ola Electric Scooter in January 2022, and got it delivered to his hometown Ambur.

By the end of January, he had logged complaints after finding improper panel fittings, noise emanating from plastic panels and doors, and serious issues with the brakes.

Moreover, Prithviraj claimed that the bike was barely performing to 1/3rd of its claimed mileage on a single charge.

"The Ola Electric S1 model that I use has a claimed mileage of 181kms on a single charge. However, after getting it fully charged, the bike display shows that it can travel 134kms, but it barely runs for 60kms. Many times I have been stranded mid-way because the bike ran out of charge barely after 60kms," he added.

Prithviraj continued to face these problems even after getting the vehicle serviced by the company.

Despite having purchased the vehicle in January, the EV company hadn't facilitated the vehicle registration, Prithviraj said.

However, on his persuasion, the EV company made arrangements for vehicle registration but did so in a neighbouring town, which is over 50kms away from the vehicle owner's residence.

"There is a Regional Transport Office (RTO) in my hometown in Ambur, where the vehicle can be registered. But Ola Electric arranged for the registration in Gudiyatham town, for which I will have to 100kms on a round trip," he adds.

On Tuesday, Prithviraj rode his EV to reach the registration office, but he was turned away by officials citing that vehicle will be registered in a different town.

As Prithviraj, frustrated with the bureaucrat’s response, was riding back home, his vehicle stopped again due to low charge.

"When I was on the way back from the registration office, the vehicle showed a range of nearly 57kms. However, after driving around 5-6kms the vehicle came to an abrupt halt and went into parking mode and the range dropped to zero.”

“I sent videos of my ordeal to Ola Electric Customer Care and shared my grievances via E-mail and Twitter as well. I started reaching out to them around 10 am and eventually they agreed to pick up my vehicle from the spot where it was stranded, around 5.30 pm. It was embarrassing and frustrating as I was stranded in the afternoon heat. When I offered to leave the bike at a safe location and leave, they did not permit me to do so," he adds.

Having run out of options, Prithviraj asked his friends to pick him up from the spot and also bring along two litres of petrol.

Based on the video recording of the incident, Prithviraj set ablaze his scooter despite being urged not to do it.

On Tuesday evening, representatives from the EV company visited Prithviraj to explain and apologize. However, he refused to relent and raised several questions at the company, to which the executives are said to have not responded.

"As a physiotherapist in this town, I am well-known among the people and have to travel to various places to take care of my patients. I purchased the vehicle with the hope that it would satisfy my daily commute. I am not only frustrated with my experience over the last threemonths, but also want to warn the working class and delivery boys against buying this vehicle. Hence, I chose to set it ablaze (with no regrets) and send a message of protest to Ola Electric," he said.