Rider was overspeeding, nothing wrong with vehicle: Ola Electric on Guwahati accident

Ola found itself in a controversy again when an Ola Electric S1 Pro rider was hospitalised in Guwahati, following an alleged fault in the regenerative braking system. Due to the glitch, the scooter accelerated rather than slowing, when it was approaching a speed breaker.

The incident came to light when the scooter owner Balwant Singh, whose son was involved in the accident, shared the news on Twitter. “On 26th March 2022 my son had an accident due to fault in regenerative breaking where on speed breaker instead of slowing, the scooter accelerated sending so much torque that he had an accident,” Singh said in a tweet.

“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,” Singh added, tagging Ola’s CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and Ola Electric.

“I am still awaiting Investigation Report of you Ola Team alongwith datasets for the date of accident which ur Executive told was recorded in the scooter but was hesitant to share. Can’t we customer’s have access to our own ride data?” Singh further said.

After these tweets, Ola Electric has issued a statement saying that its scooter was not at fault in the incident as per its investigations.

“We did a thorough investigation of the accident, and the data clearly shows that the rider was overspeeding throughout the night and that he braked in panic, thereby losing control of the vehicle. There is nothing wrong with the vehicle,” the company said in its statement.

Showing graphical data of the last roughly 30 minutes of the accident ride recorded by the scooter, the company said that the rider had been overspeeding and was hitting speeds of up to 115 kmph.

Also read: EV accidents prompt Ola to recall 1,441 electric scooters

The company said that at the time of the accident, the scooter was at a recorded 80 kmph when all three brakes were applied, slowing down the scooter to 0 kmph in three seconds. It also said that there was no sudden spike in acceleration when the brakes were applied. The company said that as per the scooter’s onboard sensors it fell over onto its right side subsequently.

The company had recently recalled 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers, after increasing complaints against its EVs.