The electric scooter landscape is changing rapidly in India. Once a dominating force, Ola Electric has consistently lost market share across the CY24, while Bajaj and TVS made quick success. However, Ola has returned with a vengeance with their Gen 3 electric scooters. The top-spec S1 Pro+ 5.3 kWh made quite a spectacle and putting it against rival top-spec variants sheds interesting results. Let’s take a look.
Ola S1 Pro+ 5.3 kWh vs Top-Spec Rivals
With the Gen 3 products, Ola has carved out a new top-spec variant called S1 Pro+ and it comes equipped with their in-house developed Bharat cells in the larger 5.3 kWh battery pack. Yes, Ola now has a 5.3 kWh battery pack and it dwarfs TVS’ 5.1 kWh battery pack and takes the crown of offering the biggest battery option in mainstream Indian electric scooter market.
We have to start with the pricing. Ola S1 Pro+ 5.3 has been priced at Rs 1.8 lakh (Ex-sh, without subsidies). In Comparison, S1 Pro Gen 2 is priced at Rs 1,24,999, Ather’s 450 Apex costs a whopping Rs 2 lakh, TVS iQube ST 5.1 at Rs 1.85 lakh, Chetak’s new flagship 3501 at Rs 1.27 lakh and lastly, we have Hero Vida V2 Pro at Rs 1.25 lakh (all prices Ex-sh, without subsidies). S1 Pro Gen 2 continues to be on sale at discounted prices.
It has to be noted that iQube ST 5.1 and 450 Apex are advertised with Rs 0 subsidies, while others get additional price reductions. S1 Pro+ Gen 3 remains the same as S1 Pro Gen in terms of dimensions and components but gets new elements. For starters, it now gets a chain drive instead of a belt drive and it gets the most powerful 13 kW (17.4 bhp) motor, while rival brands top out at 7 kW (9.4 bhp), which is less than half as powerful.
Specs & Performance
With this powerful motor, S1 Pro+ Gen 3 promises a 141 km/h top speed, which even most performant mainstream ICE scooter can’t achieve. 0-40 km/h sprint is pegged at 2.1s, while rival brands are almost a second slower. With the biggest ever 5.3 kWh battery, Ola is promising 320 km of range on a single charge, which is unheard of in electric scooter world and even in mainstream ICE scooter segment.
Hero Vida V2 Pro is the only one here to offer a removable battery option for convenience. iQube ST 5.1 is the only one with a rear hub motor. None of these scooters offer 14-inch wheel options and top-out at 12 inches. With new Chetak 3501 variant, Bajaj has repositioned batteries on its new chassis, carving out a 35L under-seat storage, which is the largest in this segment.
All contestants in the flagship electric scooter space offer a TFT touchscreen with Bluetooth connectivity and other features. Ola and Ather have a separate race in this aspect, stuffing their vehicles with as many features as possible. Bajaj has the smallest 5-inch screen in this comparison, but it still offers Map integration. Only TVS and Hero offer turn-by-turn navigation, which is a cut below the rivals.
Features & Value
Within this comparison, we can see that Ola’s past flagships, Chetak and Vida have affordable price tags, which go down further with subsidies. It is Ather 450 Apex which is by far the most expensive, while not offering the best of anything you can quantify on paper. However, Ather is all about experience and they claim to offer premium features and build a community of enthusiasts.
TVS is also priced at a premium, but it comes from a mainstream 2W manufacturer, which is a novelty in this segment apart from Bajaj Chetak and Hero Vida. Ola S1 Pro+ 5.3, on the other hand, promises best-in-segment range, performance, top speed, features and experience. But the company has caught a bad rep for lack of after-sales services, reliability and quality control. The company is currently experiencing a downward sales trend, which the new Gen 3 products aim to reverse.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
