While all S1 scooters will be upgraded to S1 Pro hardware for free, unlocking the full potential of that hardware will come at a cost.
In a rather unusual move, it seems Ola Electric will be upgrading all S1 buyers to the S1 Pro, but with a catch. Customers who booked the S1 will receive a scooter equipped with hardware of the S1 Pro (most notably, the larger battery pack).
But here’s the catch. To unlock the full potential of that hardware and the extra features, namely the higher range, higher top speed, higher charging rate, cruise control, Hyper mode, hill-hold assist, etc, buyers will have to shell out an extra Rs 30,000 for a software upgrade pack. This will effectively make it the same monetary outlay as the S1 Pro.
It appears that the software on the scooters delivered to S1 buyers will be designed to throttle the top speed and charging rate, and it may even limit the usable capacity of the battery pack – an S1 customer would only be allowed to use the equivalent of 2.98kWh of their battery pack, even though it has a capacity of 3.97kWh.
This seems slightly unfair when you consider that they will be receiving a scooter that’s 4kg heavier than promised, because of the larger battery pack.Â
We have reached out to Ola for clarification on how exactly it will be implementing this arrangement, but are yet to receive any answers at the time of publishing.
