Poor After Sales Experience Biggest Challenge In Electric Scooter Adoption

Ola Electric has been in the news recently for recurring technical glitches and service issues that owners of its electric scooters are facing. On the face of it, it would look like an Ola issue, but deeper investigations reveal that it's a problem that owners across companies are struggling with. And worse, redressal is either missing or the process extremely cumbersome for users.

Late in November, around 50 people gathered outside an Ola Electric showroom in Hubballi, Karnataka to stage a protest against the electric scooter maker. The people, all owners of Ola Electric vehicles, were protesting against technical glitches in their scooters, and the lack of after-sales services. Earlier this year, another group of disgruntled users demanded that an Ola Electric showroom in Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra be shut down. The dissatisfaction over unresolved issues with services are even more present on social media. 

A cursory glance over social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) reveals several complaints from owners of brands such as Hero Electric’s Vida and TVS iQube. But the majority of complaints are against Ola Electric, which, at 35%, has the largest market share in the India EV two-wheeler market.

Lack Of Redressal Avenues

Social media platforms are the only option for disgruntled customers trying to reach companies to address their issues. Several users that The Core spoke to said that they felt they had no other recourse than to post their grievances on ‘X’, since companies would otherwise not respond. The primary challenges that customers are facing involve complaints of battery draining quickly, glitches with the motor control unit (MCU), and hardware issues, among others. The second aspect of the problem involves a struggle to actually get the companies to address these issues and fix them. 

In September, Midhun Sankar from Ernakulam, Kerala was riding his Ola S1 Pro scooter, when it suddenly came to a halt. The screen showed that there was an error and it had gone into “park” mode. Its charging dipped from 24% to 3%. “After restarting, it came back to 24%, and I rode it for 1-2 minutes, but again the same error came, and it went fully dead on me,” Sankar told The Core, adding that the display also stopped working. “I had to push it for 2km to my friend’s home, I connected the charger there, fortunately, it got booted up and charged.”

Sankar said that he raised the issue almost immediately, but only after several social media posts did the company send roadside assistance to take the scooter to the service centre a week later. Until the time his scooter was in the service centre - another week - there was no communication from them. “I kept calling 10-20 times everyday… after a lot of posts on social media they called back,” he said. 

The company didn’t tell him what the issue was with his battery, but that it needed to be replaced and it would take a month. He brought the scooter back to use in the meantime, but he noticed that the scooter’s panels had been fitted incorrectly. “I called the service centre and they told me they'll resolve it while changing the battery…it’s been two months and I’m still waiting for battery replacement and panel refitment,” he said. In November, he completed one year of purchase.

This represents a larger issue at hand, as the country pushes for greater adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and users make the shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs – a completely different technology. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are still focused on perfecting a nascent technology and ironing out glitches. However, companies are failing to address behavioural challenges for new users, slow after-sales services and gaps in skilling. Unless companies provide smooth customer experience post sales, they risk turning away potential buyers. 

According to a September survey by McKinsey, battery issues and safety were among the top 10 criteria that users in India considered when looking to buy an electric two-wheeler. Additionally, most users in India rely on positive word-of-mouth reviews before deciding which brand to buy. The ongoing issues have put many potential users in a wait-and-watch mode, according to experts. This could possibly dent India’s ambitions to convert 80% of two and three-wheelers in the country to electric by 2030. 

Other Brands Face Similar Issues 

Many users highlight a similar lack of reciprocity in their complaints. A TVS iQube user from Bengaluru, who has been facing an issue with his motor control unit for one and a half year, told this reporter that it would take several requests to get a response and despite visits to the service centre his issue hasn’t been resolved. After several posts on ‘X’, the company generated a new ticket for him recently. 

“They never made any sort of communication to rectify the issue even after mailing them…then on 1st December I decided to visit the service centre where they took the complain…after multiple comments and messages to TVS I got my ticket number now again, but still they haven’t resolved previous ticket,” the Bengaluru-based TVS iQube user, requesting anonymity, said. 

Kulbhushan Pendharkar, from Madhya Pradesh, who had purchased an Ola S1 Pro for his sister in March, sent over 150 emails to the company. Frustrated, he said he knew their computerised responses “by heart now.”

Pendharkar has been facing a host of problems for over a month and a half including the scooter’s battery draining and issues with the seat. “You can reach out to them either through their app, or via email,” he said, adding that he continuously tried both. The app will generate a ticket, and on the email you get a computerised response after which the ticket is automatically closed. 

Several other users have complained of the same issue. “On their app it always shows ‘slots full’, if you have any issue and want to visit their centre for repair,” another Ola Electric user, whose scooter has broken down thrice in 11 months, alleged. 

He, like many other users, also complained how repairmen would call them after several requests only to later become unresponsive or block their numbers. 

Skilling Gaps

Another issue that investigations revealed was gaps in skilling. Electric vehicles use different technology from the ones required by traditional petrol or diesel vehicles. Most often, technicians are not adequately equipped to address a new technology. Electric vehicles run on a battery and a motor, as opposed to an engine. And the skills required for this new technology are very different. Many users complained that when they finally got service for issues, technicians appeared overwhelmed, and often could not correctly address the grievance. 

For instance, Sankar's scooter came back with ill-fitted panels. The TVS iQube user also complained that “most of my parts were broken by the service centre and here and there they just fixed it with a locking string.” 

Another Ola electric user in Uttar Pradesh added that technicians are under huge pressure. “My scooter has a fault in the motor control unit, but due to a lack of proper technical knowledge, the technician is unable to resolve this issue,” he said. 

The lack of third party repairmen also adds to the frustration and helplessness for users who are completely dependent on the OEM. “They should have methods like Activa, where local garages are able to repair the vehicle,” one user told The Core. “Except battery, all other issues should be resolved at local garages rather than relying on them,” he added.

Loss of Value and Money 

And this kind of user experience faced by existing users has an impact on potential buyers, as Indians are economical and weigh every aspect before making any purchase, especially in automobiles. 

“India is a very value conscious market,” Rohan Kanwar Gupta, vice president and sector head in corporate ratings firm ICRA, told The Core. This definitely affects the decision of a user in purchasing an electric vehicle. And it is not limited to calculating just the upfront cost or total cost of ownership. 

Pendharkar, for instance, complained that despite paying for the Ola Care+ plan, which costs Rs 2,999 annually, he hasn’t received any service or support from the company. “We purchased the scooter for my sister who has to commute 45-50 km daily for work…with the battery drain issue she can’t use the scooter regularly,” he said. He also said that it had been lying idle for over 15 days now. 

Another user based in Maharashtra complained that he hadn’t even been able to use his Ola S1 Air scooter due to repeated issues after purchase. “I booked it on 14th August, got it delivered on 9th October…the battery draining issue started just a week or two after buying the scooter,” he said. It stayed in the service centre for eight days, and when it came back, the problem still persisted. He took it back to the centre where they said his battery would be replaced. “The scooter is still not returned…you can see that it's not really been much time since I got the scooter and I didn't even get to enjoy it much,” he said. 

Another user, whose vehicle has had several issues in the 11 months since purchase, called it “pure torture”. “I sold my Activa to buy Ola and now [I’m] paying Rs 6,145 in EMI for three years…how to operate daily life without a vehicle?” he said.

Challenges In User Behaviour

It is not uncommon for consumers to face teething issues with any new technology. In the case of electric vehicles too, a knowledge gap exists in user behaviour. 

While issues with the motor control unit are usually a manufacturing defect, battery issues can be caused by user behaviour. “If you speed up too much for instance, it can affect your battery,” Naveen Sharma, who works as an engineer with a D2C EV brand, told The Core. “Similarly, when users put too much load on their vehicle, which might be over the weight the vehicle can carry, it can affect the battery life,” he added. Charging methods too can affect it. 

Users told The Core that they were not told what caused issues in their vehicles, and OEMs did not educate enough about the right way to maintain their scooters to avoid issues. On a visit to an Ola Electric service centre in Thane, The Core was told that the company sends regular notifications to users for certain battery charging issues. Ola Electric has not responded to multiple queries on this from The Core. 

In fact, users seem to rely on social media forums with other EV users on ‘X’, Telegram, and WhatsApp for knowledge and information on issues related to their vehicles. A look at some of these forums reveals that while companies like Ola Electric and Ather Energy do share user stats and some dos and don'ts (Ather Energy shared a list on how to keep your vehicle safe in the rains during the recent floods in Chennai), a lot of the knowledge being shared is based on user experience itself. 

“It will take time for the overall ecosystem also to evolve – for the consumers to become informed about how a particular product needs to be run, and for the roadside servicemen to actually gain that kind of knowledge to service the issues that are faced on a day to day basis,” Gupta said.

The Implications 

It is still too early to say whether bad customer experience has a direct impact on sales of electric scooters. “It would be wrong to say that they have not had an impact,” Gupta said. He explained that hypothetically if there was no worry over safety issues or service issues, the number of sales in November could’ve been higher. “But nobody can point out that impact in terms of numbers,” he said. 

The impact in terms of user perception, however, is clearer. “Recent issues of overheating, excessive/ sudden battery drainage and other technical faults have dented the confidence of potential customers and as a result, some of them have adopted a wait-and-watch approach,” Jeffry Jacob, partner and national sector leader, automotive, KPMG in India, told The Core. 

Both Jacob and Gupta said that knowledge enhancement and confidence building initiatives are already being undertaken by leading manufacturers. “This is likely to be a short term blip and the overall long term growth story continues to be strong,” said Jacob. He also said that the company expects EV penetration in scooters to reach about 70-75% by 2030.

“It's a matter of ecosystem developing over a period of time, and say for the next couple of years, these kinds of teething issues will actually continue to remain,” Gupta added. 

However, potential customers tend to check with other users and friends regarding performance of models, and after sales support by manufacturers, Jacob pointed out.

For instance, Pendharkar chose to purchase an Ola S1 Pro scooter because a friend suggested it to him. When asked if he would recommend the brand, or a different brand to someone else, he replied, “I wouldn’t recommend any right now.”