Ola CEO gets wish list from customers for electric scooter: Footrest, screen guard and well, fire extinguisher

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal’s post on accessories to go along with the Ola S1 electric scooter has received hundreds of responses. Among the most-requested accessories were a footrest for the pillion rider and, more bizarrely, a fire extinguisher.

As a spate of EV fires and other safety concerns put the reliability of electric two-wheelers in question, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter with a simple question. “What accessories would you like to have along with the Ola S1?” he asked his customers.

What accessories would you like to have along with the Ola S1?

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) September 15, 2022

Fire extinguisher

— Dhruva Pandey (@Dhruvapandey) September 15, 2022

Fire extinguisher

— Vedant G. (@VedVery5) September 15, 2022

I came here to see fire extinguisher. Twitter NEVER disappoints. https://t.co/YUyv0JTYYT

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— Gokul (@gokulns) September 15, 2022

a fireproof-suit for the time being and also a large fire-extinguisher if you may please! https://t.co/pRQPQr6YHg

— Biplov Belel (@biplovbelel) September 15, 2022

The Ola chief did receive several recommendations for accessories as well. A foot rest for the pillion rider, a phone holder for navigation, a home charging kit and back support were just some of the accessories that customers requested.

body guards,bottle holder,scooter stickers, ladies foot rest,back support,ola riding suit,hand gloves, seat cover, dent and minor scratches removal kit,ola T-shirt and cap ( complimentary), centre stand, screen guard for panel,enough for now sir @OlaElectric

— moiz patrawala (@moizpat) September 16, 2022

1.Centre Stand 2.Body guard 3.Ladies foot rest 4.A Physical remote key to lock and unlock OLA like in car and even in Revolt EV…Just by locking and unlocking via App and passcode is not user friendly..A physical remote key is must..

— Jagadeesh raj (@jaagan271191) September 15, 2022

A normal key no fancy accessories. Just a normal Key would have been been nice. The pin and the app are more of a hassle than a convenience !

— The World Through My Eyes (@surajmadhu1) September 15, 2022

For the last few months, there have been several instances of electric two-wheelers, including those manufactured by Ola, catching fire on road. The spate of EV fires has raised concerns about the reliability of such vehicles, even forcing Ola to recall 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers in April.

Ola Electric Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said at the time that world-class agencies have been hired to find out why the Ola electric scooter caught fire. However, despite his assurances, social media has been filled with complaints about the company’s two-wheelers malfunctioning or catching fire.

In fact, when not requesting a fire extinguisher in response to his tweet, people were flooding the comments section with complaints about their scooters and Ola’s customer service.

Still, my charging kit and installation were not done. I have sent many emails. But no response from your support executives. I have been following up for more than two months.

— R Nantha Ram (@Nantharam) September 15, 2022

Lol, the customer support who is supposed to respond does not even care to reply for months and you are seeking reply from the CEO.

— Wali A. W. Nusker (@nusk3r) September 15, 2022

The 95% of people who have reacted to you want you to improve your customer service and assistance. I hope you are familiar with the marketing notion of “word of mouth”. I am still in the host city and have not received my scooter despite completing complete payment on Sep 1st.

— Anand Kumar P (@ask_anandkumar) September 15, 2022