Ola E-scooter abruptly goes into reverse mode, leaves 65-yr-old man injured

CHENNAI: In yet another incident of Ola electric scooters mishap, a 65-year-old man was severely injured when his electric scooter went into reverse mode at full speed while he was trying to park the vehicle.

The incident came into light when the owner of the EV, Pallav Maheshwari, shared details of the incident in a post on LinkedIn.

In the video, the Ola S1 Pro can be seen placed on the floor sideways while its wheel is continuously spinning in reverse mode.

“The software bug in the #olaelectric scooter of going in the reverse mode at full speed has severely injured my father. He was the one who even at the age of 65 is very active and was enthusiastic to use #ola #electricvehicle,” Maheshwari wrote in the post.

“He was only taking the scooter from outside the house to park inside. He has banged his head on a wall with almost the skull open (with 10 stiches now) and broken his left arm which would have to be operated with 2 plates inserted,” he added.

According to reports, the Ola S1 Pro electric scooter was delivered to him in January this year. He had also previously experienced a similar issue shortly after the vehicle got delivered. Since then the issue never recurred. But now, the same issue has injured his father.

Notably, this is not the first incident wherein a Ola electric scooter has been in the news for switching to reverse mode without warning. Last month, a Twitter user account named Agent Peenya posted how his Ola electric scooter went into reverse mode without warning, which in turn led to a fall and minor injuries.

The Ola S1 Pro is currently priced at Rs 1.29 lakh and comes with a 3.97 kWh battery with a maximum range of 181 km. The EV charges in 6 hours and 30 minutes using a portable 750W charger that comes with the scooter.