Independence Day was a remarkable day for the country and for the Indian automotive industry as well. 15th August 2021 won’t be forgotten as we got to witness the launch of two new electric scooters. Ola Electric S1/S1 Pro and Simple Energy One, from the pricing to the features, we got it all! With the launch of these 2 beauties, it is sort of mandatory to do a specs comparison between the established players like the Ather 450x, TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak and new kids on the block: Ola Electric and Simple One.
Pricing (Ex-showroom, Maharashtra)
It seems like Simple Energy and Ola Electric closely inspected the market and their respective pricing certainly shows their efforts. Both the scooters have managed to undercut their arch-rivals by a considerable margin.
The Ather 450x remains the costliest of the bunch and Ola’s S1 variant is the most budget-friendly as it is priced under ₹1 Lakh. The prices of newly launched Ola and Simple One vary with each state.
That is because the subsidies offered by each state is different for example, Ola’s S1 costs ₹79,999 in the state of Gujarat as it offers more subsidies than the rest.
Power, top speed and acceleration
As is evident from the above-stated table, the Simple One is the quickest of the lot and it disposes of 0-40 km/h run in just 2.95 seconds.
Ola’s S1 Pro isn’t behind either with 0-40 km/h in 3s. When it comes to the top speed, Ola’s S1 Pro barges ahead with its claimed top speed of 115 km/h. The Bajaj Chetak, staying true to its retro roots, is the slowest of the bunch with its 70 km/h top speed.
Battery, range and charging time
It is a widely accepted fact that electric vehicle owners do suffer from range anxiety. Looks, features, top speed are all considered secondary because it doesn’t really matter if you can toggle through music or how fast you can go if your trusted steed runs out of charge in the middle of nowhere. This is where Simple One absolutely blows the competition out of the park!
The start-up has claimed that in ‘Ideal conditions’, it can run 236km on a single charge. Ola too doesn’t lack a lot behind as its S1 Pro variant is claimed to have a range of 181km.
Features
Let us start with the newest kids on the block, Ola Electric S1 and Simple Energy. Ola claims that the scooter comes with a host of features to woo Indian customers. It gets a fully digital 7-inch touchscreen display with connectivity options. There is a ‘biggest in the segment’ 50-litres boot, cruise control, reverse mode, full LED lighting setup and fast charging capability available on the scooter. The scooter also gets built-in speakers and voice command feature. Ola S1 pro comes in a lot of colours which are Red, Pink, White, Blue, Yellow, Black, Grey, Dark Blue.
Now Coming to the Simple Energy One which will be offered in four colour options, the scooter has a mid-drive motor along with a portable battery and boasts smart features like a TFT touchscreen instrument screen with navigation on the go, Bluetooth and 4G connectivity, geo-fencing, OTA updates, remote telemetry, TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System), vehicle tracking, vacation mode and the system also gives you details about the nearest fast charger location.
Secondly, Ather 450x features the same 7-inch digital instrument cluster, LED lights, Bluetooth connectivity. It also has Android open source OS, and a Snapdragon 212 Quadcore 1.3Ghz, 1GB ram and 8GB storage. It also has a boot storage of about 20 litres. 450x comes in 3 colours Green, White and Grey.
The Bajaj Chetak has been fitted with LEDs for illumination all around. It also gets feather touch-activated electronic switches, a sequentially scrolling LED blinker, a large digital instrument console and a GPS location system to protect against theft and receive notifications in case of an accident or unauthorized access, the other important features available in the scooter are reverse assist, regenerative braking and fully-connected riding experience.
Like most electric vehicles, it also comes fitted with reverse gear to assist the rider when pushing it behind out of a parking spot.
Now Coming to TVS iQube, based on TVS’ SmartXonnect platform, the iQube Electric is a connected scooter which like all TVS products, focuses on the fun-to-ride factor. It comes fitted with a TFT cluster that can be paired with the TVS iQube app and offers features such as Geo-fencing, Remote Battery Charge Status, Navigation Assist, Last park location, Incoming call alerts/SMS alerts among others.
Other innovative features include Q-park assist, economy and power mode, day and night display and regenerative braking. The scooter is only available in one colour – striking white.