The Ola Roadster X is set for mid-March deliveries, but homologation is yet to be completed, and ongoing thermal management challenges have raised quality apprehensions.
Ola Electric’s eagerly awaited Roadster X motorcycle, which was announced with much fanfare last month, is currently riven with the news of serious setbacks as it attempts to achieve key readiness milestones. Despite mid-March delivery timelines announced by the company, the motorcycle has yet to be homologated — a regulatory process required for certification of roadworthiness. The vehicle is far from being ready for mass production or delivery, according to individuals familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.
Homologation Explained
Homologation is a process that is carried out to ensure that any vehicle meets Indian standards for safety, emissions, and roadworthiness as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. As per the VAHAN government website, every vehicle produced or imported in India needs this certification to be sold legally and used on public roads. Its non-compliance throws Ola Electric into a tight spot, with the first delivery date looming.
March Deadline
Though it hasn’t been homologated yet, Ola Electric is aiming to deliver the first batch of the Roadster Xs by mid-March, but insiders are skeptical about this deadline due to several design and performance issues yet to be addressed by the motorcycle. Certain critical components such as the thermal management system, battery pack, BMS (battery management system), and motor are allegedly not up to par for delivering an efficient and safe operation.
Thermal Issues
The second and more concerning aspect would be the Roadster X thermal management system. The top-end variant, Roadster X+, gets a 9.1 kWh battery, which is a new ballgame. According to insider information, the current thermal management technology for the battery system, meant to prevent overheating and potential fires caused by battery problems, is not adequately dissipating heat from the massive battery pack. This raises significant concerns about the vehicle’s safety and long-term reliability.
Battery Woes
X five battery variants (2.5 kWh- 9.1 kWh) and an estimated range of 252–502 km. However, thermal inefficiencies dampen the practicality of these specs in practice. The 9.1 kWh battery, which uses Ola’s proprietary 4680 Bharat cell technology, has a significantly high pH level that is raising concerns about the flagship model’s longevity and safety, as it tends to overheat more.
Gigafactory Delay
Adding to that challenge is a production delay at Ola Electric’s Gigafactory in Tamil Nadu. The plant itself hasn’t started mass production of the high-capacity batteries needed for the Roadster X+. This lag in production will only make it more difficult for them to hit a deadline for the top-end Roadster X+ model, which could push it well and truly into the future, far past the original mid-March schedule.
Recurrent Concerns
The Roadster X’s troubles seem symptomatic of similar failures that plagued Ola Electric’s scooters, which received heavy criticism at their launch over quality and service issues. Those issues only worsened after the company’s public listing in July 2024, when attention turned to its operational inefficiencies. The repetitive nature of these issues also suggested a lack of meaningful learning on the part of the company and the implementation of sufficiently permanent measures.
Customer Complaints
In September 2024, Ola Electric faced negative publicity after reports emerged that the company was receiving nearly 10,000 complaints per month about its scooters. According to an NDTV Profit report, thousands of scooters were lying in service centers without spare parts to be able to repair and service the scooters in question. The company’s failure to solve these problems attracted the attention of the government, and the trust of consumers was diminished. Despite this being the case, Ola Electric appears to have overcome this with the new Roadster X, but the problems that have arisen make one think otherwise.
Government Oversight
The controversies over the scooter caught the attention of several regulators, leading to investigations into the practices of Ola Electric. Regardless of the company’s insistence to regulators as well as the general public, that it was working intently to find its footing again, the latest versions of the latest generations of the Roadster X indicate that there remains a considerable lag in sex and testosterone in the company’s ability to boost quality control and efficiency in its product lines. This merely exemplifies the importance of robust data and continuous improvement of manufacturing.
Competitive Pricing
Now, thanks to some fierce expansion efforts lately, two-wheeler producers have had to work hard in elevating their vehicles to stand their ground through their perceived options by shaping their pricing system around stiff competition there, and Ola Electric seems to have taken a big leap in that department with its Roadster X priced competitively against 125-cc commuter motorcycles. The response to this strategy has been overwhelming, and many are now seeing the Roadster X as a potential game-changer for the electric two-wheeler sector. But the outstanding technical and production problems threaten to undercut that positioning.
Rising Expectations
Consumer expectations are high on specifications/features for the Roadster X. Modern aesthetics combine with a claimed range of up to 502 km, giving the motorcycle enough potential to shake things up. But the ongoing issues with homologation, thermal management and production capacity risk denting consumer confidence. reported that it had put its facility in Austin, which is vital to the production of Cybertruck, into power outage mode last week, where the factory has a limited “skeleton” shift that continues to operate.
Also Read
Hyundai CEO Says India Will Play ‘Stellar Role’ in 2 Million EV Global Sales by 2030
About The Author
