Indian electric vehicle startup Ather Energy launched its flagship electric scooter Ather 450 in India on Tuesday, World Environment Day. Alongside, it also launched the Ather 340 scooter. The newly launched Ather 450 comes at a price of Rs. 1,24,750, while the Ather 340 is priced at Rs. 1,09,750 – both prices are inclusive of a FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles) subsidy of Rs. 22,000, GST, Rs. 0 road tax, smart card fee, registration card, and insurance. The company is taking pre-orders for both the electric scooters on their website, and test rides can also be booked for June 8 at AtherSpace in Indira Nagar, Bengaluru.
The Ather 450 comes with a top speed of 80kmph, a range of 75km and one of the quickest accelerations of 3.9 seconds from 0-40kmph in the scooter market. The Ather 340, on the other hand comes with a top speed of 70kmph, a range of 60km and accelerations of 5.1 seconds from 0 to 40km in the scooter market. The Ather 450 can also be fast charged. It comes with a 3.3kW BLDC motor that can comfortably ride up 18-degree slopes, enabling it to climb steep parking lots, flyovers, and roads. It supports intelligent features like parking assist that will guide riders to reverse into tight parking conditions. The electric scooter has a 7-inch touchscreen dashboard, and an onboard Ather app that brings navigation tools with options of alternative routes and saved locations. Services can also be scheduled via the app, with a doorstep pickup and service facility also provided. The app will also provide notifications on kilometres, vehicle health, battery percentage, and much more. The app will also enable the company to send regular OTA updates to the scooter with new features functionalities.
The Ather 450 comes with a home charging point that will be installed by the company at either owners’ homes or workplace. Features like surge protection, authenticated power draw, and remote charge monitoring is also included.
Ather Energy offers 2 years or 30,000 kms vehicle warranty, 3 years of battery pack warranty, and 3 years of home charging point warranty. With the purchase of any of the two scooters, Ather is offering one year of Ather One subscription plan free for the first year. This plan includes free public and home charging, periodic maintenance inclusive of consumables, breakdown assistance and unlimited data services for the dashboard. The plan will cost Rs. 700 per month after one year. The company will also provide and install a home charging point with the Ather 450 and a charging cable with the Ather 340 for free.
Tarun Mehta, co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy said in a statement, “We started building electric scooters four years ago at IIT Madras and we are super excited to launch not only the Ather 340, but also our higher performance flagship variant, the Ather 450. It has been designed with quick acceleration, great handling, high storage space and new-to-category features like park assist, remote diagnostics, and onboard navigation. In the last 4 years we have not only built the scooter, but an ecosystem for an electric vehicle future. Be it the suppliers and partners who were entering the EV market, the charging infrastructure that had to be set up for consumers and the engineering talent itself to build the products. Between the Ather 450 and Ather 340 launching and AtherGrid being up and running in Bengaluru, we are really looking forward to expanding into Chennai & Pune in the coming months. These are exciting times to be a part of the industry.”
