Ather's electric scooter to cost around Rs 1 lakh, launch expected in 2018

The Hero MotoCorp-backed company has started building a 20,000-unit capacity production facility in Whitefield, where the first batch of vehicles for pre-orders will start by 2018.

“We started as an electric scooter startup, but over the years we have gathered user cases that have led us to evolve the product to be a smart scooter. That fine-tuning process has taken time. We will freeze on the final design and price in next few months,” Mehta says.

“It is definitely at a premium compared to petrol two-wheeler, because we see a large opportunity for well-designed, no-compromise vehicles in India. An electric vehicle blends very well to be a smart vehicle, because we are cutting enough data, have enough control. For customers that is a bigger draw than price,” Mehta says.

Compared to other electric two-wheeler available in the market, Ather’s smart electric scooter does have some advantages, besides the modern connectivity features.

The two-wheeler can reach a top-speed of 72 km/h, with maximum power of 5,000 watts. The company claims that the battery pack will take just an hour to charge up to 80 percent.

A clutch of electric scooters available today in India from Hero, Indus, and Avon, have a top speed range of about 25 km/hr to 60 km/hr, with engine power of 800 watts at the maximum.

In the last two years, electric vehicle sales in India have jumped from 16,000 in FY15 to 25,000 units clocked in FY17, thanks to the strong focus of the central government on clean mobility.

However, Mehta feels the electric vehicle market hasn’t grown much in India, and the fundamental problem he says is lack of good products.

“The subsidy slab, for instance, is such that all the vehicles above 250 watts of power are clubbed together. So a bike like ours with 5,000 watts of power also falls in the above 250 watts category. But the cost of production is much higher than the subsidy we get. The OEMs have no incentive to build a two-wheeler that can actually replace the petrol variants,” he says.

Ather Energy was founded in 2013 by IIT-Madras graduates Tarun and Swapnil Jain. So far, it has raised USD 40 million in funding investors such as from Tiger Global, Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal.

It’s biggest round of funding came from Hero MotoCorp in October 2016, with a Rs 205 crore investment.

Could Replicate Tesla's model, provide free charging

Ather Energy had released a functional prototype of the scooter - S340 - in February 2016, and was aiming to start production by the end of 2016.

To surpass the dearth in vendors that can build components for an electric vehicle, Ather Energy has designed all the components – from chassis, to headlights, to engine, to the dashboard – everything in-house.

A bigger problem for Ather at present is infrastructure for charging of these vehicles.

The company is replicating the model developed by US electric car major Tesla, by setting up 50 charging stations each in Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune to power its electric vehicle.

However, as per India's Electricity Act of 2003, an individual or private institution is not allowed to sell electricity directly.

The law requires the entities wanting to do so, to acquire a discom licence from the state electricity regulatory commission.

Ather Energy is instead providing electricity at these charging stations for free to its users. The cost will be adjusted in the price of the vehicle, Mehta explained.

“It isn’t a loss for us. These in-house developed products are all IP-protected innovations, which will only help us in the long run,” he added.

In the run-up to its launch next year, Ather Energy is also looking at opening experience stores in the three cities, to create and grow the market for smart-electric scooters.

In the remaining months of this year, the startup will also add 100 new people to its existing team strength of about 200.

The company this week announced appointment of Venkatesh Padmanabhan, former chief executive of motorcycle manufacturer Royal Enfield, as its chief operating officer.

Padmanabhan will head supply chain, quality, manufacturing, and service delivery for Ather.

durba.ghosh@nw18.com