Ather Energy recently launched its electric scooter Ather 450X in India. With this new offering, Ather had said it will enter new cities beyond Bengaluru and Chennai at the time of launch. Now with high demand pouring in from other cities, Ather has confirmed its entry into 4 more new markets.
In January, the company had confirmed its launch in the following markets basis the demand received for the scooter- Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. Since the national launch, Ather has received thousands of pre-orders from across the country, with key cities like Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore and Kolkata taking the lead.
These four new cities will see installation of fast charging infrastructure in the coming months, followed by delivery of the scooters. Ather 450X can be pre-ordered via the company website for a fully refundable Rs 2500. Ather has also been receiving dealership requests from these cities which will make it easier for the company to rapidly expand.
The Ather Forum has been abuzz with requests for the company’s community engagement programs to begin in cities beyond the metros. Consumers in the new cities can expect to see meet ups and test rides being conducted in their neighbourhood in the coming months. Along with fast public chargers, Ather 450X owners will receive home chargers Ather Dot, so they can conveniently charge their scooters at home.
Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder Ather Energy said, “There’s been an amazing response for the Ather 450X across the country. We have been receiving pre-orders from not just the major metros but also several Tier II & III cities. Similarly, there have been more than 2000 requests for retail partnerships. By the end of this year, we will be present in ten cities and will continue to scale up to more than 30 cities by 2023. Our only focus now is scaling the experience of Ather 450X to all over the country.”
Ather 450X
This scooter is a significant step-up from Ather 450 with improvements across multiple key parameters. Ather 450X is quicker, more intelligent than its predecessor and comes in three new colours; Grey, Green, and White. The scooter is powered with a 6kW PMSM motor, a new 2.9 kWh lithium-ion battery and comes with 4 riding modes. In addition to Eco, Ride, and Sport, Ather is introducing a new high-performance mode, 'Warp'. Ather 450X can go from 0 to 40 kmph in just 3.3 seconds in the Warp mode, making it the quickest electric scooter in its category.
The significant improvement in its battery has enabled a projected Indian Drive Cycle (IDC) range of 116 km and a real-life range of 85 km in city conditions. Ather 450X will also charge 50% faster than before at 1.5km per minute, making it the fastest charging rate in the electric two-wheeler category, the company claims.
Ather 450X will have a 4G SIM card along with Bluetooth connectivity, allowing riders to manage phone calls and music on the touchscreen dashboard. The new 7” touchscreen dashboard, comes with a colour depth of 16M and a Snapdragon Quad-Core processor. Ather 450X utilises Android Open Source to offer map navigation, on-board diagnostics and other unique features like over-the-air updates, auto indicator off and guide-me-home lights.
The Ather mobile app will continue to offer personalised ride statistics, charging status, push navigation and more functionalities like theft & tow detection, live location & vehicle state tracking, voice assistant and welcome lights. Ather 450X will support connected accessories like smart helmets and tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).
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