The Electric Vehicles space in India is heating up with news flowing in from all over India from incidents of 2-wheeler Electric Vehicles catching fires to the controversies coming along with it. At a time like this Ather Energy with Hero Moto at its cap table, is back with a new slew of products
ABOUT THE PRODUCT:
The new launch is called Gen-3. The new product is the same 2 models but with updates. Gen 3 is an upgraded model on the 450 platform that improves the overall product reliability, and consistency. It comes with a 25% bigger battery, 3.5 kWh, In terms of range, it has an ARAI-certified range of 146 km and TrueRange of 105 km, in city conditions. The New Gen 3 products will also be inclusive of chargers.
With Hero Moto on its cap table Ather Energy co-founder spoke about Ather’s relationship with Hero Moto Corp saying, “Both Ather and Hero Moto Corp share a special relationship but are very distinct identities. The DNAs are quite distinct. I would say Hero Moto Corp understands its market & customers incredibly well.”
“There will be a potential overlap. especially with the EV industry growing, whether its charging infrastructure or supply chains, 2 OEMs collaborating will have a lot more value to create as opposed to thinking of each other as a competition. both of us are building on 2 different parts of the market. there is an opportunity for us to grow the basic infrastructure together,” he added.
THE PRICE POINT:
The ex-showroom price for 450 plus is over Rs 1,32,000 and that of 450 X is over Rs 1,55,000.
In an exclusive conversation with ET NOW Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy said that “Places with state subsidies will have higher discounts.”
450X Gen 3 majorly competes with Ola S1 Pro, TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak.
On the topic of the latest news of EV’s catching fires and all the controversies around it, Ather Top Boss talks about Ather’s take EV’s catching fires saying, “Never had a fire incident in-operation. Chennai incident was done deliberately. Ather has the highest number of tests in the industry on battery packs, and vehicles. Carried out 120-140 tests for battery packs and 800+ tests for vehicles.”
Diving deeper into the new launch and what went behind it, Tarun Mehta says, “Every launch cycle takes about 15-18 months. We have invested the highest capital in Research and Development, and product development, which is over Rs 1,500 Cr in 6-7 years. Over 400 people were involved in the Research and Development process.”
