Despite the escalating competition in the electric two-wheeler market, the Bengaluru-based modern age electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy is producing a tonne of its wildly popular scooter 450X. Recently the company also announced the achievement of a huge milestone. Ather Energy revealed that it has now reached the breakthrough landmark of producing more than 50,000 units of its 450X e-scooter.
The popularity of Ather Energy electric scooters has risen to all-time highs in the recent few months and every passing month it seems to break its old records. Just in July of this year, the company announced that it sold 2,389 electric scooters across India. In July 2022, Ather’s sales increased by 24% year on year, with1,926 units sold in the same time the previous year.
Ather Energy Co-Founder and CEO Tarun Mehta, quoted the company tweet and provided a brief timeline of the company getting to the elusive 50,000 units sale mark. Mehta shared a tweet that read, “10K units: 35 months, 20K units: 5 months, 30K units: 5 months, 40K units: 3 months, 50K units: 2 months, 60K units: ? . . The journey to a million units.”
The company recently also launched the third generation 450 Plus and 450X, which have larger battery packs, longer ranges, and enhanced functionality. The Ather 450X is priced at Rs. 1.56 lakh ex-showroom Bangalore, while the 450 Plus is priced at Rs. 1.34 lakh. These prices represent a Rs. 5,000 increase over the 2nd-generation variants. The ARAI-certified range of the Gen-3 Ather 450X is 146 km, with a real-world range of 108 km (dubbed True Range by Ather). The ARAI-certified range of the Gen-3 Ather 450 Plus is 108 kilometres, whereas the True Range is 85 kilometres.
The battery pack has increased in size from 2.9 kWh to 3.7 kWh. The 450X offers five ride modes: Warp, Sport, Ride, SmartEco, and Eco. The 450 Plus model offers four ride modes (warp mode skipped). The Ather 450X’s electric motor produces 8.7 Bhp when in Warp mode. The 450 Plus’ maximum torque is 22 Nm, whereas the 450X’s maximum torque is 26 Nm.
Both scooters now have a side step, bigger tyres, revised mirrors, and more processing capability for the 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system (2 GB RAM and 16 MB ROM). The kerb weight has increased slightly to 111 Kg, but the 22-litre under-seat storage has not altered (up from 108 Kg). Other notable features of the Gen-3 Ather 450 Plus and 450X electric scooters include hydraulic disc brakes on both wheels, brake energy regeneration, 12-inch wheels, telescopic front forks, a mono-shock rear suspension, and an auxiliary tyre pressure monitoring system.
In other electric vehicle news, recently the government of Maharashtra withdrew its subsidies for electric two-wheelers. The subsidies were introduced by central and various state governments in order to give a push to electric mobility. But now as the number of electric vehicles is growing some of the state governments have started to cut back on the subsidies. Goa and Maharashtra are the first two states to make this move.