Building the vehicle, part by part as it has grown into today meant setting up a system to commercialise the product, ready it for production, roping in vendors, and creating cost effective parts. From ideating to production in 4 years resulted in the launch of Ather 450 and 340 today.
Ather sees 250 personnel work togther on the bike. And while the bike was being manufactured, the company concentrated on building Ather Grid as a charging solution to create a ecosystem for the electric bike the company envisaged. Both Ather 350 and 410 go into production next month, and deliveries begin in August 2018.
When Ather went to work, numbers on the drawing board were as follows for S340 – 0- 40mph – 7.3 secs; Top speed – 72 kmph; Range – 60 kms; gradeability – 11 degrees; and torque of 14 Nm.
In the buildup to creating a bike and necessary network, the company has also registered 542 patents, 122 design registrations, and 55 prototypes. Both Ather 450 and 310 are available for preorders from today.
Tech specs for 340 production model – 0- 40mph – 5.1 secs; Top speed – 70 kmph; Range – 60 kms; gradeability – 15 degrees; and torque of 20 Nm.
Tech specs for 450 production model – 0- 40mph – 3.9 secs; Top speed – 80 kmph; Range – 75 kms; gradeability – 18 degrees; and torque of 20.5 Nm.
Both scooters are differentiated by performance and not decals. However, for the sake of difference, the 450 has green stickers in order to tell both bikes apart at first glance. For the initial period, Ather 450 and 340 will be available only in white, and the company is still looking at other colour options. With pre-orders open on the website, and the company’s experience centre, AtherSpace in Indiranagar, test rides can be scheduled from Friday, June 4, 2018.
As Ather Grid, the company’s charge network is set up in Bengaluru, the company will first concentrate sales efforts in the city. Cities under consideration are Pune and Chennai in 2019.Charging commercials range from Rs 14-17 for full charge, and if done in a non-Ather network, the company will reimburse credits for the same. Vehicle warranty stands at 2 years or 30,000 kms. Battery warranty is for 3 years/unlimited kms for 70 percent cattery retention capacity. Carbon footprint is comfortably half that of petrol bikes.
In terms of component localization, cells are imported. Everything else in the battery is built in-house. 80 percent of word done involves aluminium bits.The Ather 450 and 340 targets auto enthusiasts, tech enthusiasts and EV enthusiasts.
Ather 450 can fast charge to 80 percent at 1 km/minute. It’s 5.4kW BLDC motor ensures easy ride climbs. The 7″ touchscreen dashboard displays onboard navigation with onboard routes and saved locations. Remote monitoring of vehicle health and charging are easy to view. Over-the-air (OTA) updates ensures continued improvement through updates and addition of features and functionality.
The Ather 450 home charging point will be installed at an owner’s home or workplace. Ather point is foolproof when it comes to surge protection, authenticated power draw, and remote charge monitoring. Ather 340 comes with a charging cable. Installation costs are waived off for the first lot of bookings.
The Ather app has push navigation integrated within. As such, if there’s a place you need to get to, you can simply open location on the app and send it to the vehicle console, and watch the route on it while riding. For reversing the scooters, one needn’t exert Herculean strength to pull and tug at the vehicle to get it in position. A simple swipe at parking assist does the job. Torque is same in reverse as in forward which is built in dashboard.
The Ather team will install charging points at home apart from the Ather Grid network the company is setting up across Bengaluru. Charging in itself is a hasslefree affair as the vehicle and charging point self authenticate, and the grid installation is braced for the elements, which means it can be set up in an open environment. Hardware is upgradable every few months, which means the vehicle is up for smart updates as they’re rolled out, similar to any smart device functionality today.
Service can be booked via app, and the convenience ensures an Ather personnel comes finding you, and not the other way around. And akin to any delivery app, you can track where the service personnel has gotten while waiting for the vehicle to be picked or dropped.
The Ather One app takes care of access to the Ather Grid, consumables, break down services, maintenance, labour, data services, and more at a monthly subscription cost of Rs 700. Subscription plans can be purchased quarterly or yearly but for the initial lot, a free subscription of one year is available. Ather 450 is available at an all inclusive price of Rs 1,24,750; and Ather 340 will cost you Rs 1,09,750. Price includes teh FAME subsidy of Rs 22,000, GST, road tax, smart card fee, registration card, and insurance.
