Ather Energy opens doors to new dealership, Kochi Experience Centre inaugurated
Ather Energy is keen on increasing its footprint in India, and the latest buzz is in Kochi, Kerala. The location for the newest dealership is Vytilla at Chakkiapadam Building, Ather Space Kochi.
Earlier in the week, the e-scooter manufacturer scheduled test rides at Tiruchirapalli aided by a pop-up store in Annamalai Nagar. The Kochi Experience Centre opened its doors today, and the company looks forward to starting deliveries.
FAME verification OTP
In another announcement this week, Ather Energy has had to suspend deliveries in Bangalore. This is owing to that fact that as notified by TRAI, the OTP mechanism has been affected across the board. As a result, FAME verification is impacted as it needs an OTP to be shared.
Keeping this in mind, deliveries in Bangalore are suspended for a few days. The Ather team will reach out to customers in regard to how to proceed if one has a delivery scheduled roundabout now.
Ather Energy expansion
Less than a month ago, Ather Energy began production at its Hosur facility. The move enables the manufacturer to increase manufacturing manifold. Annual capacity now stands at 1.10L scooters, and 1.20L battery packs. The company looks forward to using this capacity fully sometime in 2022. Following phase I targets, manufacturing can be expanded to 3.5L scooters annually.
In recent months, electric two wheeler sales has improved for a number of manufacturers. This market is currently dominated e-scooters. Within the equation, Ather energy is a renowned first mover. The company currently sells Ather 450X and Ather 450 Plus in February 2021, retail sales improved by two-thirds.
In the larger scheme of things, the Indian two wheeler market is a large one where production and sales numbers are concerned. As the electric two-wheeler market goes from strength to strength, the hope is to shift demand to EVs. The possibilities are endless considering it’s seemingly a wait and watch game now. While no Indian two-wheeler manufacturer has yet stepped forward to offer a timeline as to when they would go all electric, government guidelines for India’s EV goals are being revised on a regular basis.
For now, in the limited scope of EV sales, Hero electric is already leading the charts. This is in line with its larger than life in the mass market two-wheeler segments we know it now. Bajaj and TVS have already introduced an e-scooter each. Most interestingly, Hero MotoCorp has a sizeable investment in Ather Energy. A recent fund infusement from Hero MotoCorp in 2020 is earmarked for market expansion and thereby improved its market presence.
