Ather Energy is an Indian

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

company, headquartered in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. It was founded by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013. It manufactures two electric scooters - the Ather 450X and the Ather 450 Plus. It has also established electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country called Ather Grid.

History

Ather Energy was founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. In early 2014, it received from the Technology Development Board under Department of Science and Technology,

IIT Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

and Srini V Srinivasan, IIT alumnus and founder of Aerospike. In December 2014,

Flipkart Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories ...

founders,

Sachin Bansal Sachin Bansal (born August 5, 1981) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of Flipkart During his over 11 year career at Flipkart, Bansal was CEO and chairman. In 2018, Bansal exited Flipkart following the Walmart deal. In ...

and

Binny Bansal Binny Bansal (born 1982/1983) is an Indian billionaire Internet entrepreneur. In 2007 he co-founded the e-commerce platform Flipkart with Sachin Bansal (no relation) and served as the chief operating officer until 11 January 2016 and was then p ...

invested $1 million as the seed capital. In May 2015, it received $12 million from

Tiger Global Tiger Global Management, LLC (often referred to as Tiger Global and formerly known as Tiger Technology) is an American investment firm. It mainly focuses on Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology industries. Background and histo ...

for investments in development, testing, production and the launch of the vehicle. On 23 February 2016, the company unveiled its first scooter S340 at a technology conference Surge in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Hero MotoCorp Hero MotoCorp Limited (formerly Hero Honda) is an Indian multinational motorcycle and scooter manufacturer headquartered in New Delhi. The company is one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world, as well as in India, where it has ...

invested in the Series B round of funding in October 2016. It invested again in 2018 to the tune of . In May 2019, Ather Energy raised $51 million in another round of funding, led by Sachin Bansal's investment of $32 million. Hero MotoCorp converted its

convertible debt In finance, a convertible bond or convertible note or convertible debt (or a convertible debenture if it has a maturity of greater than 10 years) is a type of bond that the holder can convert into a specified number of shares of common stock in ...

of $19 million as a part of this round. In addition to this, InnoVen Capital extended an $8 million

venture debt Venture debt or venture lending (related: "venture leasing") is a type of debt financing provided to venture-backed companies by specialized banks or non-bank lenders to fund working capital or capital expenses, such as purchasing equipment. Venture ...

. In December 2019, Ather Energy signed a MoU with

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

to set up a manufacturing plant for electrical vehicles in

Hosur Hosur is an industrial city located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Hosur is one of the municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu. It is located on the bank of the river River Ponnaiyar, southeast of Bengaluru and west of Chennai, the state ...

. The invested amount will be around . The company added two new products to its portfolio, the Ather 450X and the Ather 450 Plus in January 2020. In July 2020, Ather Energy raised $11.4 million from Hero MotoCorp, as a part of its Series C round funding. In November 2020, Ather Energy raised a fresh round of as a part of Series D round, led by Sachin Bansal's investment of and $12 million by Hero MotoCorp.

Production and infrastructure

Ather Energy began operations at its production facility in

Hosur, Tamil Nadu Hosur is an industrial city located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Hosur is one of the municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu. It is located on the bank of the river River Ponnaiyar, southeast of Bengaluru and west of Chennai, the state ...

, on 2 January 2021. The new Ather factory has an annual capacity of 1,10,000 scooters and 1,20,000 battery packs. The company currently has a presence in 27 cities across 15 states. Ather Energy also establishes Ather Grid, an electric vehicle charging infrastructure in cities it is present in. The company has set up over 220 fast charging points in 23 cities across India as of November 2021.

Products

Ather 450X (3rd Generation)

Ather 450X (3rd Generation) was launched on 19th July 2022 with improved range and other features. This new scooter is 6k more expensive then Ather 450x. This new 3rd generation Ather 450x has more powerful battery with 3.66 kWh.

Ather 450X

Ather 450X has a 4G sim card and Wifi along with Bluetooth connectivity and the new 7” touchscreen dashboard, comes with a color depth of 16M and a Snapdragon Quad Core processor. Ather 450X utilises Android Open Source to offer map navigation, On-board diagnostics and features like Over-the-air updates, Auto Indicator off and Guide-me-home lights. The Ather mobile app offers 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 supports connected accessories like smart helmets and tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).

Ather 450

The Ather 450 is constructed using an all-aluminium frame, comes with a 3.3 kW / 5.4 kW peak (7.2 BHP)

Brushless DC electric motor A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motor or BL motor), also known as an electronically commutated motor (ECM or EC motor) or synchronous DC motor, is a synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply. It uses an electronic ...

, and a 2.4 kWh

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

pack. The scooter can accelerate to 40 km/h in 3.9 seconds, attain a top speed of 80 km/h, and can travel 75 km on one charge in city-riding conditions (107 km in the Indian

driving cycle A driving cycle is a series of data points representing the speed of a vehicle versus time. Driving cycles are produced by different countries and organizations to assess the performance of vehicles in various ways, as for instance fuel consumpt ...

). Ather Energy also offers an upgraded version of Ather 450 called the Ather 450 Plus which has a top speed of 70 kmph and a True Range of 70 km in Eco mode. The Ather 450 Plus offers 4G connectivity, onboard navigation, and other connected features but does not have Bluetooth connectivity or the Warp mode.

Financial

Other services

OTA updates

Ather Energy provides over-the-air (OTA) updates for its electric scooters. Ather Energy has rolled out 13 OTA updates till date.

Ather Grid

Ather has set up its own charging network, dubbed Ather Grid, in 18 cities across India. These DC-fast-charging stations use Ather's proprietary charging method and connector to charge the Ather scooters at a rate of 1 km/min. The charging points are also equipped with a 3-pin socket to supply AC power to other electric vehicles that do not use Ather's connector. Other vehicles can connect to the charging point and start charging using the Ather Grid app for iOS and Android. More than 120 fast charging grid points are installed across 18 Cities in India. Ather has plans to set up around 300 fast charging stations across India by end of 2021. Ather also sets up a home charging point at customer's homes which will charge the Ather 450X overnight.

Ather Space

Ather Energy owns and operates its own Experience Centres. Ather currently has 55 experience centers in 46+ cities in India.

References

How to Charge Ather 450x at Home
EVsInsider.

External links

* {{Automotive industry in India Electric vehicle infrastructure developers Manufacturing companies based in Bangalore Electric vehicle battery manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of India Battery electric vehicle manufacturers 2013 establishments in Karnataka Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2013 Scooter manufacturers Electric scooters Electric vehicle industry