- Will introduce an electric motorcycle along with other scooter offerings
- New scooters to hit the market by end of 2020
- Plans to set up a new factory before September next year
Bengaluru-based electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energyhas announced its expansion plans and also the new products that are in the pipeline. The company had forayed into the Indian electric two-wheeler market in 2018 with the 350 and 450 models. As of now, the company only has the 450 on sale but it plans to introduce new products including an electric motorcycle. While the new range of scooters are likely to be introduced by 2020-end or early 2021, the electric motorcycle is about three to four years away from coming together.
The 450, which retails at Rs 1.08 lakhs (ex-showroom), is a premium offering in the electric scooter market. The final price will be kept in mind while building the upcoming scooter products to make them more accessible to buyers. Despite the price factor, Ather promises that the new products will be performance-oriented, well-designed and connected while offering a range of 75km on a full charge.
In terms of market presence, Ather Energy currently retails in two cities, Bengaluru and Chennai. The start-up, however, aims to add 30 to 35 cities to its network in the next two to three years. Of these, only 10-11 touch points will be added by the end of 2020.
Talking about company expansion, Ather’s current production capacity stands at 35,000 to 40,000 units per year. With new products in the pipeline, the current production facility will not be sufficient to cope up with the demand. To address this, the company is in the final talks of starting a new production facility that will have a production capacity of 50,000 units along with the production of batteries.
Lastly, on the topic of charging infrastructure, range anxiety is the biggest concern for all buyers in the EV space. The company plans to install a charging point not more than 2 kms from the previous one in the cities where it has decided to foray. Currently, in cities like Bengaluru and Chennai, the company has charging points in 29 and 11 locations, respectively.
