[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

First 10 customers are receiving their vehicles today. Ather CEO, Tarun Mehta posted few pictures on twitter (vehicles, customers and factory). This is a great achievement by an Indian startup. Hope they are very successful and expand to entire country soon.

https://twitter.com/tarunsmehta/stat...22935533006848

10 is very small I feel. anyway, good that it has started.
And I didn't know that the green number plates have already started for EVs

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

10 is very small I feel. anyway, good that it has started.

May be they haven't mastered mass production yet. Not a bad thing - I just hope there are no niggles in the initial batches.

Thought you will be taking delivery in the first batch, and give us a long awaited officially unofficial review.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Thought you will be taking delivery in the first batch, and give us a long awaited officially unofficial review.

I also hoped that I could do that. But as per Ather's forum, the order IDs delivered today are in and around the 1050 range and my order ID is still around 400 number away. Assuming they deliver sequentially and no one has cancelled orders and assuming the same delivery numbers per day, I may not get before next month.

[aim120]

If you notice carefully, they all appear to be S450. How may here booked the S340, I guess not many.

[sri_tesla]

Important updates from the delivery event:

• 96% of the pre-orders are for Ather 450 which has more range and better performance and costs Rs 15,000 more.

• Ather is now expecting to have 6,000-8,000 bookings from Bangalore by June 2019. They were expecting to sell 5,000 in the first year earlier.

• Ather is planning to open their experience center in Chennai by Q2, 2019 and is looking to expand to Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi by end of 2019-20.

[srishiva]

Wow, really an exciting moment ala Tesla. Been seeing so many in bay area and driving and see how things could change ! Feel bad for all the new non electric models being introduced on road.
Its great that its getting started with the most important vehicle for Indian market, a two wheeler and a scooter at that. Hope to get bikes in a year

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Bumped into this thread after more than a year.

Once again, I was fascinated towards the electric scooter and did consider buying this. But my annual usage is around 5000 km. I use the scooter for 10 years.

So, instead of buying Ather at 1.25 lakhs, it is better for me to buy another TVS Jupiter at 65k. Invest remaining 60K in mutual funds and expect an annual return of 10 to 14 thousand, which will pay for my annual petrol bill. At the end of the 10 years, I can sell Jupiter at around 8k (today's resale value for a 10 year old Activa) and also have my 60k in the mutual funds intact.

[hemanth.anand]

More images from Ather's facebook page.









Looking at the photos and reading some of the comments on it's forum, they have conducted the first deliveries really well I felt. As per the customer's comments, they had taken care of evsn minute details and arranged the whole event sseamlessly it seems. I personally liked the keychain commemorating the event too. I don't know where I'm in the queue right now but really eager to get it home. I hope and wish that the first batch of scooters satisfy their owners.

[sreeharipv]

This is big moment for EVs in India. First time you can buy a desirable EV in India. I wish they have an option to ship it to any address in India if owner is ready to take the risk of not being near a service center.

More power to them!

[Rajeevraj]

Good to see that they are proceeding in a sure and steady manner. Would be easy to get carried about by the hype and try to do too much too soon.

For now they seem to be sticking to their laid out plan pretty well. Good to hear the first deliveries was a smooth affair.

Wish them all success as they continue to ramp.

[AKTRACK]

I went through their website and could not find the price of a new battery pack. Although I am excited about the product here are what I think are the negatives -

- It is expensive. It is more than double the cost of the regular scooter
- Monthly subscription. I pay for petrol only when i ride it. If i don't ride I spend nothing.
- Cost of new battery. These batteries don't come cheap. I had one electric scooter and the battery itself costed 30-40% of the scooter.
- Must be lightly built for obvious reasons. The one I had was quite flimsy. It seemed a if the frame had a hard time coping with two adults during braking and potholes/bumps.
- And then there are those regular negatives like lack of charging infrastructure, low range, not for heavy hauling/use etc.

Still it is a step in the right direction.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by AKTRACK

I went through their website and could not find the price of a new battery pack. Although I am excited about the product here are what I think are the negatives -

- It is expensive. It is more than double the cost of the regular scooter
- Monthly subscription. I pay for petrol only when i ride it. If i don't ride I spend nothing.
- Cost of new battery. These batteries don't come cheap. I had one electric scooter and the battery itself costed 30-40% of the scooter.
- Must be lightly built for obvious reasons. The one I had was quite flimsy. It seemed a if the frame had a hard time coping with two adults during braking and potholes/bumps.
- And then there are those regular negatives like lack of charging infrastructure, low range, not for heavy hauling/use etc.

Still it is a step in the right direction.

It is expensive because of the following reasons, the production volume is several fold less then a Honda or even a Suzuki scooter. Currently a 125cc Activa costs around 80k On-road in Bangalore. If one adds a rear disc brake, navigation, Aluminum alloy chassis components (No rust) and led lights to the Activa 125 DLX scooter, the price would have increased by 15k or more.

Battery price as per Ather could be around 35k to 40k, but it could come down as battery cell price continues to fall. However, the battery pricing is directly proportional to the Rupee rate vs US dollar. Ather claims the battery will last 50000km, at which point the battery will loose 30% of its capacity.

Ather which is relying on imported magnets (assuming the motor is made in India), battery and other electronic components are also hit with custom duties. Where as a typical engine powered scooter is completely made in India (except for some electronics like LED emitter).

Monthly subscription is optional, first year is free.

You can increase the range either by making the vehicle light (like using aluminum alloy chassis components) or by using more batteries which again is subjected to import duties, currency rate.

The Ip67 battery pack weighs 19kg, motor is Ip66, controller is Ip65. All of this water and dust protection measures makes the Ather scooter, with one of the highest water wading capability.

[Rohan24]

Originally Posted by AKTRACK

.
- Must be lightly built for obvious reasons. The one I had was quite flimsy. It seemed a if the frame had a hard time coping with two adults during braking and potholes/bumps.
.
.
Still it is a step in the right direction.

As aim120 has explained the reasons for the rest of the points, I'll focus on just this one.
No, it isn't lightly built. In fact, the frame isn't a typical scooter frame, but an alloy frame with a front and a rear structure.
Moreover, the electric scooter you had, must have, most likely, been a Chinese scooter rebranded by some Indian manufacturer. Those scooters were made for the Chinese market back when they introduced subsidies,etc. for EVs. They were aimed at a completely different target audience and hence offered the bare minimum, in terms of driveability, power, comfort, etc.
Anyway, I suggest you take a test ride of the 450 sometime to clear your doubts. I haven't ridden it with a pillion but the suspension felt supple enough for a single rider at least and power on tap was unreal, to say the least. I guess it should cope just fine with 2 on board.

Hopefully, the infrastructure as well as the EV ecosystem in the country improves, that will bring the costs down and make it more competitive.

[avanishphatak]

I did the test drive of Ather 450 and we were 2+1 kid and the vehicle performed very well. I tested in all kinds of roads in Indira Nagar. Road humps, pot-holes ,zipping in the traffic and also quick sprint after in the signals were breezy.
One thing it feels difficult to accept is the annual subscription cost over 8 k. Which is a very expensive. Unless they include battery replacements too !
To compare the maintenance cost i own a Tata Storme
And annual maintenance average for the last 5 years is 10 k (per yr) which included the cost of 5 oil-changes, diesel filter changes, brake pad replacements, clutch replacement. Plus data charges for my navigation tab.
And people say Safari is costly to maintain !

So Team Ather should really think about their subscription charges.
If a huge SUV like Safari Storme's maintenance is around 10 k per yr then 8 + k for a two wheeler is too much to ask.
It should not be more Than 5k.

Or include battery and tyres too in the Subscription.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by avanishphatak

One thing it feels difficult to accept is the annual subscription cost over 8 k. Which is a very expensive. Unless they include battery replacements too !

So Team Ather should really think about their subscription charges.

Ather team clarified about this in their official forums. They are working to decouple certain features from AtherONE plan which reduces the cost for everyone. As "Ather One" plan is free 1st year, it should not be a problem for the owners in the near term. Please go through below thread (from post 51) to see few questions from members and updates from Ather team about Subscription plans.

https://forum.atherenergy.com/t/owne...ur-ather/49/58