[Nilesh5417]

The Ather S340 seems to be now up against what looks like a real challenger. Also, home grown, 22Motors has now unveiled a working prototype of their smart electric scooter - FLOW which will be formally show cased at the AutoExpo 2018.

Watched it on Living Cars and googled around a bit to find the most informative news article.

A prototype of a smart electric scooter is taking shape at the Gurugram-based Twenty Two Motors complete with GPRS, GPS and devices such as gyroscope and accelerometer.

The startup, founded in August 2016 by automobile-loving engineer Parveen Kharb and Vijay Chandrawat, a software engineer with a career spanning startup roles, raised Rs 10 crore last week from a clutch of high-net-worth individuals in auto industry and plans to launch their innovative scooter at the next Auto Expo in February 2018.

“The smart scooter is powered by artificial intelligence and all information is accessible on our server through a cloud system,” said chief executive Kharb. The rider is always connected to the scooter via the mobile application that allows remote control and access. The cloud system allows for troubleshooting automatically.

The fully Internet of Things powered scooter, built with a lithium ion battery pack, battery management system and smart electronics, uses artificial intelligence to analyse ride behaviour from various sensors on scooter and enables decisions regarding the optimal route to be taken depending on the elevation and coordinates of the road. “It will include information regarding bridges, roads and flyovers which the rider can take or must avoid depending on the battery condition and target location,” said Kharb.

The company has tackled a key challenge in electric mobility – the short lifespan of a battery and insufficient charging infrastructure. The lithium ion battery is removable, lightweight and can be charged at any regular five-pinned socket. “The battery can be taken out of the scooter and charged anywhere. You don’t need a special plug to charge it,” said Kharb.
Kharb and Chandrawat are considering building battery swapping stations once regulatory hurdles are cleared to enable easier battery change. The battery management system developed by the company takes into consideration temperature conditions and helps optimise performance and battery life.

The technology allows for the battery’s shelf life to last up to 50,000 km. The smart scooter can travel 60-100 km on a single charge. “We are giving a provision of two batteries in the scooter, so in case the battery runs out of charge, there is an option to change to the second. With this provision, the scooter can travel a distance of up to 200 km,” said chief operating officer Chandrawat.

The scooter, which will compete with the petrol-run Honda Activa series, will be launched in two variants, with the higher end priced at Rs 55,000-65,000. The lower variant, a more economical version of the scooter with lower torque, will target mainly students. Twenty Two Motors plans to launch 50,000 scooters in the National Capital Region, Pune and Bengaluru in 2018.

Some tech specs from another source.

The Flow scooter comes along with a slew of features that makes it promising product. Below are few such features:

· It comes with automated geofencing which alerts owner in case of theft (gets remote stop), child watch, driving pattern & much more.

· It’s drag mode enables #it to move at 3-5kmph with rider in case of puncture. iRepair is DIY guide for repairing. It also gets reverse gear.

· Battery is free for life with 50000km warranty. Two batteries can be added for extended range. The company will lease 2nd battery for free. Company claims a full range of 80kms when fully charge. Also, the scooter can do up to 20kms on quick charge time of 10 minutes.

· The scooter produces 90Nm of peak torque at 100rpm and 2100 W of maximum power. The peak torque of Flow is almost 10 times more than the India’s best-selling scooter, Honda Activa.

· The scooter will be offered in 3 variants.

Torque comparison with Honda Activa which is the bench mark.

The removable LIon battery pack.

The mobile app.

The scooter itself.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

The Ather S340 seems to be now up against what looks like a real challenger

I would disagree. While Ather has missed its production deadlines, it is definitely closer to actually rolling out e-scooters than 22Motors which appears to have just a concept on display. The company isn't even a year old yet.

I think what 22Motors is looking for yet is funding (VC) or an industry investor (like how Hero invested in Ather). AFAIK, 22Motors doesn't have any sort of production facility (ready or under construction).

[jpcoolguy]

Taiwanese company Kymco has entered a partnership with 22Motors and they will be bringing in their Ionex battery swapping solution first. "Flow" will be first electric scooter where this technology will be incorporated. The 2.1 kWh electric motor will remain the same in the scooter which 90Nm of torque. With this new battery technology, the range remains the same as before which is 160 km (seems impressive, however real world numbers will be significantly differ I guess).

However, the highlight is that the removable Lithium-ion batteries which can be charged at home using the Home charger provided with this battery and the ex-showroom price still remains the same at INR 74,740 which is indeed impressive considering the removable battery.

Source: http://overdrive.in/news-cars-auto/k...ith-22-motors/

[Sutripta]

^^^
How heavy is the battery pack?

Regards
Sutripta

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

^^^
How heavy is the battery pack?

Each battery weighs approx. 5 Kg which is indeed lighter.

Taken from their website:
https://www.kymco.com/news/kymco-first-ionex