[TusharK]

Along with the Ather One subscription plan which was announced at the launch of the Ather 340 & 450 electric scooters, the company has now introduced three new subscription plans for customers.

The base plan is called Ather Connect. It costs Rs. 3,000 + GST per year and offers over-the-air updates, remote diagnostics, ride recommendations and on-board navigation. Ather Service costs Rs. 6,000 + GST per year and offers vehicle service, roadside assistance in addition to Ather Connect services. Ather Charge is a charging focused plan that offers home charging and unlimited public charging at AtherGrid points. It also costs Rs. 6,000 + GST per year.



Ather One will remain the flagship plan with an annual cost of Rs. 8,400 + GST. All expenses including maintenance costs are covered under this plan. Subscribers get all the benefits of Ather Connect, home charging and public fast charging as well as vehicle service and roadside assistance.

Ather One is available to existing customers during the first year of ownership for free. Upon completion of the first year, customers can choose from the aforementioned plans. This offer has been discontinued from October 31, 2018 and those planning to pre-order will get the Ather Service plan for free for a limited period. Further, public charging at AtherGrid will remain free till December 31, 2019 for all Ather customers.

Link to Team-BHP News

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by TusharK

The base plan is called Ather Connect. It costs Rs. 3,000 + GST per year and offers over-the-air updates

You have to pay for updates?
I think OTA updates should be standard by default. EVs are tech products more than mechanical products. They must continuously have improvements from software just like smartphones/laptops.

Unlike smartphones, scooters have a far longer lifespan.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

You have to pay for updates?
I think OTA updates should be standard by default.

Agreed. This is fleecing the customer. Everyone wants to be like Apple which charges money for its devices & services, but a device & a vehicle entail completely different strategies.

OTA updates should be free. That's especially the case with a brand new product from a brand new company; Ather customers are taking a big leap of faith. And not to forget, deliveries have been delayed due to issues. I fully expect the early models to have loads of niggles.

Ather Service costs Rs. 6,000 + GST per year and offers vehicle service, roadside assistance in addition to Ather Connect services.

Wow! That is pricey. Some 10-lakh rupee sedans would cost you 6,000 / year for the one annual service, and this is a scooter we're talking about.

Ather Charge is a charging focused plan that offers home charging and unlimited public charging at AtherGrid points. It also costs Rs. 6,000 + GST per year.

Probably the only one that makes sense to me, if there are enough grid points in my city.

[Thermodynamics]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Ather Charge is a charging focused plan that offers home charging and unlimited public charging at AtherGrid points. It also costs Rs. 6,000 + GST per year.

Originally Posted by GTO

Probably the only one that makes sense to me, if there are enough grid points in my city.

Smelling fishy, what do they refer by "plan that offers home charging", the customer has to keep paying them even to charge this thing at HOME ?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

Agreed. This is fleecing the customer. Everyone wants to be like Apple which charges money for its devices & services, but a device & a vehicle entail completely different strategies.

Let's not forget that the scooter itself is coming at a BIG premium. At 1.28L onroad in Bangalore, it costs 60% more than an equivalent IC engined scooter like the TVS NTorq 125.

Keep the prices in consideration - Buying an Ather machine doesn't make sense.

Originally Posted by GTO

Wow! That is pricey. Some 10-lakh rupee sedans would cost you 6,000 / year for the one annual service, and this is a scooter we're talking about.

I think Ather should seriously have a rethink about their pricing models. At this rate, I don't see many customers after the initial early adopters! For example - My wife and I visited the Ather center couple of weeks back to look at the 450 as an upgrade to her Hero Meastro. She's been using it for 6 years and 35k kms now - and only wants to upgrade when something revolutionary hits the market, and in a world of Activas and their clones - something like that is rare to come by. So Ather stood a good chance.

However, we got ourselves ticking a list full of negetives - enough to cancel a purchase decision. The main ones -
1. Delivery promised only by June or July 2019. Production issues not resolved for them to be 100% sure on those dates too.
2. Costly. 60% more than a good equivalent (except electric) scooter.
3. High Recurring expenses. Subscription plans + service costs seem to offset any savings from the electric option.

And my biggest worry is that Ather is losing out on their main advantage - that of being the first mover. They had launched only in Bangalore, and that itself is stuck after 10 units. It only takes one small move from any of the Japanese giants to completely take the market away from them - just that none of them are interested without the numbers!

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Smelling fishy, what do they refer by "plan that offers home charging", the customer has to keep paying them even to charge this thing at HOME ?

Means they will reimburse the costs incurred during charging - at ₹6.50 per unit which pertains to the 101-200 kWh per month energy consumption slab of the LT-2(a)(i) Tariff category applicable to domestic areas under BBMP. (Bangalore only). The charging reimbursements, i.e.,the money equivalent to the cost of charging will be credited in your wallet every quarter, money equivalent to the cost of charging to you via an online mode of payment, during the month following the assessment quarter.

Originally Posted by GTO

Probably the only one that makes sense to me, if there are enough grid points in my city.

I would still pick the service plan GTO. Ather Charge plan offers only connected services + public charging, of which public charging might really be a rare occurrence for most users.

However, the service plans covers the below items -
-FR & RR wheel bearings
-Steering bearings
-Front fork seal
-Swingarm bushes
-Brake pads (two wheels per year)
-Primary and secondary belts
-Top-up of brake fluid and front fork oil.

Even though expensive, this is still reasonable compared to the other plans.

[Mortis]

Do they change these parts every year with a new set ? I thought that EVs are supposed to be light on maintenance which is one of the plus points ! You are supposed to offset the initial high vehicle cost with low running cost and also lesser service charges.
I'm also wondering if customers are benefitting from the EV subsidy at all in this case ?
The annual packages are way too pricey

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I would still pick the service plan GTO. Ather Charge plan offers only connected services + public charging, of which public charging might really be a rare occurrence for most users.

However, the service plans covers the below items -
-FR & RR wheel bearings
-Steering bearings
-Front fork seal
-Swingarm bushes
-Brake pads (two wheels per year)
-Primary and secondary belts
-Top-up of brake fluid and front fork oil.

Even though expensive, this is still reasonable compared to the other plans.

An electric bike /scooter should have minimal or no maintenance .

-FR & RR wheel bearings --- Wheel bearings should last at least 50K kms unless they have deliberately use inferior quality .
-Steering bearings --- Steering bearings you mean cone set, should be once in 2 years or it should last at least 1 year .
-Front fork seal -- These ideally should not break on a commuter.
-Swingarm bushes --- No need to replace for at least 50k kms.
-Brake pads (two wheels per year) -- Sounds reasonable .
-Primary and secondary belts -- Not required , should last at least 2 + years.
-Top-up of brake fluid and front fork oil. - Minimum maintenance .

Apart from brake pads , there should not be any other major expenses for a E bike or scooter for first few years .
If at all some thing goes wrong, warranty should take care .

Ather one ( which includes everything ) is free for first year for those who have pre-booked.

I also strongly feel OTA updates should be FREE OF COST and should be able to be done through a wifi connection rather than the SIM On the scooter.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by black12rr

An electric bike /scooter should have minimal or no maintenance

True, but we're talking about an unknown product here, the first from the company itself. Warranty is good, yes - hopefully thats enough in the long run.

And secondly - looking at all their rates, I feel general service to keep warranty intact will also be expensive. After all, service is done at doorstep - and the bike is transported to their center and back incase of major issues that need attention.

Originally Posted by black12rr

Ather one ( which includes everything ) is free for first year for those who have pre-booked.

Only for pre-bookings. Offer is withdrawn as of 31st Oct. Currently its 'Ather Service" plan that comes free.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by black12rr

An electric bike /scooter should have minimal or no maintenance .

-FR & RR wheel bearings --- Wheel bearings should last at least 50K kms unless they have deliberately use inferior quality .
-Steering bearings --- Steering bearings you mean cone set, should be once in 2 years or it should last at least 1 year .
-Front fork seal -- These ideally should not break on a commuter.
-Swingarm bushes --- No need to replace for at least 50k kms.
-Brake pads (two wheels per year) -- Sounds reasonable .
-Primary and secondary belts -- Not required , should last at least 2 + years.
-Top-up of brake fluid and front fork oil. - Minimum maintenance .

Apart from brake pads , there should not be any other major expenses for a E bike or scooter for first few years .
If at all some thing goes wrong, warranty should take care .

Ather one ( which includes everything ) is free for first year for those who have pre-booked.

I also strongly feel OTA updates should be FREE OF COST and should be able to be done through a wifi connection rather than the SIM On the scooter.

I agree, the bearing in my 8 year old Honda Aviator 40000 km is still within limits, as are the Cone set.

Even the brakes should last more since Ather uses disc brakes both front and back. The rear wheel also has Regen brakes, although currently it has no user adjustable setting.

Belts to should last a long time. According to sevice manual for Honda activa/aviator scooters, the drive belt needs to be inspected every 9000km and replaced every 24000km. The belt in a CVT gearbox has even more friction.

Ather should make OTA free and users should have the option to use their own sim for navigation or ride sim free with just wifi.

The Ather scooters are expensive to begin with, but even for some die hard green enthusiasts like me and many others, find the Ather plans expensive.
Also now that I plan to install Solar, I wish they had a swappable battery so that I can charge one battery in the house via solar when the sun is shinning or use the same battery as a powerbank or a powerwall when solar energy and grid is not available. So this way I don't need to buy the maintenance prone lead acid battery for the inverter.

I guess we will have to wait for more competition from joint venture of 22motors India and Kymco Taiwan to arrive.