[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

I've booked one on 21st and my expected delivery date Jan/Feb 2020. I presume you booked in Bangalore too ?

However, until yesterday it was showing info about home charging point, but now I can see a 'keep your documents ready' status.

Along with hero, I considered okinawa as well before deciding on Ather, It appears most are indeed re-badged chinese scooters. As of now Ather seems to have the least problems of all the scooters, only in the next 3+ years do I expect a true competitor to hit the market.

Thanks for your feedback. I chose to hijack this thread to get my query answered as I know at least this an active one and I have a legitimate tangential connect with Ather

Yes, I have booked in Bangalore. Apparently, we are 1600 odd in the queue! It was actually nice to know of the long queue and we are happy to wait 3-4 months.

I do think the current Ather does not feel work in progress and hence did not feel as if I am buying into a project. This thread reinforces the view.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

Apparently, we are 1600 odd in the queue! It was actually nice to know of the long queue and we are happy to wait 3-4 months.
I do think the current Ather does not feel work in progress and hence did not feel as if I am buying into a project. This thread reinforces the view.

I'm a distant 15966 in the queue, its good to know of the 15000 odd prior bookings, though the wait of 4-5 months is a bit too much.

Are you opting for lease or buy-out ? I'm not someone who changes vehicles frequently so considering buying the scooter and retaining it for the next 5-7 years. However, i'm wondering if lease will be the smarter(albeit expensive) option considering that electric scooters may see huge changes in the next few years.

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

I'm a distant 15966 in the queue, its good to know of the 15000 odd prior bookings, though the wait of 4-5 months is a bit too much.

Are you opting for lease or buy-out ? I'm not someone who changes vehicles frequently so considering buying the scooter and retaining it for the next 5-7 years. However, i'm wondering if lease will be the smarter(albeit expensive) option considering that electric scooters may see huge changes in the next few years.

My bad ... I am 16,000 then (I was thinking that I may have missed a zero). I am opting for buy-out as leasing does not make monetary sense and I am not unduly worried about the future state of the industry right now. With the OTA approach of building out new functionality in Ather, I am comfortable with thought of being current as Ather progresses over next couple of years.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

My bad ... I am 16,000 then (I was thinking that I may have missed a zero).

Haha! we may be getting the scooter around the same time then.

With the OTA approach of building out new functionality in Ather, I am comfortable with thought of being current as Ather progresses over next couple of years.

Ather ownership with OTA updates, as you've rightly pointed out is going to be a hybrid of car and mobile ownership we've experienced over the last few years. I'm not too concerned about the future additions like ABS,bluetooth etc but something like 80% charge in 30mins may roll out in the next gen product, which is why I've not entirely ruled out the lease option.

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

My bad ... I am 16,000 then (I was thinking that I may have missed a zero). I am opting for buy-out as leasing does not make monetary sense and I am not unduly worried about the future state of the industry right now. With the OTA approach of building out new functionality in Ather, I am comfortable with thought of being current as Ather progresses over next couple of years.

I don't think the order number directly corresponds to the number of people in the queue. My Order number was around 8000, but I was among the first 1000 people to get the Ather in Bangalore. So I'm sure you would probably be within 4000 .

I took it via lease as I expect that by 3 years, the 450 might feel outdated and I wasn't sure about the battery as well, once the warranty expires. With the lease, I have an option of owning the vehicle by paying a small additional amount, so I am covered that way. However, as of now, I'm not planning on keeping it beyond the lease period.

[shashank.nk]

I have a few questions, hope its not too many

Originally Posted by Newpunter

My Order number was around 8000, but I was among the first 1000 people to get the Ather in Bangalore.

How much time did it take from ordering to opening of payment gateway to delivery ?

I took it via lease as I expect that by 3 years, the 450 might feel outdated and I wasn't sure about the battery as well, once the warranty expires. However, as of now, I'm not planning on keeping it beyond the lease period.

What is the usage pattern of the scooter ? Battery fears and the fact that it may get outdated aside, any other reason for you to not retain beyond 3 years ?

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

I have a few questions, hope its not too many

No worries, I'll be glad to answer as many questions as you have .

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

How much time did it take from ordering to opening of payment gateway to delivery ?

I ordered around Apr 13. I just went to the Ather Space for a test drive and did the pre-order. The official delivery date was to be in September, but the Ather staff told me that I could expect my vehicle by July. I was traveling onsite the next week for a couple of months, so I wasn't worried too much about the time. However, I got a pleasant surprise when I got an email on Jun 20, that I could expect an early delivery of my vehicle. A few days later, I got an email that I had to make the payment before Jul 4 to get the delivery, or it would be assigned to someone else.
I promptly applied for the lease, made the payment by Jul 3 or so and I returned to India on Jul 7. I got the delivery of the vehicle on Jul 17. So I got the vehicle 3 months from the day I ordered.

I understand that the current deliveries have been delayed a bit due to some quality issues and they were set to resume soon.

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

What is the usage pattern of the scooter ? Battery fears and the fact that it may get outdated aside, any other reason for you to not retain beyond 3 years ?

I bought it mostly for my wife (although I have been using it a lot more than her ). She uses it to pickup and drop the kid from school. Usually I drop him at school in the morning and she picks him up in the evening, but it was becoming a problem whenever I traveled onsite. The school is only around 1.5 kms away, so the usage is only around 4 kms per day when I'm not around (and 30-40 kms a day when I'm around ) .

The reason I opted for the lease was that I wanted to have an option, incase the vehicle turns out to be not so reliable in the long term. The other reason is that unlike ICE vehicles, I expect electric vehicles to evolve a lot more in the next few years, so I didn't want to be stuck with a very outdated vehicle at the end of 3 years.

At the end of the lease, if i return back the vehicle, I get back my 75K, which I can use to buy a new vehicle. Or if I find that the Ather is still good enough, I can pay 5K to retain the vehicle.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by Newpunter

The reason I opted for the lease was that I wanted to have an option, incase the vehicle turns out to be not so reliable in the long term. The other reason is that unlike ICE vehicles, I expect electric vehicles to evolve a lot more in the next few years, so I didn't want to be stuck with a very outdated vehicle at the end of 3 years.

Thanks for the detailed post! Our usage patterns are pretty similar, I expect to use my bike for around 5kms per day on an average, with many days it being idle.

Long-term reliability is something I hadn't factored in, spent sometime on the Ather forums and looks like there are a few niggles here and there but nothing to worry about. It all depends on how Ather addresses the issues that come up.

The leasing scheme is now different compared to when you purchased I guess, we now pay 60k in advance and pay 2589 each month towards lease rentals and after 36 months, you can retain by paying 10,000. It doesn't make much financial sense for my kind of usage

[aargee]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Thanks for the detailed post! Our usage patterns are pretty similar, I expect to use my bike for around 5kms per day on an average, with many days it being idle

In that case, you may want to bet your money with ICE as they offer cheaper ownership cost in long run. Unless your usage is in excess of 35 Km (or 12000 Km a year), EV & ICE provide nearly the same running cost for 1st 3 years. Beyond that, ofcourse EV makes sense. But then end of every year, there's a noticeable & desirable upgrade unlike sticker jobs.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by aargee

In that case, you may want to bet your money with ICE as they offer cheaper ownership cost in long run. Unless your usage is in excess of 35 Km (or 12000 Km a year), EV & ICE provide nearly the same running cost for 1st 3 years. Beyond that, ofcourse EV makes sense. But then end of every year, there's a noticeable & desirable upgrade unlike sticker jobs.

You may be right about ICE working out cheaper in the initial years. However, i'm looking at the Ather as a replacement to my ~13 year old pulsar 180, so i'm hoping for a minimum of 5+ years ownership, if not more. I've made a booking to join the long queue while I figure out if its the best option for my use case and which mode of purchase makes most sense financially.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

However, i'm looking at the Ather as a replacement to my ~13 year old pulsar 180, so i'm hoping for a minimum of 5+ years ownership, if not more.

Hey, same boat, 12-year old P180, looking to replace with an Ather 450 next year. But yesterday's water-logging in Bangalore has given me some pause for thought.

Any of the Ather owners have any idea how the 450 will handle water-logged roads?

Am not a fan of Bajaj quality, but must say was pretty relieved when my 12-year old bike made it through some pretty water-logged roads without any fuss yesterday. Bangalore infra is not going to get any better, so wondering if I should just stick with a bike and the bigger wheels for such water-logged situations.

EDIT: Ather's website says the vehicle can handle about a foot of water.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by am1m

EDIT: Ather's website says the vehicle can handle about a foot of water.

I believe the battery is IP 67 rated, so should be fine for upto 30 mins. Luckily, I don't experience any water logging where I ride and in the rare occasion I do, the ride time through such roads is less than a minute. However,if you encounter such roads regularly and it forms a significant portion of your regular route, it may be worth discussing your concerns with the Ather staff.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

However,if you encounter such roads regularly and it forms a significant portion of your regular route,

Ah no, nothing like that. Once a year maybe, nothing significant, but was just wondering about how an EV would react to water-logging.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by am1m

Ah no, nothing like that. Once a year maybe, nothing significant, but was just wondering about how an EV would react to water-logging.

Its a good point you thought of! As with ICE bikes/scooters one knows what to do during and post such a ride, I've no idea if electric bikes need any attention after rides through water-logged roads.

Ather 450 being a first-gen product, us being first time EV owners and with all the uncertainties associated with a long-term EV ownership, I wonder if it makes sense to lease the scooter.

[Hells Bells]

Since I had posted question on FMs' experiences with other electric scooter brands, I thought it is probably the best place to share my own test ride experiences of Hero Electric and Okinawa scooters.

My wife and I test rode scooters from both the brands yesterday. The first one was Photon model from Hero Electric (HE). Amongst all of the models with HE, Photon is the only one which has comparable capabilities as Ather. By comparable, I imply top speed (was ~75 km/hr) and range (~80 kms) being the main considerations. While just observing the scooter at standstill, I could see the build quality was not great with misaligned panels. However, the impressions went from bad to worse the moment I started the test ride. The accelerator is too jumpy when you start off which, in my opinion, will make the scooter very irritating to ride in stop and go traffic. There is just no way to modulate it for a gradual pick up. The second shocker was the turning radius! It was a sorry excuse for a turning radius and even a simple u turn will turn into painful 3 point turn.

Hero Electric scooters are "made in India" in Punjab but patriotism can't overlook the lack of build quality.

The second test ride was with Okinawa scooters. There were two scooters - iPraise and Ridge+. First test rode the Ridge+. The seat height is really low! While it would be great for my wife who is a precious 5 footer, it would be downright uncomfortable for me (5'10'-5'11") for even short distances. The accelerator was the same jumpy kind as HE which made me wonder if they outsource the transmission to the same vendor. The turning radius is more normal and which I appreciated so much more post the HE experience. While not great, it was ok till I opened the glove box only to realise that I could not fit in a full face helmet of even my wife! She has a much smaller helmet and in her current Hero Pleasure, there is space left post accommodating it. As per the sales lady, only "small" helmets can be put in. In other words, the ones which are open face and are a joke in the name of safety. We went to iPraise then and even before test riding it, we asked to be shown the boot space. Shockingly, there is no boot space in iPraise! We were left dumb founded and didn't bother with the test ride. On top of it, iPraise is actually priced at 1.25L which is more expensive than Ather!

Okinawa is built in Rajasthan.

Overall, Ather appears to be of sophistication of a space craft in front of HE and Okinawa models. It also seems to be VFM (I never thought I will say so) for an electric scooter!