[wheelguy]

Ather Energy to export 450X to two new markets by March 2021 - Link

Ather Energy is looking to commence export of its electric scooters to at least two new overseas markets before March 2021 in limited volumes. It was confirmed by Mayank Dhingra, Ather Energy’s Chief Business Officer, in an interview with Autocar Professional, where he said that Ather is already engaged in talks with several key markets in South East Asia and was about to start pilot programs before the COVID-19 crisis halted the proceedings.

South East Asia has good market for electric scooters and Ather was in the advanced stage of discussions for entry into this region. He said that the Bangalore-based EV start-up observed good interest coming from Europe, especially from London and Rome, which can absorb the kind of pricing of that of Ather scooters. There were also talks held with markets in Latin America, where the price and product acceptability for electric scooters is between South East Asia and Europe.

Speaking about the production volumes in upcoming Hosur plant, Mr Dhingra has said that while the plant has the capacity to be scaled up to 50,000 units, Ather would be looking to set up a local assembly plant in the particular export markets to sell the scooters directly. He opines that it is not tough to assemble electric two-wheelers as they have significantly lesser parts.

Elaborating on Ather’s plans in the post-lockdown scenario, Mr Dhingra said that Ather would concentrate on the 450X rollout followed by expansion into eight new cities – Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Coimbatore, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Ather is also working on transitioning the business model of the company-owned retail to a dealership model and innovative ownership models like battery subscription, which solves the high upfront acquisition cost.

[SKC-auto]

Got this mail from Ather for exchange of old scooter.
Looks like the exchange program started.

[hemanth.anand]

Last week, Ather told that they’ve got official communication from Vodafone India that the latter is pulling the plug on 3G services in Chennai and Bengaluru by 27th August. Ather told that this decision has taken them by surprise as Vodafone were expected to shut down 3G much later. This development means that all Ather 450s already on the roads will be affected as they all have Vodafone SIMs. They will lose 3G connectivity and switch to 2G.

1. Navigation experience will deteriorate due to slow network speeds.
2. It seems as per their test, ride statistics and sync will work mostly like before.
3. OTA updates will take longer to download (obviously), but the user may not feel it because download happens in the background.

Ather have announced several changes due to this development.

1. They have rolled out an OTA update which they say will optimize the connected experience and will ensure that the most used connected features are less affected on a 2G network. I'm yet to get this update as my scooter is always in low network area in the basement and more so in this pandemic situation.

2. Due to what will be a sub-par experience, Ather has told they will reduce the subscription cost on a pro rata basis at the rate of ₹125/month (which is 50% of their Ather Connect plan) for all users. This will be applicable till we have 2G on our scooters. Since I'm on lease and have a subscription plan for 3 years, I'm personally not affected.

3. They told they'll swap SIMs from Vodafone to BSNL for all existing scooters without any cost to the user! In ~4 weeks they will be ready to start this exercise of swapping the SIM cards. We have to either drop off and pick up the scooter to and from the service center Or they will do it as part of the next scheduled service. SIM swap will be made available to all users irrespective of whether they currently have an active subscription plan or not. However, priority will be given to users having an active subscription plans now. New vehicles produced from a certain date will come with a BSNL SIM installed at the factory. BSNL will continue to operate 3G till some more time.

4. The SIM swap to BSNL is supposedly a temporary arrangement and a 4G upgrade module in the form of a dongle is will come up in about 4 to 5 months. They told that they'll offer this 4G dongle at a discounted rate at ~Rs.2500+GST for all 450 owners. They hace told that these 4G dongles will come with e-SIMs so that in future if they have to change operators, they can do so without any physical changes. I hope they choose Jio or Airtel instead of Vodafone again for 4G.

[Gansan]

I am yet to see an Ather 450 in Chennai. Are they being sold here?

[sreedotk]

I think there are at least 300 Athers in Chennai. I am one of them. Though a rare site on roads due to the pandemic, I used to see one(other than mine) every few days when riding in Chennai.

You may see them in the Nungambakkam area , Kilpauk. I also know there are a few owners who reside in OMR and Tambaram- Chromepet belt.

[aashishnb]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

4. The SIM swap to BSNL is supposedly a temporary arrangement and a 4G upgrade module in the form of a dongle is will come up in about 4 to 5 months. They told that they'll offer this 4G dongle at a discounted rate at ~Rs.2500+GST for all 450 owners. They hace told that these 4G dongles will come with e-SIMs so that in future if they have to change operators, they can do so without any physical changes. I hope they choose Jio or Airtel instead of Vodafone again for 4G.

Honestly, IMHO giving dedicated mobile communication hardware in a scooter which is a long term ownership (10-15 years), itself is something not required. Look at how technology has changed in last 10 years - GSM - GPRS - EDGE - 3G - 3G on 1800 MHz - 4G - 4G VOLTE - going to 5G, etc.

They should instead just give wifi hardware and allow to connect to user's mobile phone or other wifi network that the user can connect to. Perhaps even an USB connector for backup if someone wants to connect using a wire.

This would help in 2 ways:
1. Makes the vehicle future proof to some extent.
2. Saves on the additional monthly bill of the telecom service provider that the owner has to bear.

I had made this suggestion to them during the early days before the scooter was launched.

I guess the only benefit they get is they keep getting data for various analytics and user cannot 'not connect' or 'block' this.

[shreevishnu]

https://inc42.com/buzz/what-the-fina...eet-ev-demand/

A quick look at the financials

[GTO]

Ather has a killer aesthetic sense! Really classy, really tasteful. Got this very arty scale model last week:

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ather has a killer aesthetic sense! Really classy, really tasteful. Got this very arty scale model last week:
Attachment 2078177

Attachment 2078178

Attachment 2078179

The vehicle itself is futuristic...this is from the future of future. Jetson's Ather

And from the looks of it, it's 3Dprinted I guess.

[Pastey93]

Got my Ather 450 X collector’s edition delivered today! The WARP mode is very addictive, the scooter accelerates like there’s no tomorrow. Time to go wheeeee.

[sauravpat]

We have an 8 month old Ather 450 Plus which has been trouble free till now. Lately, I have been experiencing a big rattle from somewhere near the lower mudguard when going over speedbreakers and small potholes. Can anyone help me with diagnosing the issue? Can't seem to pinpoint what has come loose.

Any known issue?

Cheers

[pedrolourenco]

Amazing review of an Amazing Scooter. I'm a bit late but want to join the party. I've never been a hardcore biker but have owned my share of bikes over the years. Started my biking journey with the RD350 followed by the CBZ (1st gen), RX100, Active (1st Gen 1st batch), Bullet 350 and a KTM Duke 390. All except the Activa are sold. I don't use it much but keep it as I sometimes need to go to places where parking is an issue.
Coming back to the Ather, I was all excited when it was announced and I kept following their updates till it was launched. Immediately went to their website to book one only to be disappointed to learn that you couldn't book if you were not from Bangalore. Called up customer car to find out why. They said they were not selling in places where they don't have a service network. I said I was willing to live with that and can come toBangalore to collect the bike and also send it there for service till the open a centre in Goa. I was told that they would be expanding to Chennai and slowly to other major cities. Goa was not on their list as yet.
Highly disappointed but determined I asked a few friends if anyone in Bangalore could book and collect the bike for me and I would transport it to Goa. However I got a call from my company to join the ship and had to shelve the ambitious plan. After completing my contract, the interest somehow died down.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago and Ather had set up their experience centre in Goa. Immediately took a Test Ride and booked the bike. Meanwhile the government had announced subsidies and that made the deal sweeter at close to 1.2 - 1.3 Lakhs. However subsidies meant that I also booked a Nexon EV and that became the priority. So the Ather got pushed back to my next vacation. That vacation got consumed in shifting to my new house and the big expenses related to it. Went back to sea and in the meantime:
- State Subsidy got discontinued.
- FAME 2 subsidy got reduced increasing the price.
- Gen 3 got launched further increasing the price.

Currently at around 1.8 Lakhs, the scooter doesn't make sense. I'm going to use it occasionally and only for short rides.

Then I heard that someone picked up a used Gen 2 450X done only 500 km for 1.3 Lakhs. That got me excited again and I started hunting OLX and FB Marketplace. Nothing available in Goa.

Decided to look beyond the state border and found a few. There was a Gen 1 450 at Bangalore which had done 30K kms but he was quoting 93k final. Not a good deal. Would have picked it if it was 70-75 K. I have to factor in around 5K for transport to Goa and another 5K for registration transfer.

So the hunt continues for a Gen 1 or Gen 2 450X. In case anyone here comes across anyone selling do let me know.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by GTO

Got this very arty scale model last week:

In one of their podcasts, you can see this model on a shelf behind. Is this available for purchase in their merchandise section?

[pedrolourenco]

Finally got my Ather 450X Series 1 yesterday.

Following jobs need to be done:

Get the service history.
Get the bike washed and polished.
Get the NOC. Broker has started the process.
Get the bike transferred to GA reg.
Get the App and subscriptions transferred to my name.
Renew the comprehensive insurance. Already got a quote from GoDigit.
Get a tempered glass, floor mat and bike cover (ordered on Amazon).
Fix the DOT charger in my parking.

Visited the service centre today to get the new mirrors, 2 rubber pieces inside the boot which give access to the frame, handlebar grips and the bezel around the keyhole (with lock, off, on, seat written). Most parts were not in stock. Booked a service for tomorrow.
Previous owner had lost one key, so made a duplicate using the blank of a Suzuki Access. Picked up a keychain too from a graphics shop.
I also sat down with the guy and designed a personalised keychain in the shape of the side panel.