The company has announced that it will launch its scooter on June 5 in Bengaluru. The Ather 340 will most likely cost around Rs 1-1.1 lakh (ex-showroom). Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder, Ather Energy, said it will be launched in phases, and the first lot will be sold in Bengaluru. Ather wants to first setup EV charging infrastructure, which it calls AtherGrid, in all the cities before it starts retailing the scooter. In Bengaluru, there are already 30 charging stations, with a target of 60 charging stations across the city by the end of the year.
The company has set up an assembly plant in Whitefield, Bengaluru, with a capacity to build 20,000 scooters per annum in a single shift. The scooter gets a parking assist function, over-the-air updates, ‘push navigation’, charging station location tracking, custom user interface, combined brakes and diagnostic alerts.
It is powered by a brushless DC motor (BLDC) and uses a battery pack and battery management system (BMS) designed by Ather. The scooter takes a claimed 5.1sec to hit 40kph and can hit a top speed of 72kph. Ather also claims a 50min time for fast-charging to 80 percent. On a full charge, the scooter can ride 60km, and the battery can last up to 50,000km.