Bangalore-based Ather Energy is fast expanding its retail operations. Exactly a month after it opened its first showroom in Mumbai, the EV start-up has officially inaugurated its retail outlet – Ather Space – at Ambawadi, near Panjarapole CharRasta, Ahmedabad in association with the Kataria Group.

The Ather 450X electric scooter will be available at Ather Space and will be equipped with complete service support for the owners. The Ahmedabad experience centre is designed to be a dynamic, tactile and interactive space. Customers can learn about every aspect of the vehicle and witness the engineering and mechanical efforts that have gone into manufacturing it through a naked scooter up on display. Apart from seeing the key components of the scooter, one can learn and interact with the intelligent and connected features through a digital display.

Ather Space is designed to educate customers about EVs while providing a holistic experience in an interactive space. The company inaugurated its first experience centre in Bangalore in June 2018 and opened the second one in Chennai followed by Mumbai. Customers in Ahmedabad can now ride the Ather 450X and get an in-depth view of the product and its features before pre-ordering the vehicle. They can also book test ride slots on the website prior to visiting the experience centre.

Ather Energy began accepting pre-orders for Ather 450X last year. The company says it has “since then has received a phenomenal response from customers across Gujarat. This led to the announcement of Surat being a part of Ather Energy’s phase 2 expansion and will open the experience centre in the second quarter of 2021.”

Ather began the installation of its Ather Grid points in Ahmedabad and has installed three fast charging points thus far. These charging points are located at Regenta Central Antarim-Navrangpura, Ophiolite’s-Sindhu Bhavan Road and Tea Post-Sindhu Bhavan Road. To encourage adoption of EVs in the city, Ather Energy will provide free charging at Ather Grid till March 2021 for all electric four- and two-wheelers and will add 10-12 more charging points to its network. 

The Ather 450X is an upgrade from its predecessor Ather 450 and is the quickest and one of the smartest scooters in India, and comes in three new colours: Grey, Green, and White along with the limited-edition Series 1. The scooter is powered with a 6kW PMSM motor, a new 2.9 kWh lithium-ion battery, and comes with 4 riding modes. In addition to Eco, Ride, and Sport, Ather has introduced a new high-performance mode, 'Warp'. The Ather 450X can go from 0 to 40kph in just 3.3 seconds in Warp mode, making it the quickest scooter in the 125cc category. The Ather 450X will also charge 50% faster than before at 1.5km per minute, making it the fastest charging rate in the electric two-wheeler category. 

Also read: Ather Energy’s new plant in Hosur goes on stream

Additionally, the electric scooter will have a 4G SIM card and Bluetooth connectivity, allowing riders to manage phone calls and music on the touchscreen dashboard. The new seven-inch touchscreen dashboard comes with a colour depth of 16M and a Snapdragon Quad-Core processor. Ather 450X utilises Android Open Source to offer Google map navigation, on-board diagnostics, and other unique features like Over-the-air updates, Auto Indicator off and Guide-me-home lights. 

Ather Energy also offers a lower powered Ather 450 Plus which offers a top speed 70kph and a range of 70km in Eco mode. The Ather 450 Plus also offers 4G connectivity, onboard navigation and other connected features but does not have Bluetooth connectivity and the high-powered Warp mode.

While the Ather 450X has an ex-showroom price of Rs161,426 in Ahmedabad, the Ather 450 Plus costs Rs 142,416.

According to Ravneet Phokela, Chief Business Officer, Ather Energy, “Our experience centres are designed to reflect Ather Energy's value proposition, a great experience powered by intelligence. It is a place where people can experience the scooters, understand our drive to build high-performance electric vehicles, and be a part of the electric future. Typically, a consumer spends about 45 minutes on average at an Ather experience centre which is unique in the category. The Kataria Group has done a phenomenal job in bringing alive our philosophy and we are pleased to partner with them.”