Electric scooter maker Ather Energy is going places. Less than a week after beginning test rides in Jaipur, Rajasthan and announcing a new dealership, the company has begun test-rides of the Ather 450X at Hinkal, Mysore in association with Honnassiri Energy, Mysore’s leading retailer.

The experience centre, Ather Space will open in May. According to Ather, the early test rides have commenced due to the surge in bookings, enquiries, and test ride requests from Mysore.  Ather Energy will set up its Experience Centre at Hunsur Road, Hinkal.  Vehicle deliveries will begin within the next couple of weeks. 

As in Jaipur, Ather Energy will install about 3-4 fast-charging points, Ather Grid, across key hotspots in the city by next month and double it by the end of 2021. The company is looking to partner with progressive hosts including cafés, restaurants, tech parks, malls, and gyms which can offer EV owners’ easy accessibility, curb range anxiety, and ease the adoption of electric vehicles in Mysore. More than 120 public fast charging points by Ather Energy are up across more than 17 cities in India.

The Ather 450X will be available at the experience centre.  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, there’s the high-performance mode, 'Warp'. The Ather 450X can accelerate from 0-40kph in just 3.3 sec 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. 

Additionally, the electric scooter has a 4G SIM card and Bluetooth connectivity, allowing riders to manage phone calls and music on the touchscreen dashboard. The new 7-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 of 70kph and a true range of 70km in Eco mode.  

While the 450X (ex-showroom Jaipur) costs Rs 159,629, the 450 Plus costs Rs 140,619 in Mysore.

Ravneet Singh Phokela, Chief Business Officer, Ather Energy, said:  “Since our launch in Bangalore, Mysore has been showing immense potential and with the launch of the 450X, the demand surged multiple folds. The overwhelming inbound requests for test-rides and bookings have led us to start operations in Mysore sooner than planned. We are happy to partner with Honnassiri Energy who have provided great support and strength for us to get our footprints in Mysore. Mysore will be our third market in Karnataka after Bangalore, and Hubli.”