[am1m]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Ather co-founder has tweeted the same with some additional photos.

It's great that they're communicating things regularly. Essentially, most customers just want to be kept informed and they'll pretty much accept any justifiable delays. Wonder why the bigger bike brands with much, much bigger communication budgets haven't figured out that regular and honest communication with customers is as important as nonsensical ads and social media 'campaigns'!

[Sebring]

Thanks for your review. Very rare to find Ather reviews out there. I had shortlisted this scooter, but after few rides - which 'they' were kind enough to organise, decided against it. The problem was with the seat - it was just too narrow for me. I could do a few kilometres on it, without issue - but not 20 Kms at a stretch. I hope the next version comes with a better seat.

Originally Posted by jaganm

The seat is extremely uncomfortable for anything more than 20-25 km at a time.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Shivaram NV (Senior Engineer, Systems Design, at Ather Energy ) speaks on how MATLAB simulations helped Ather cut down on development time and costs.

Instead of carrying out tests in the real-world scenario, we did our entire vehicle testing on computers through simulation. We also ran several tests on the basis of what our riders need. So, if a rider asks us s/he needs this much mileage on a single charge, we could insert specific codes that would create a virtual scenario and tell us how much power the battery should discharge and the maximum rate of acceleration that should be maintained.

What we initially thought would take us months – building a design for our vehicle - took us only two weeks with MATLAB software. Also, we used a few algorithms developed using MBD (Model Based Design) to find field bugs, that helped us save 50 percent of the total time in testing our vehicle.

Read the full article here - https://yourstory.com/2019/04/tech-s...cle-simulation

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Ather extends its vehicle warranty from 2 to 3 years. Existing owners get the additional coverage as well -

Also, as per the new policy, the vehicle warranty has gone up from 2 to 3 years for all the vehicles invoiced on or after 01 Apr ‘19. But it just seemed fair that we don't leave out our existing owners from this warranty upside, for they have been supporting us, throughout. So we are extending this 3 years warranty to all their 450s too

Also provides some updates and teasers on their next steps -

June 2019 it is
Chennai preps are in full swing.

Ather Grid (public charging network): Some partners are already on board, and others are getting on the boat.
Ather Space (our experience centre): The location is locked and it’s shaping up pretty well.

Can’t wait to go to Chennai! Soon after the launch, we plan to expand to many other cities. So, will the city of Nizami Biryani get the taste of Ather 450? Or the city that’s famous for its Misal Pav? Keep guessing, where we’re going next.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Ather extends its vehicle warranty from 2 to 3 years. Existing owners get the additional coverage as well

Nice Gesture! However, Ather has not clarified if the Kms warranty has also increased from 2yrs/30000kms to 3yrs/45000kms. Ideally it will be done IMO.
Once the new Pricing and Warranty details are update don their website, it'll be clear

[hemanth.anand]

Two major information that Ather has broadcasted today.
1. Deliveries with FAME II
They've finally completed all the mandated processes for FAME II and registrations will start from next week followed by vehicle deliveries.
They've communicated that payment links will be sent today to all prospective buyers whose deliveries were scheduled in April. After that backup is cleared, they'll take up May month deliveries.
If purchasers are ready, they might even plan for a mega delivery event during some weekend where they can deliver big numbers of scooters together. It was suggested by a few members on Ather's forum and that's a cool idea IMO.

2. FAME II subsidy benefit for existing lease customers
There is an additional benefit of ₹5,000 under the new FAME II scheme for every new buyers of Ather 450. They want to pass this benefit to early adopters too. This will be in the form of a flat cash benefit of ₹5,000 to all lease customer in the retainer fee. So If any person wants to retain the vehicle after the lease term is over (or anytime inbetween after 1 year) he has to pay ₹5,000 less than what was initially announced (In my case it was ₹10,000 after 3 years)

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Nice Gesture! However, Ather has not clarified if the Kms warranty has also increased from 2yrs/30000kms to 3yrs/45000kms...

Ather has given clarity now and the total distance for Warranty. It remains same. The updated warranty is : 3 Years / 30,000 km for the vehicle 3 Years / Unlimited distance for the battery pack.

[hemanth.anand]

Abrar Bin Ayub, the 25 year old racer from Kashmir who is also a Vehicle dynamics engineer at Ather has got a podium finish at the FMSCI Indian National Rally Spirit Championship 2019!
An Ather 450X has got 3rd position in the scooter class at this off-road event held near Bangalore on 18th-19th May 2019. This is supposed to be the debut of electric vehicles in the rally and the 450 was the only e-scooter to have participated in it.
Ather and Abrar have shared few images and a video on their social media platforms. Sharing those here.



















One of my colleague's cousin is a photographer who covers racing events and I he was present in the event. When I asked him the pictures, he told he hasn't got any as he wasn't prepared for the shot because he couldn't hear a scooter coming Even Ather has mentioned that it couldn't get many pictures because of this same reason.
The below video shows that too.

http://youtu.be/pbnyd-Y5t-E

From the pictures, I can see that there is a bigger fan that has been fixed near the motor, probably to cool the race-tuned motor which may get heated up faster. Also I see many "unnecessary" parts removed like the grab rail and the indicators for obvious reasons. An additional LED light (because it doesn't have any headlight) and spare belts strapped near the pillion footrest. A higher mounted mudguard must be because the front suspensions must be harder.

All in all this is a wonderful achievement by the rider and Ather.

Photo and video credits:
https://m.facebook.com/atherenergy/
@instagram.com/atherenergy/

[hemanth.anand]

Ather Today sent an email about the next new OTA updates that we will receive along with an App update that we will be available over the weekend on Both on ios and android app stores. below is the quoted text from the email.

Installation time: This update is relatively bigger in size and it will take much longer than usual to install, depending on the connectivity. So give it some time. Yes, there’s lots in store!

Ather app update: Available on Play Store and App Store over the weekend.

The contents of the update are really useful and very much necessary IMO:

1. Parking - Guide-me-home light for dimly lit parking spaces.
2. Navigation - Option to save work/home as your favorites
3. Two new trip meters - Now you can analyze your trip your way. Start, stop and reset whenever you want to.
4. Safety Alerts- Real-time notifications related to starting the vehicle, charging, battery, thermals, etc.
5. Statement of charge- Apart from the km left you would able to see the percentage too
6. Dashboard reorganized for a better user interface.
7. Reduced screen brightness for a comfortable night ride
8. Tap to see Tyre pressure info on the dashboard
9. Charger fan turned off at a high state of charge to reduce noise while charging
10. Motor fan noise reduced while riding at lower speeds
11. Charger lock - Now the charging connector will unlock only when the key is turned ON.
12. Docs on the dashboard - The documents will appear to be clearer and can be zoomed in

They also have explained it in detail

Guide-me-home light
Now the headlamp of your 450 will stay on for 20 secs after the key is turned OFF to help you find a way out of a dimly lit parking spot. This will be enabled by default with the update; you can choose to switch it OFF/ON through the ‘Settings’ tab on the dashboard.

Note: Currently, this setting would return to default whenever the vehicle is shut down. It will be fixed in the future update

It's a fancy feature but not sure how many of us in India would use it. even in cars, I've not seen many people using it.

Save Work/Home location
Most of you wanted this feature, now you have it. You will be able to access your work/home location right on your dash. Your work/home location can be added through the mobile app as well. You’ll be able to use this feature from early next week, once you update the Ather app to the latest version.

Good addition. It was available in the pre-production version but was removed later on

Two new Trip Meters
Different riders may want to analyze the trip differently. So in addition to the auto trip meter that ends the trip after 7 mins of turning OFF the key, we have added two new trip meters (Rolls up to 999 km)

Play with them, depending on the stats you would like to analyze. You can check the distance and the last reset date on the app too.

Finally we have the manual trip meter.

Vehicle alerts on the dashboard
Making safety even tighter. Precautionary notifications and alerts will now be prompted on the dashboard screen to keep your ride safe and secure. If there is an error shown during the ride, stop by, read the pop-up, and take the suggested action.

• High-temperature alerts when the system needs some cooling down
• Low battery
• ​Charging error and next step if any during charging
• Critical error when you must get in touch with customer support
• Dashboard Enhancements

Even this was much needed. makes the dashboard more functional and useful

State of Charge in %
In addition to the projected/estimated distance left, the riding screen would also show the % of charge left in the battery, while you are riding. Similar to the mobile phone and laptops. This would help you develop your own quick analysis and alter riding behavior.

Ather was initially not in favour of displaying the SOC. But due to popular demand, they have given what the users asked for.

Reduced screen brightness
User feedback suggested that the dashboard is too bright at night, even when it’s at the least brightness setting. We are on it. The minimum brightness level will be further lowered to solve the issue. There are obviously more things on our wish list like the dark mode, but they are still some time away.

this will reduce the irritation on the eyes. My usage was mostly during day time, but for riders

Tap for the tyre pressure info
We have been constantly getting questions regarding the tyre pressure numbers. Just with a tap on the info button you’ll be able to see the prescribed numbers.

I initially mistook this fro TPMS but no...this is just an information screen that displays the stock tyre size and the recommended tyre pressure

Dashboard re-organized
We have reorganized the home screen for a better user interface. The shut down option will now be more prominent.

In addition, the user can enable/disable features such as guide-me-home light and real-time efficiency indicator through the Settings tab.

This is also a nice change

Charger fan noise
If you are the few of the ones who have raised a concern regarding the charging fan being ON at all times, be assured that will not reincur. We have disabled the fan at high state of charge, wherever it seemed unnecessary, thus resolving the issue.

Since my scooter was in a basement, far away from my home, it was not an issue. but for people whose scooters were close to their room windows, this will be a boon.

Motor fan noise
Some of you were experiencing the motor fan noise at low speed, this issue has been taken care of too.

I loved this silence thing

Charging connector
Now the charging connector will unlock only when the key is turned ON, even if the home point or cable is powered OFF.

earlier, we could switch off and remove the connector without key. this will reduce cases of mischief. Mischief mongers may do something else I know

Docs on dashboard
The documents stored in the dash will now be clearer. Additionally, they can be zoomed into and out of as well.

Hopefully the image compression is good. Earlier apart from credit-card sized documents, bigger documents were useless on the display.

[V.Narayan]

Thank you Hemanth for this brief but useful description of features and improvements. Most of us don't fully grasp this but this is the future. And at some point in the next 5 years it will get the power of law behind it. EV tech may first become popular with scooters and three wheelers before it takes over cars. The restraining factor after a point will not be electricity but rare earths. These founders deserve to be applauded for introducing a complex high quality product in a brick & mortar industry. I wish them all success.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Got this email from Ather -

Ather raises $51 Mn in the latest round of funding led by Sachin Bansal

Hey,

Today, we raised our latest round of funding, led by Sachin Bansal’s investment of $32Mn. We were one of the earliest start-up investments of Sachin Bansal when he invested $0.5Mn as an Angel investor in 2014.

Along with Sachin’s confidence in our growth and history, it is also the passion and community we have built with all of you. Thank you for showing Ather 450 and Ather Grid all this love - in the form of tweets, emails, calls, meetups, the forum and your faith in our vision to make every commute electric.

Our scooters have clocked nearly 600,000 km on the road and are redefining what electric two-wheelers mean. We have recently begun installing our fast charging network Ather Grid in Chennai and will soon be opening up pre-orders there. We are only days away from celebrating the anniversary of the 450 and the biggest delivery meet up at Ather. Our next emails will keep the good news coming in.

Ather today stands at the cusp of the changing urban mobility landscape and we hope to have you along for the ride in the years to come.

Exciting times ahead
Team Ather

[jaganm]

I was a bit surprised to see that when I switched off the scooter, the headlight stayed on. Then I realised that I had turned on the Follow me home functionality. I do expect it to cause a lot of issues though, every person on the street is going to be telling me "headlight on ide sir"

[hemanth.anand]

Ather had planned a Mass delivery event, An opportunity that they got because of the FAME II regulation and delays associated with it. The sent the below email to all new buyers that their mass delivery event will be held at their Office in Bengaluru.

It's happening this coming Sunday.
Today they sent another email with detailed agenda in another email. They have mentioned Truckloads I expect 50-100 scooters.


Some existing owners showed interest to join the event. The CEO has tweeted that they are welcome too. I might go as well just to see so many of these beauties together.


I had suggested on Ather's forum that they can make a formation like below and take a drone shot (Honestly I don't expect that to happen)

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Rumour: Affordable Ather electric scooter in the works

Sources now tell us that one of these scooters will be a more affordable product that is coming soon, with a price that’s much closer to 125cc ICE-powered scooters.

Ather has an ambitious target of achieving one lakh units by the end of the third year, or by June 2021.

The mass-market scooter the company is working on at present is expected to have lower usage of premium materials like aluminium. One can expect a shift to more affordable alternative materials, like steel and cast-iron, for components like the grab handle, mirror stalks and side stand. We could also see Ather reduce the features, with a simpler screen on this model. As for the powertrain, the company has said that it will not witness a blatant dilution in performance or range.

Source - ACI

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Rumour: Affordable Ather electric scooter in the works



Source - ACI

I don't know to what extent of this information is correct, but till now I've not seen even one 340 sold; it's all been 450s. I guess this rumoured affordable Ather may be a trimmed down version of the 340.
Reducing aluminium and increasing steel may make it a little more heavier but less expensive. Smaller screen with all "attractive" features removed can reduce the cost by a decent amount. A third riding mode for the 450 is in the works for sometime now. If they finish it, the range for this rumoured scooter might be higher than for the 450
Considering the fact that Ntorq is 75K OTR Bangalore, An Ather at 80-85k OTR Bangalore should be a good price.