[ritesh_44]

Ather has discontinued lower priced variant 450 plus and changed it 450X without pro-pack variant. This is priced at 1.14lakh ex-showroom Bengaluru, ~98,000 Delhi (OTR Bengaluru around 1.20 lakh) and will be directly competing with base model of TVS IQube. (Ather ex-showroom price includes charger price). Price of 450x with pro-pack (current 450x) has also been reduced by ~9k to 1.45 lakh ex-showroom.
Current 450x will be called 450x with pro-pack

The base variant 450x be just your old school scooter without any bells and whistles (same scooter, locked by software). It will not have on board navigation, riding modes, bluetooth connectivity, hill hold, TPMS, fast charging, mobile app, etc. and will not receive any OTA updates (not sure of they will make exceptions regarding critical bugs).

At lower priced, this might take away customers from Ola and TVS, although many customers might shy away due to unavailability of fast charging capacility (although Ola hardly has any fast chargers and TVS doesn't have any).

Full list of differences are here

[DarthVeda]

There is something wrong in the screenshots attached, the base variant has snail pace charging instead of normal charging.
It takes a whopping 15 hours 20 minutes to charge the battery from 0-100% and 12 hours 15 minutes to charge from 0-80%. That's 240w charging gun, which is ridiculous.

That itself should ring alarm bells and buyers should be aware of this.

There was no need to remove riding mode and parking mode, as they are software implemented and doesn't cost a penny.

[ram.iyer95]

Did I really read it right? 15 hours for a full charge, in 2023, damn! I really don't know what is the USP of this variant, and why should somebody choose this over the capable iQube S or even the Ola S1 Air. It would be a penny wise, pound foolish decision to buy this stripped down variant over the fully loaded 450x, in my frank opinion.

Did not expect this from Ather. And I really wish they start offering ABS atleast as an option.

[jaganm]

I hope Ather has something up its sleeve To complete with Ola. The way I see it, is lineup is pretty much the same as what I bought in 2019 with incremental improvements. That is why the upgrade offers did not tempt me even a bit

[sri_tesla]

This is one of the worst upgrades or product revamps a 2-wheeler company has ever done not just Ather. They are just trying to circumvent the FAME II subsidy rules by including the slowest-ever charger (~250W) in an electric scooter. They messed up the entire lineup by nerfing the low-end variant with ridiculously slow charging. Even for high-end variant, customers will only get a slow charger (~250W charger) bundled. If they want a normal charger that fully charges the scooter in <6 hours, you need to purchase it separately. The normal charger which is standard with Ola and TVS iQube costs Rs 13,000 extra and it only works with the Pro pack variant but is not included in the Pro pack.

This is no competition to Ola or TVS iQube. This revamp shows those vehicles in a much better light in fact. The base variant costs the same as iQube but it takes 15+ hours to fully charge while TVS takes ~5 hours to fully charge. The base Ather does not have any smart features, grayscale UI, no ride modes even. Ola S1 Pro is an even much better value at Rs 1.25 lakhs and it comes with a proper charger included. With these new variants, Ather managed to nerf both variants in a single shot.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

This is one of the worst upgrades or product revamps a 2-wheeler company has ever done not just Ather

Sir, the answer is here as why they're doing it; check the numbers of iQube sir!! they're gradually swallowing the EV market & unless Ather does something immediately, they're going to be termed as premium manufacturer & be left behind in the mass market. Atleast TVS has a wide range of products & they can absorb the risk to a greater extent, but Ather cannot afford to do so.

[ritesh_44]

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

There is something wrong in the screenshots attached, the base variant has snail pace charging instead of normal charging.
It takes a whopping 15 hours 20 minutes to charge the battery from 0-100% and 12 hours 15 minutes to charge from 0-80%. That's 240w charging gun, which is ridiculous.

That itself should ring alarm bells and buyers should be aware of this.

There was no need to remove riding mode and parking mode, as they are software implemented and doesn't cost a penny.

Sorry, at the time of posting, they had not revealed about slow charger. That got updated in the doc yesterday evening.
After this reveal, it doesn't make sense to buy this vis a vis TVS IQube / Ola since fast charging is also locked and cannot be used

[RYP]

Ather has been one step forward and two steps backwards in all their decisions so far. Here you have a technically brilliant product on your hands and screw up all other areas of management, right from marketing to ridiculous variants like above. They've been riding on the 450 platform for what 6-7 years now? Its high time they bring in an all-new low cost product without bells & whistles rather than stripping off an already existing successful product code by code. They are just diluting their brand value by this way.

[aim120]

The base variant also lacks the ride modes, telemetry data and all the other stuff that Ola S1 air and TVS iQube offer as standard.

Ather 450x owners complain about needing to inflate the tires quite often, instead of fixing this they bundled a TPMS.
Fame 2 now mandates that charger be included in the price so to cut down the cost they now bundle a 250w charger and the base version cannot be fast charged using ather grid. Instead of using a regular steel tubular structure they use expensive aluminium.

[Comrade]

Looks like Ather has also removed 70% performance guarantee from the battery warranty. Also, their FAQ seems to indicate that the Rs 7000.00 “Battery Protect” plan can’t be purchased for the base model, and is only complimentary with the pro pack! This variant positioning seems to be messed up big time.

Battery warranty
5 years for Ather 450X with Pro Pack (70% performance gurantee)
3 years for Ather 450X (no performance guarantee)

How can I purchase Ather Battery Protect?
It comes along the Ather 450X only if it's purchased along with the Pro Pack (on and after 12th April)

[rascalangel]

Not enabling the fast charger on the model is the dumbest decision ever. At least the option of buying the Dot Home charger should have been given separately. Even their fast charger network should have been allowed at a cost. What was Tarun even thinking??

[aashishnb]

As a scooter user, here is my wishlist from Aether or for that matter any other EV manufacturer to move from ICE to EV. This is from the 'base category' user.

1. Keep pricing in the range of Activa/Jupiter/Access, etc. Ok to pay some premium for Aether over say an Ola.

2. Must have Features :
a. Just give me a speedometer, fuel tank (i.e. SOC level) and the mandatory indicator & light displays. Can do away with all other stuff.
b. Regen braking
c. Need atleast 5 years warranty on battery & motor - what most ICE scooters have.
d. side step (for lady pillon riders), main stand & side stand, provision to add a full body (tubular) guard to save from the daily nicks & scratches.
e. maximum range with no restriction

3. All other gizmos/gadgetary that are good to have but not necessary and can be charged for separately - I want to have the choice to take it or not:

a. Data - This is the biggest issue. First preference - don't want this data sharing with the manufacturer.
Nevertheless, if you are using my data to analyze & improve your products in general, I expect not to pay for a separate data connection. Happy to just connect on my mobile using bluetooth, etc. for data and can use my mobile hotspot when data is required by the scooter.
b. All the multiple drive modes.
c. Navigation. In the event I do not know the route, I put it on my phone, see it & understand the route & go. Most of the times, will be able to recheck on the phone during signal stops and otherwise, can stop if required.
d. Reverse mode
e. Free access to fast charging network - I can pay if & when I want to use it.

3. Some radical thoughts - they can just put a dumb tablet type display and add AndroidAuto/AppleAuto or allow mirroring the phone screen. This will easily take care of the navigation, data analytics, etc. Not sure if this reduces their cost though.

[Nithesh_M]

Not surprising they're resorting to such desperate measures. They've had a 5 year headstart on every other EV scooter on sale today and instead of working to reduce costs over the years they decided to stick to the same price until competition came to undercut their now stale products.

Naming it 350/450/450X, Y, Z and so on doesn't matter anymore. How can a brand survive selling one product for so long? Where's the Electric motorcycles? What about maxi scooters? What about entry level scooters? What happened to solving existing niggles? And why is battery warranty not uniform across range?

[sparky@home]

My wife’s cousin has a Ather 450X, purchased in 12/22, at Thrissur and he has run into some problem. His charging battery belt has broken and for the last 2 weeks the Bike agency is doing nothing about it, they keep telling him that the belt is not available and neither do they tell when it will be available. He is worried that as he is unable to charge the battery, it could become a problem.
It would be appreciated if someone would advise me what is the best step to be taken to get the service Centre to replace the broken belt.
Mods: please repost if its not the appropriate thread.

[ritesh_44]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

My wife’s cousin has a Ather 450X, purchased in 12/22, at Thrissur and he has run into some problem. His charging battery belt has broken and for the last 2 weeks the Bike agency is doing nothing about it, they keep telling him that the belt is not available and neither do they tell when it will be available. He is worried that as he is unable to charge the battery, it could become a problem.
It would be appreciated if someone would advise me what is the best step to be taken to get the service Centre to replace the broken belt.
Mods: please repost if its not the appropriate thread.

I am not sure what is battery belt and how charging is limited by this, if the normal belt is broken, they have announced it will be replaced for free till 30k km and it should not cause charging restrictions.
Please escalate to the Ather Bengaluru team (you can get contact on their website)