Ather 450X launched at Rs 99,000 plus Subscription

Ather Energy is a Bengaluru based company. They have launched their upgraded product the 450X. The Ather 450X is priced cheaper than the Ather 450 which makes no sense at first but read furthermore to find out the real deal.

Ather 450X price

The Ather 450X is priced at Rs 99,000. This is not the only cost you pay for the scooter. Being an electric scooter you might be thinking that the price of electricity might be the running cost of the vehicle. But to add to all this cost is the monthly subsections packs. These subscriptions will also include in the running cost of the vehicle. The Ather plus and pro are the two performance packs which can be brought with them. The Ather 450X Plus has a monthly subscription of Rs 1699. The Pro pack is at Rs 1999 per month.

This seems like an overboard for the upfront cost of the vehicle. If this is compared with a regular IC engine scooter and its running costs then it makes a deal that’s slightly on the costlier side.

Ather 450X Riding Mode

Ather has introduced the new Warp mode on the scooter. This mode allows a slightly better acceleration than the other 2 modes. It also makes the Ather 450X slightly quicker than the Ather 450. This gives a reason for buyers to look for this scooter over the existing 450. The warp mode gives it an increases 0-40 speed in 3.3s. This is very fast for an electric vehicle.

New Battery

The new battery of the Ather is a Li-ion with 2.9 kWh. This batter is lighter than the previous model which was 2.71 kWh out of which 2.4 was usable. The better battery on the new 450 also improves the stability of the scooter.

The weight has been shifted over the rear wheel. This makes the front feels lighter. Also, the steering feels lighter on the scooter. This might be a small change but it feels much better while pushing the scooter around corners.

Ather Electronic Features

The Digital Instrument Cluster is a 7-inch touchscreen display. It has the fluidity of a smartphone. This is obvious as the electronics on this scooter run on the Android operating system. The system is much faster and this makes the scooter more agile in terms of throttle response. The vehicle also gets an E sim from Jio. Also, there is Wifi which is mostly for the BlueTooth beacon and better BlueTooth connectivity. The scooter also Along with the BlueTooth connectivity Ather will sell helmets with BlueTooth connectivity. The scooter also gets a faster Fast Charging setup. The older charging setup used to give more than 1Km/min whereas the new one now gives 1.45 Km/min. This is a big difference if you look at the battery size reduction.

Less weight Better Performance

The Ather 450X is 11 grams lighter than the Ather 450. It is at 108 Kg which makes the scooter a very agile and easy to manoeuvre. This has been majorly done by changing the electrical components and the placement of certain electronic components. Also, the 12-inch tyres have a good grip and they absorb bumps better. The frame and chassis have seen no change on the vehicle. The new battery pack is lighter but it is denser. This has the benefit of weight and better performances as the 6kW motor can now be run faster.

The scooter produces a torque of 26 Nm and this comes in right from the moment you accelerate. Although the scooter is great for acceleration it is debatable that the top speed of 80 Km/hr is highway friendly? The main advantage of capping the top speed is that the range of the vehicle has gone up.

As the performance on this scooter is great the company has made sure that it gets good brakes. The front and the rear get disc brakes. These brakes have a good bike but being a hand lever operated rear brake it tends to lock up if not used with the proper inputs. This is where one might feel the need of ABS.

The booking of the scooter are open now. But Ather will start deliveries of the scooter from July 2020. This leaves a lot of time to make changes. Also Ather is expanding to 8 new markets with their new scooter. So is this the Netflix of Electric Scooter?