After commencing its operations in Bengaluru and Chennai, Ather Energy has announced its plans to expand into other major cities in India. Expanding its footprint in more cities will increase the demand for its electric vehicles, and thus the Bengaluru-based manufacturer will need to expand its production capacity.
Ather Energy has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tamil Nadu government to build a 4,00,000 sq. ft. factory. The new facility, which is likely to be start operations in 2020, will have an initial installed capacity of 1,00,000 units. The company’s existing plant in Bengaluru, in comparison, has a production capacity of 20,000-25,000 units. The production at the new facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu will be ramped up in a phased manner depending on the demand.
Speaking to The Economic Times recently, Ather Energy CEO, Tarun Mehta, said:
We are in the midst of expanding our capacity in a pretty large way. We are looking at a sizeable space of around 400,000 sq feet in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Operations will start with initial capacity of 100,000 units in the next 6-9 months.
Ather Energy is expanding its presence to 10 cities and plans to increase its reach to 24 cities by the end of the FY2022 (31 March 2022).
Besides expanding its production capacity, the Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler manufacturer is also revising its product portfolio. In September last year, the company discontinued its lower-spec model, the Ather 340, due to low demand. Now, Ather Energy plans to axe the Ather 450 in the next few months. Regular followers would know that the company had introduced its new product, the 450X, in January 2020.
The new Ather 450X is faster and cheaper than the standard scooter, and thus the customers are likely to opt for the new model. Ather Energy will continue to provide support for the Ather 450.
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To give you a quick recap, the Ather 450X, which was launched in the Indian market at INR 99,000, features an electric motor that produces 6 kW of peak power and 26 Nm of torque. The electric motor is fueled by a 2.9 kWh lithium-ion battery. Ather Energy has introduced an additional Warp mode to the electric scooter for improved performance.
[Source: auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com]
