New Delhi: Ather Energy has spent about ₹400-500 crore developing its new electric scooter platform EL and its first mass market electric scooter Konarc. The investment comes as the company seeks to create a more cost-effective, user-friendly and accessible product for its scooter brand Ather, to capture a larger share of its target market in India, the firm said.
The biggest reason behind the investment is Ather’s plan to move beyond its premium electric scooter segment. Konarc is now placed below the company’s current 450 series and Rizta, which is the cheapest electric scooter for Ather in India. However the price of it begins at Rs 99,999 (ex-showroom).
Ather’s investment is mainly in the product development and its co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta said it allocates most of the investment towards product development. This going to includes research and development (R&D), testing and building the new EL platform. The firm is looking forward to the marketing and other cost which will be in addition to the development cost at approximately ₹400–500 crore.
The new EL platform focuses on lower cost, servicing facilitation, ease of charging and everyday use. Ather is not just aiming for high performance, it is also looking to improve the usability of its electric scooters among Indian consumers. It also has onboard charging, electronic braking and longer 10,000-km service intervals.
Ather began to ponder the new platform in 2019 but abandoned the project. The company resumed development around 2024 and continues to work on it for about 2 years now.
The other key factor for Ather’s growth is Konarc, who has been instrumental in enabling the company to expand beyond South India. The company thinks that the scooter will sell well in North and Central India, where it has been testing out the product with great feedback.
This investment falls into Ather’s overall growth plan. The company is also setting up a ₹2,000-crore manufacturing plant in Maharashtra, which will have the capacity to produce up to one million vehicles and battery packs annually.
Ather aims to mix Ather technology with a more affordable product to gain access to a much larger customer base in the burgeoning market of electric two-wheelers in India with the help of Konarc.
