In an era where climate changes, sustainable development, and ecological damages are severe concerns, creating smart EVs or electric vehicles is a smart business move. The wide array of advantages that EVs offers is astonishing. For instance, electric motors come with excellent torque, respond quickly and have an exceptional reaction time. However, what makes them the need of the hour is the reduction of harmful emissions and improvement of public health.
Vehicle emissions can lead to global warming. They contribute to air pollution leading to the release of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and other greenhouse gases. It triggers different health problems in humans, such as decreased lung capacity, asthma, respiratory illnesses, etc. This explains why EVs are gaining such prominence.
With electric vehicles, you can save money on fuel and reduce the carbon footprint. These vehicles offer low costs in maintenance while offering better performance.
With an aim to improve electric mobility, Ather Energy was developed. It is, without a doubt, that the sales of two-wheelers in India outmatch that of four-wheelers. Add to it, the innovation of Lithium-ion batteries fuelling the two-wheelers, and you have a promising market. Multiple competitors, lack of local ecosystem, and absence of high early adopters challenge the prospect of electric vehicles and their success in India.
The journey of Ather Energy
Ather, also known as Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd, is the brainchild of Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. The startup was founded in 2013 and committed to the manufacture of electric scooters. The IIT-Madras alumnus returned to their alma mater to start the company that they now have today. It was in the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras Research Park that they came up with the idea to proceed with product development and starting a company.
In fact, their first start-up idea was to build Lithium-ion battery packs and sell them on the market. That is because they thought that was the only issue in the existing EVs. Soon, they realised that changing the battery doesn’t solve the issues in the present vehicles. Thus, they felt it was a necessity to launch complete vehicles in the market.
Struggles and Challenges
Ather hired a few interns in January 2104, and it took nearly 6 months to actually start the work. Arun Vinayak, a mechanical engineer pass-out from IIT-Madras, joined Ather in June 2014 as the CPO or Chief Product Officer.
The difficulty in building electric scooters came onto the forefront gradually. The primary reasons were lack of infrastructure, ecosystem, and talent. It was a real challenge to hire professionals that had knowledge regarding EVs.
Besides, it took Ather Energy another year to get substantial investor backing. Though they got capital from professors at IIT-M and friends, it was Tiger Global that awarded the company with a Series A funding of $12 million in April 2015. Previously, Flipkart invested $1 million in December 2014.
How Ather Energy entered the EV market?
Ather entered the EV market with its proprietary S340. While creating a new scooter didn’t seem difficult initially due to the prior availability of blueprints, there was a lot to be done. The company had to start from scratch. Each subsystem of the vehicle needed to be designed, built, and monitored individually, making the task even more challenging. Despite the hardships, Ather set out to achieve its intended target.
In the early 2016s, Ather began to hire more professionals to help them prepare the product for launch. In mid-2016, the first prototype of the first model was created. Ather successfully received $30 million in funding from Hero MotoCorp in 2016 (October). The final product, S340, was released on June 5, 2018.
Ather 450X, Ather 450 Plus – Two models manufactured by Ather Energy
At present, Ather manufactures two electric scooters – the Ather 450X and the Ather 450 Plus. However, the road to the company’s current successful path was not without difficulties. The glaring absence of proper skills and lack of adequate infrastructure increase the hardship for Ather.
Arun Vinayak often laments the lack of financial bandwidth during the initial design stage of Ather. If they could have managed to set up a team in China for parts production and quality checking, things might have been easier. However, with years, the company gained more clarity and was successful in overcoming the seemingly impossible challenges.
Current Business Model of Ather Energy
Ather has a strictly online-only purchase model to sell its products. That means that the company offers the display of the products online where you can place the orders and make the payments. They offer doorstep delivery along with assistance at every stage for the customers. Right now, the company has a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit. It is stationed in Whitefield, Bangalore, which is also the company headquarters. The manufacturing unit initiated production of 600 EVs per week in 2018.
Future plans for increasing manufacture
Recently, the company disclosed its plan to step another production unit in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The 400,000 sq ft. manufacturing unit will be starting production by the time 2022 comes to an end. It aims to manufacture 100,000 units yearly with plans to scale it to half a million EVs.
Ather Grid: Solving EV charging issues
While electric vehicles were gaining popularity, charging them was still a prevalent problem.In order to resolve the charge issue, Ather launched the Ather Grid, its own charging infrastructure. The company partnered with restaurants, cafes, etc., This made it easy for Ather Energy to set up reliable charging stations. At present, it has set up 14 charging stations in Chennai and 38 charging stations in Bengaluru.
Ather One: Subscription plans for Ather buyers
Ather One is an excellent launch by Ather Energy. It is a subscription plan that aims to optimize the scooter ownership experience. The plan offers unlimited charging, data connection, periodic maintenance, and roadside assistance round-the-clock.
Revenue and fundings
Within the mid-2021, Ather Energy got the distinction of being the fourth-largest manufacturer selling EVs (two-wheelers) in the Indian market. Currently, the company has 38 experience centers in 32 cities in India. By 2023, the company aims to expand the numbers to 150 experience centers and 100 cities.
Ather garnered a $10.72mn annual revenue in 2021, which is an exponential 126% increase from FY20’s $4.74 mn. As of now, the company generates a revenue of Rs 100 crore each month with plans of doubling it in FY23.
Till now, Ather has successfully completed nine funding rounds, garnering $286.8 mn in total. The latest one was from Hero MotoCorp and NIIF Ltd. with accumulated funding of $128 mn on May 12, 2022.
The future ahead
Ather aims to increase its production capacity within 2023. Despite India’s tumultuous EV policy, the market of two-wheeler EVs are gaining excellent momentum. However, the challenges remain the same. The primary one is to get new customers that remain loyal to the EV market. That is mainly why Ather continues to place importance on in-depth research and the perfection of its subsystems. Perhaps, Ather could be the ultimate game-changer, spearheading the revolutionary change in the two-wheelers market.
