A few months ago, carandbike reported that electric two-wheeler start-up Ather Energy is all set to introduce its second model line next year, and the upcoming Ather electric scooter has now been spied on test. While the test mule seen in the pictures is fully camouflaged, there are enough and more details that can be gleaned about this upcoming family-oriented e-scooter, which will rival the TVS iQube. Ather co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta all but confirmed this is indeed the company’s latest offering via a social media post, appreciating his team on the camouflage artwork depicting a family.
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At first glance, it appears that the new Ather family scooter is notably larger than the 450 series e-scooters, which are more svelte and compact in size. The front-end has a slimmer horizontal headlight cluster, unlike the vertically-stacked cluster seen on the 450 models, and the scooter is equipped with a telescopic fork, 12-inch alloy wheels and a front disc brake. Also visible is a wide and accommodating seat, a flat floorboard, a protective cover for the final drive, a chunky pillion grab rail, integrated foot rests and a horizontal LED tail-light. The scooter is also expected to have more underseat storage than the 450’s 22-litre space.
Large seat will make for more comfortable two-up riding.
The scooter on test appears to employ a mid-drive motor like the 450 models, but it remains to be seen if Ather chooses to make major changes to the frame, with the 450 series utilising aluminium, which could be dropped in favour of steel. The test mule is fitted with the same 7.0-inch touchscreen that has evolved over the years to be one of the best you can find on an e-scooter, but Ather could also choose to offer the 7.0-inch ‘DeepView’ LCD – first introduced on the 450S – on entry trims, to make the scooter more accessible from a price point of view.
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At present, the 450 lineup has two battery options – the 2.9 kWh pack (in the 450S and 450X) and the 3.7 kWh pack (in the 450X only). Ather’s upcoming scooter could well be offered with both battery options (standard and long-range variants), but it will be interesting to see if the company chooses to extend an even smaller battery to further lower the scooter’s price and make it more attainable.
New Ather expected to retain a mid-drive motor.
“We only have a sports scooter lineup, but there are a lot of other use cases that exist – family scooters, comfort- and convenience-focused scooters. I think we can build as many as three product lines in scooters alone, so that will be the natural expansion for our product lineup”, Mehta had told carandbike during an interaction earlier this year.
Positioning-wise, it remains to be seen how Ather will place this new scooter. However, given the success the iQube is enjoying, it’s quite likely that the latest Ather will be at least close, if not more accessible, than the hot-selling TVS.
