Hero MotoCorp-backed electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy on Tuesday launched the third generation of its premium scooter 450X priced at Rs 1.39 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), targeting leadership in the segment by the end of this fiscal. The company expects the Indian electric two-wheeler segment to cross sales of 1 lakh units a month by the end of the ongoing financial year and it is targeting to have over 30 per cent market share.
The ‘450X Gen 3’ is based on the third generation of Ather’s 450 platform. The first generation of the 450 platform was launched in 2018, followed by the second generation in 2020. “We’re keeping the product branding the same. But internally, the engineering and the hardware, and the specs have changed considerably. The biggest change is the battery pack that is becoming almost 25 per cent larger, from 2.9 kilowatt hours to 3.7 kilowatt hours,” Ather Energy Co-Founder and CEO Tarun Mehta told Siren news.
A lot of customers, especially the first-time EV buyers, really wanted to cross the psychological barrier of 100 km, Mehta said, adding “that was one of the biggest feedbacks we got from all our owners over the last couple of years. So we built and developed this version sometime last year.”
Based on FADA data, in June 2022 Okinawa Autotech was the market leader in electric two-wheeler segment with sales of 6,980 units, followed by Ampere Vehicles at 6,540 units, Hero Electric at third place with 6,503 units and Ola Electric at fourth selling 5,874 units. Ather Energy was a distant fifth with 3,808 units.
