Ather Energy has started mass production of the Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X at its new factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. This should enable the company to significantly speed up the Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X deliveries. Customer dispatches from the new Ather Energy plant have already begun.
Last month, Tarun Mehta, Co-Founder, and CEO, Ather Energy had said on Twitter that relocating the production of Ather scooters from the Bengaluru plant to the Hosur plant will increase the pace of production from 7 vehicles/day to 75 vehicles/shift. With the ability to produce much faster, the company can now speed up deliveries and expand retail presence. By the end of this year, it “will be spreading into 40 cities”, Mehta told Telangana Today last month.
The last unit of the Ather 450 rolled off the assembly line in Bengaluru in early October 2020, after which the Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X were manufactured there until late December 2020.
The Ather 450X was launched amid much fanfare in January and replaces the Ather 450, and while the new electric scooter is more expensive, it is quicker, lighter and faster. While the company was honouring the bookings it received for the Ather 450 before winding down the production, it was also offering customers the option to convert those bookings to the new 450X.
The Ather 450 uses a 2.4 kWh battery pack and puts out 5.4 kW and 20 Nm of torque. The scooter weighs 118 kg and can accelerate from 0 to 40 km/h in 3.9 seconds. Ather 450 returns a range of 75 km in Eco, 65 km in Ride and 55 km in the Sport mode.
Compared to its regular sibling, the Ather 450X loses 10 kg (108 kg), gets a 2.61 kWh battery pack (up from 2.4 kWh) and makes 6 kW, with 26 Nm of torque. The range, too, has increased to 85 km (from 75 km) and the 450X gets an additional riding mode in the form of the ‘Warp,’ lingo likely derived from the sci-fi universe of Star Trek. The 450X charges faster at 1.5 km/min, up from 1 km/min.
Ather has endowed the 450X 4G and Bluetooth support and the software now runs Android (Snapdragon 212 processor) instead of Linux. The price of the Ather 450X is Rs 1.59 lakh ex-showroom in Bengaluru (including FAME II incentive). For those who cannot afford it, there’s the Ather 450 Plus.
The Ather 450 Plus doesn’t feature Bluetooth, and so, music and voice assistant features aren’t available. It has a smaller, 2.23 kWh battery pack that allows a True Range of 70 km. Moreover, its motor generates 5.4 kW (instead of 6 kW) and 22 Nm (instead of 26 Nm). A 0-40 km/h takes 0.6 seconds more on the cheaper model – 3.9 seconds. The Warp mode is exclusive to the Ather 450X.
The Ather 450 Plus retails at INR 1.4 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru, incl. FAME II incentive). Deliveries of both Ather 450X and Ather 450 Plus began late last year.
Featured Image Source: twitter.com/Guidance_TN
![Ather 450X delivery updates shared for all cities across India [Update]](https://electricvehicleweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ather-450X-front-three-quarters-test-ride-350x233.jpg)
