Ather Energy S340 electric scooter unveiled

Ather Energy, an Indian hardware start-up firm, has unveiled the S340 electric scooter. The Ather Energy S340 is powered by a lithium ion battery pack which has been designed in-house. It can attain a top speed of 72kmph and has a range of 60km. Its battery is water-proofed to an IP67-rating and has a life of around 50,000km.

Ather Energy says that the S340 electric scooter can be charged up to 80 per cent in just 50 minutes using a fast charging mode. In normal mode, it can be charged from any 5A socket. The S340 looks sharp and is also claimed to have a low centre of gravity.

In terms of equipment, it gets LED lights which respond to ambient light conditions. The S340 electric scooter also gets a touchscreen dashboard which integrates cloud-based data to personalise the ride experience. It offers features like user profile based sign-in, on board navigation as well as pre-configured Sport and Economy drive modes.

The electric scooter can be integrated with the S340 mobile app which will allow owners to configure ride and profile preferences and sync navigation routes remotely. Also, based on predictive analytics and aggregation of ride statistics, the scooter can deliver customised riding style recommendations.

With more vehicles reaching roads, aggregate rider and vehicle data will help in developing customised vehicle updates that can be automatically delivered over the air.

Ather Energy has a manufacturing facility in Bangalore where production of the S340 electric scooter will commence from the end of this year. Pricing information is unclear but Ather has confirmed it will be priced below Rs 1 lakh. It will be sold online exclusively and doorstep delivery and service will be offered. Pre-ordering will start in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Pune in the next quarter. The company says it will be setting up experience centres to offer test rides to prospective buyers. The first one will be set up in Bangalore in the next three months.

"The future will be connected and inevitably electric and the Ather S340 has been built as a manifestation of this philosophy. It is an unapologetically electric vehicle, it has been designed and built mostly in-house with engineering precision. Intelligent vehicles will revolutionise our commute experience in future and we have just begun that journey," said Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder.

Ather Energy is the brainchild of IIT graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain and is among the few hardware start-ups in India. It was founded in 2013 and has received funding from Tiger Global and Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal.