Indian electric vehicle maker Ather, which is set to launch its less than ₹1 lakh scooter by the year-end, is looking at launching motorbikes and also planning to venture into the electric car segment.

Talking to BusinessLine at the launch of its electric scooter S340 at the sidelines of the Surge conference, Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy, said that the company is starting its manufacturing journey by making scooters but eventually is eying the other two and four-wheeler segments. “Definitely, you see our company is not named Ather scooters,” he says.

The start-up, which comes from the IIT stable, is backed by Flipkart founders and Tiger Global, said that its electric scooter, will be manufactured in Bengaluru. The company, which has raised ₹81 crore till date, plans to invest ₹25 crore for manufacturing this scooter.

Mehta believes that there is a considerable opportunity for electric vehicles (EV) in India, despite a slack in pickup, due to cost and constant breakdown issues. Industry watchers point to things such as eight hours to charge the vehicle battery, replacement of certain parts every six months, slow speed and lack of storage space as some of the common issues concerning EVs.

“The logic of a lot of EV makers in India is to get something from China for 'x' and then sell it for x plus 10 per cent margin. However, if you are a product company, and you think like that it will not work in the long term,” points out Mehta.

It is during the IIT days that Mehta, along with Swapnil Jain, the other co-founder, who is also the Chief Technology Officer, decided to initially start off building battery packs for EV makers. It was then they realised that the convenience that people are used to cannot be killed when migrating to a different technology. Keeping the above issues in mind, the company claims that its scooter can be charged in 90 minutes, comes with an aluminium body, and can run for 60 km with a single charge. Also, to control the after-sales and maintenance-related matters, will pick up and drop off the vehicle from the customer’s doorstep.

Charging spots The company executives say that around 90 per cent of the vehicle has been designed in-house and imports parts like Li-ion battery. “In this industry, there are no ready Li-ion battery suppliers, rapid chargers or high performance motors. We built some of it in-house,” says Jain.

The start-up is planning to build 10,000 vehicles in a year and is talking to corporates to set up charging spots. “Ten locations, including SAP office and Mantri residences, have agreed to put up charging spots,” says Mehta.

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