Electric scooter startup Ather Energy expands operation to 4 more cities

Hero MotoCorp-backed electric scooter startup Ather Energy on Thursday announced the expansion of its operations into four more cities, including Kolkata and Ahmedabad, amid "strong interest" for its offerings.

This comes close on the heels of the announcement of operations in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad, along with the launch of its second scooter 450X by the Bengaluru-based electric scooter startup last month.

The company launched its first electric scooter - Ather 450 - in 2018.

"Last month, we announced the expansion of our operations to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad in addition to Bengaluru and Chennai, where we are already present. We are now adding Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore, and Kolkata cities as well," Ather Energy CEO and Co-founder Tarun Mehta said.

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He added that Ather Energy would have operations in all the four cities by later this year.

There is pretty strong interest for the dealerships, Mehta said, adding that "From Ahmedabad, there is a request for at least 100 dealerships. From the volume perspective, we hope to do 30,000 units next fiscal from 10 cities."

Ather Energy plans to take its operations to around 24 cities by next fiscal to cater to the demand, Mehta had said last month.

He said that the company is aiming to have 200 fast charging points by March next year across these 10 cities as against 50 at present, which are installed between Bengaluru and Chennai.

Ather Energy wants to consolidate its market position in the electric scooter market. It is one of the most recognised names in the market despite being operational only in two cities. The startup’s product is already seen as a benchmark even by seasoned two-wheeler manufacturers.

Earlier in May 2019, the startup had raised $51 million in its latest funding led by Sachin Bansal, Co-founder of Flipkart and BAC Acquisitions.

Tarun Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, said, “Sachin has been part of our growth journey, and this investment is a strong endorsement of the momentum we’ve built. Post the successful launch in Bengaluru, we are eager to reach out to consumers in other cities, and to build more products that will excite consumers to switch to electric vehicles.”

(Edited by Suman Singh)