Chennai becomes first city outside of Bangalore to get access to EV charging and also the 450 and 340 electric scooters.
24 Apr 2019 | 10717 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk
EV start-up Ather Energy has announced its plan to expand its operations to Chennai in June 2019. With this, Chennai will become the second city the company is entering after its commercial launch in Bangalore in 2018. Ather Energy says it is entering its rapid expansion phase and plans to ...
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EV start-up Ather Energy has announced its plan to expand its operations to Chennai in June 2019. With this, Chennai will become the second city the company is entering after its commercial launch in Bangalore in 2018. Ather Energy says it is entering its rapid expansion phase and plans to be in 30 Indian cities over the next couple of years.
As it did in Bangalore, Ather Energy will be introducing both its products – the 450 and 340 electric scooters – along with setting up its public charging infrastructure, Ather Grid, across consumer-friendly locations such as cafes, malls, tech-parks and gyms.
To encourage adoption of EVs in the city, Ather Energy has announced free charging at Ather Points for all electric vehicles for the first 6 months. Ather’s electric and intelligent scooters offer ease of access and convenience to their owners by allowing them to identify charging point locations and their real-time availability through the Ather Grid app. This model is in Bangalore with Ather Grid up and running at 24 charging locations with 31 charging points.
Ather Energy says all stocks of the Ather 450 scooters are sold out till September 2019 in Bangalore alone. The company has today opened its early access privileges to Chennai residents and the rest of India as it ramps up. The ‘Pre-Order Interest’ option on the company’s website gives consumers priority deliveries, early access to book the Ather 450 and Ather 340 and invitations to exclusive events and test rides.
Earlier this year, Ather Energy announced an all-India association with Godrej Nature’s Basket, which will see Ather Energy setting-up its Ather Point EV charging stations at Godrej Nature’s Baskets’ 35-odd locations across the country.
According to Ravneet Phokela, Chief Business Officer, “After a successful launch in Bangalore, we are expanding across the country starting with Chennai. The launch in Chennai is like a homecoming for Ather as the organisation was conceptualised at IIT Madras. We have already started receiving pre-order interest from enthusiasts on the website. As we enter this exciting market, we are looking at extending the same go-to-market strategy that we employed in Bangalore, starting with accepting pre-orders, setting up of the charging infrastructure and the Experience Center, followed by the delivery of vehicles.”
Also read: Riding impression of the Ather 450