Ather unveils Series 1 collector's edition

Bangalore-based Ather Energy has revealed its Collector’s Edition version of the 450X electric scooter and is calling it the Series 1.

Unique to the Series 1 is its colour scheme that the company says is glossy black colour with golden metallic flake in it. The eco-friendly machine also has minimal red highlights, including a racing stripe, wheel decals and its exposed trellis frame finished in red.

Speaking of the trellis frame, more of it is now visible because the side panels on the Series 1 are made from a special near-transparent polycarbonate material. Ather Energy says this is the first time something like this is being used on a production two-wheeler. However, Ather still has to get the dyes ready, which is why the customers will only get the panels in May 2021. The company will install them at no cost.

Underneath, the Series 1 is identical to the 450X, it uses the same 3.3kW/6kW (continuous/peak) motor that produces 26Nm of torque (up from the 450's 20.5Nm). While the claimed top speed remains the same at 80kph, the 0-40kph acceleration time has now improved from the original Ather 450's 3.9sec to 3.3sec – this is most likely in the scooter's new Warp riding mode.

The range has gone up as well; the scooter now has a claimed range of 70km (up from 65km) in Ride mode. The range in Eco mode, meanwhile, has gone up by 10km, to 85km. The larger lithium-ion battery on the 450X does require more time to charge, it now takes 3hr 35min to get to 80 percent and 5hr 45min to get to a 100 percent from zero.

According to Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy, “Like all our scooters, the Series1 is built from scratch and we hope our community loves it as much as we loved building it. Building automotive grade translucent panels is tricky and I am super excited that Ather is bringing them out for the first time ever with Series1.The teams have been working on it for months and despite the lockdown have been able to produce something truly fantastic.”

Like the 450X, the Series 1 also gets the updated instrument cluster. While it uses the same Android-based operating system, it does feature minor updates indicating that it’s a Series 1 and not a 450X. While the screen continues to be a 7.0-inch unit, it gets 4G LTE and Bluetooth 4.2, like the 450X.

Ather has said the Series 1 will only be available to those who pre-ordered it in January 2020. The company hasn’t revealed the number, but said it has fewer than 10,000 bookings. The owners of the Series 1 will also not be charged for service for the first year of ownership. Its price was the same as that of the 450X.

Earlier this year, Ather announced that it plans to expand its presence to 10 cities across India – Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kochi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune. However, going by the response it has received so far, Ather has added Kozhikode to the list. This takes the total number of cities in Ather's Phase One expansion plan to 11.