Ather S340: How did India’s first smart electric scooter evolve [Video]

Ather Energy, a brand which is considered as the Tesla of India’s two-wheeler segment, will soon launch their first product. The S340 scooter is in its pre-production stage right now and the bookings will open in June. Ather Energy has recently inaugurated charging stations in Bengaluru city that are open to all the EV owners. The S340, which will be India’s first smart scooter, was first conceptualised in 2013 and since then, it has gone through many transformations. Ather Energy released a video that shows the scooter’s journey from its early days to the latest pre-production version.

The video that features a year timestamp shows a simple chassis with a battery pack and an electric motor installed. The first prototype made in 2013 had front telescopic suspension and naked wires that were used to control the speed of the scooter. The video also shows the prototype model on the main roads passing at a good speed. In 2014, the scooter gained a big tablet-like screen on the handlebar that shows the speed among various other information about the scooter. The part with the 2015 timestamp shows the addition of a front apron and disc brakes too.

Since 2016, Ather has started testing the scooter on a track for balance and other various things like battery range of the scooter. In 2017, the video shows that the scooter finally gets a full body and shows it being tested with full body camouflage. The 2018 part shows the fully functional digital console of the scooter that shows speed, remaining range, ride time and distance covered. We can also see small signs on the top-right that possibly show the network strength. Ather S340 will feature cloud-connected console that will upload the ride statistics to the server. It will also get updates Over The Air (OTA) making it quite sophisticated.

The Bengaluru-based firm has made 55 prototypes since inception and has tested the scooter for over 50,000 km on the road. Ather has announced that the trial production has already begun and the full-fledged production is scheduled to start from July.

The scooter is powered by IP67 waterproof rated lithium-ion batteries that can take the scooter to up to 80 km on a single charge. It can reach a top speed of 72 km/h. The company claims that the battery can last for 50,000 km and has a lifespan of 5-6 years. In fast charge mode, the scooter can be charged to 80% of the battery capacity in just one hour. The price has not been announced yet but they are expected to be announced before the launch.