Ather 450 Battery Fails Twice: Owner Now Getting Only 12 Kms Range

An Ather 450X owner has reported that his electric scooter’s battery has degraded to the extent that he’s getting only 12 kilometers of range per charge.

In a post on Team-BHP, the Ather 450X states that his 450X Series 1 electric scooter is 3 years old, has covered 15,000 kilometres, and is out of warranty. He adds that the battery failed just after the scooter went out of warranty.

As proof, he has posted two pictures. The first picture, shot at 906 AM, shows the Ather 450X having 100 % charge and showing a range of 60 kilometres. The second picture, shot at 922 AM, shows the Ather 450X having just 4 % charge, with only 4 kilometres of range left.

From the two pictures, it’s evident that the scooter has covered just 11.6 kilometres and has consumed 96 % of charge for the short distance. Also, the electric scooter seems to have been ridden in Sport mode, which typically offers lower range than Economy and Ride modes. The Ather 450X offers four ride modes: Economy, Ride, Sport and Warp. Range is highest in Economy mode, and lowest in Warp mode.

Once the charge level dropped significantly and the battery showed a clear sign of failure, the owner contacted Ather support, who offered to repair the battery under goodwill warranty. He was also given a loaner battery so that he could continue using the scooter until Ather managed to fix the battery.

Ather took about 4 weeks to repair the battery. Once the battery was repaired, the Ather 450X scooter performed well for about 4 months before the problem re-occurred. The owner reports that he’s getting a range of only 12 kilometres, and that this has completely eroded his trust on electric vehicles.

In fact, he adds that he even booked a Tata Punch EV after initially being impressed with his Ather 450X, and that he’s now worried about his decision after the difficult experience with the Ather 450X’s multiple battery failures. The owner is now trying to get in touch with Ather Energy to resolve this issue but he’s not yet received a satisfactory response from the brand.

The owner is also upset about the fact that he had to send multiple emails to get Ather Energy to respond to the battery failure. He claims that the faulty battery was not replaced when it was found to be faulty but was only repaired by replacing a few cells. After this ordeal, he’s now considering the option of scrapping his 450X as Ather Energy has not responded to his repeated emails.

Such incidents can shake the faith of buyers as electric vehicles are still quite early in their lifecycles in India. Batteries failing multiple times don’t augur well for the brand, which claims to be one of the most reliable makers of electric scooters in India. We hope that Ather Energy identifies the issue and fixes it to the satisfaction of the buyer.