Difficult To Offer Good Value In A Sub-1 lakh Electric Scooter: Ather Energy CEO

Ather Energy, which started as an EV start-up twelve years ago, has managed to lower the entry price of its product portfolio over the years, but a sub-one-lakh-rupee Ather model may not happen, at least not anytime soon. According to the company's co-founder and CEO, Tarun Mehta, creating value for the company or the customer with an EV priced significantly lower is difficult currently.

Even though Ather Energy wants to push the envelope in EV affordability with its EL platform, which will spawn products starting H2 of 2026, it's not looking at going below the one-lakh rupee mark, which is like a "Lakshman rekha" for the company. "We have not seen value for us as a company, we have not seen value eventually for the customer (in offering a cheaper than ₹1 lakh EV). When you go there, let's say 80k, 85k, trying to build an electric product, either you are too subsidy dependent or you cut the product so deeply that it's not a good product for the end consumer," says Mehta during a roundtable discussion with journalists at the third edition of the annual Ather Community Day. Currently, the Ather Rizta is the brand's most affordable offering, and it starts from ₹1.05 lakh (ex-showroom, Bengaluru). 

Ather Energy has been building its brand presence with performance and technology as key pillars for its product strategy. It plans to expand its portfolio significantly over the next few years. With the EL platform, which has scalability, versatility and cost optimisation as key pillars, it'll have the capability to churn out models in a frequency of 18 months, or a little less.

"In the next 2 or 3 years, our portfolio will be very scooter-heavy. And bikes will start rolling out, and that will have a life of its own. Eventually, I think a healthy two-wheeler brand in India needs at least 8-10 good products. Sustainable products," Mehta tells Acko Drive.

Bengaluru-based Ather Energy is among the group of Indian two-wheeler EV OEMs that may claim to be competitive globally in terms of cost, technology, and quality. It is also looking at tapping international markets on a larger scale within a couple of years. Currently, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the only two export markets for Ather products.

"International is a very, very big opportunity. I think the India opportunity is still larger. So we have to fix this first, we have to get this first. I think within a year or two, international expansion will be one of the biggest things you will hear all of us talk about. Plus, there's no other country which can export quality electric two-wheelers as good as India can make," says Mehta confidently.

Another Bengaluru-based EV start-up, Ultraviolette, focused on performance electric motorcycles, is already tapping European markets like France and Germany, even though it hasn't quite reached a significant scale in the domestic market yet.

For Ather Energy, the focus remains on scooters for now. With the launch of its family scooter Rizta last year, and an expanded distribution network, the company says it has managed to double its share in the electric scooter segment to 14.3% in the April-June quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year. Currently, it has a market share of a little over 17%. Ather Energy says its supply chain strategy helped it tide over the rare earth magnet crisis. Some of the other EV makers faced disruption, leading to some loss of sales.

Ather Energy now plans to strengthen its market position at the national level, by expanding its current distribution network of around 450 outlets to 700 by the end of this financial year. Over the past decade of its existence, Ather Energy has sold 4,50,000 electric scooters. It will look at selling the next 4,50,000 units in a much shorter period. Its upcoming manufacturing plant in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, scheduled to be commissioned late next year with an initial installed annual production capacity of 500,000 units, will be crucial for the EV maker to play the bigger game.

Well-established biggies like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, and the other EV start-up Ola Electric have also lined up strategies for the next growth phase in the EV space.