Ather Energy Smart Scooter in India
Ather Energy gears up for the launch of its first scooter in 2016.Co-founder
Tarun Mehta said that the scooter will be priced under Rs. 1,00,000, with a
formal price announcement likely three months from now.
The
co-founders believe that this space is ripe for disruption, as locally
available electric-scooters lack either the speed or the smarts, with a
majority of them running on lead-acid batteries.Typically we have electric scooters which have a top speed of 25-40 kmph,
they have poor acceleration, and a battery life of 5,000-6,000 kilometres, and
a 6-8 hour charging time. Unlike these, our scooter doesn't feel like a step
down from a petrol scooter
Ather's smart scooter is spaced to
deliver a top speed of 75kmph, and will do 0-60kmph in 11 seconds, have an
estimated driving range of 50-100 kilometres, and recharge to about 90 percent
capacity in an hour. The lithium-ion battery will have a life-cycle of 50,000
kilometres, with a lifespan of five to six years. Don't let the battery charge up to 100
percent, otherwise it will just damage the battery for an extra 2-3 kilometres
Ather has used a digital battery
system, which gives a lot more control and feedback, enabling features like
remote firmware upgrades. The battery pack is built out of the 18650 cell
format, which is also used by Tesla on its Model S electric car. Compared to an
elastic battery pack, Mehta said it offers higher energy density and is safer.
He estimates that the S340's battery should be able to achieve two to three
times the estimated life stated on the specifications.
Lot of interesting work with the battery
management system has been done, it’s been gone for a massive amount of
integration, the BMS is integrated inside the battery pack, and the battery
pack itself is integrated into the vehicle chassis. That has allowed us to
significantly cut down on costs, weight, and overall thermal performance.
Taking the heat off an off-the-shelf battery pack becomes quite difficult;
you'll have to do a lot of retrofit around it. It’s been gone for a structural
battery pack, which automatically allows us to improve cooling significantly.
The battery can be managed remotely
using a smartphone, and will manage itself during long breaks in Vacation mode.
The S340 also has an Android-based smart dashboard that helps with smart
features like navigation and theft protection.
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