Ather Energy, a Bangalore-based startup which is developing electric scooter, has said that it is planning to invest around ₹60 crore in its manufacturing facility.
The company had launched its first electric scooter — Ather S340 in February 2016 but the vehicle is still not available for purchase. Before the announcement, it was in works for three years. Now, the company is saying that the bookings for Ather S340 will open in early 2018.
However, Ather is still tight-lipped about the pricing. The company is expected to start delivering the electric bikes in the second quarter of next year.
Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, said,
We have conducted the beta test rides and open houses across Bengaluru and Chennai. Close to 100 such enthusiasts have already test-ridden the S340 and feedback has been helpful and positive. We are looking to put an investment of about ₹60 crore in the manufacturing facility in Whitefield (outskirts of Bengaluru) which has an initial capacity of 20,000 units.
He further added that the decision about increasing the capacity of the manufacturing facility will be taken after the rollout of the first batch of scooters.
Meanwhile, Ather has been working on building the infrastructure to support electric vehicles and is in discussions with multiple stakeholders to build the charging units. It has carried out small pilots of its prototype product with a select group of people in Bengaluru.
Earlier, the company had revealed that it plans to roll out its first product in three markets — Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.
Ather Enery was started in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. Initially, the company was backed by Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Later on, Tiger Global Management and Hero MotoCorp also invested in the startup.
Tarun Mehta says that over a span of about one year, Ather has increased its team to 250 people from 75. The company also has plans of going beyond two-wheelers, but currently, it is just focusing on launching its delayed first vehicle — Ather S340.