Hero MotoCrop is looking to strengthen its presence in the EV space. The board of Hero MotoCrop has approved a new investment in Ather Energy, the EV company. The new investment is up to ₹420 Cr. Hero MotoCrop already owns 34.9% of Ather Energy and soon, Hero will be launching one of its own EVs into the market with the strong alliance it has with Ather Energy and Gogoro. As per the reports, the new Hero EV is under the R&D stage.
Ather Energy: what does it do?
The Ather 450X is the quickest and one of the smartest scooters in its category and comes in four colors- Grey, Green, and White, along with the limited-edition Series 1. The scooter is powered by a 6kW PMSM motor, a 2.9kWh lithium-ion battery, and comes with four riding modes. In addition to Eco, Ride, and Sport, Ather Energy introduced a high-performance mode, ‘Warp’. The Ather 450X can go from 0 to 40kmph in 3.3 seconds in Warp mode, making it the quickest scooter in the 125cc category.
The Ather 450X can fast-charge at 1.5km per minute, making it the quickest charging rate in the electric two-wheeler category. Additionally, the electric scooter has a 4G SIM card and Bluetooth connectivity, allowing riders to manage phone calls and music on the touchscreen dashboard. The 7-inch touchscreen dashboard comes with a color depth of 16M and a Snapdragon Quad-Core processor. The Ather 450X utilizes Android Open Source to offer Google Map navigation, on-board diagnostics, and other unique features like Over-the-air updates, Auto Indicator off, and Guide-me-home lights.
Recently, Ather Energy announced that the company will offer its proprietary charging connector to other OEMs to adopt for their two-wheelers, paving the way for an interoperable two-wheeler fast charging platform for the country. This would not only reduce range anxiety by allowing all scooters to access Ather Energy’s 200+ fast chargers but also allow more OEMs to build products on a common standard thus lowering infrastructure investments. Since its inception, Ather Energy has invested in building a fast-charging network, Ather Grid, and has been providing normal speed charge options to all-electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers free of cost.