Bengaluru-based smart electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy has started CY2023 on a strong note. The EV start-up has registered its best-ever monthly sales of 12,149 units, barely a month after it had notched its previous best – 9,187 units in December 2022.
Given the overall momentum of the electric two-wheeler industry, which saw overall sales grow to ove4r 600,000 units in CY2022, Ather Energy’s cumulative sales for the first 10 months of FY2023 (April 2022 to January 2023) are 63,814 units, improving upon the 59,123 units clocked in 12 months of 2022.
The Bangalore-based EV OEM continues to witness strong month-on-month growth since August 2022 (see CY2022 sales table below) and has reported strong consumer demand in markets like Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Last month saw the EV OEM roll out its 100,000th e-scooter from its manufacturing plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The milestone comes about five months after it rolled out the 50,000th unit on May 31, 2022.
Expanding network to 120 showrooms by end-FY2023
Ather is also benefitting from its speedy network expansion programme. The EV OEM, which has outlined plans to expand from 56 outlets in 50 cities at present to 120 showrooms in 95 cities by end-FY2023, opened 13 Experience Centres in multiple cities including Erode, Ahmedabad, Hosur and Guntur. This follows up on the inauguration of 14 showrooms in December 2022 including those in Nellore, Karimnagar, Udupi, Noida, Kottayam and Shimoga.
Last month saw the company launch the Atherstack 5.0 software update. The first change is the layout of information on the touchscreen. Ather will also add Vector Maps, with smoother loading, layering, live traffic and perspective change.
January 2023 also saw Ather release the statistic-laden second edition of its annual recap report: ‘Ather in 2022’ with the highlight being its e-scooters having clocked over 389 million kilometres last year and helping save 5,631,000kg of CO2 emissions.
Among the many findings are that Bengaluru and Chennai continue to lead EV adoption in India while Pune takes third position and Tier-II cities are clocking higher average daily distances per Ather scooter with Secunderabad leading the chart.
A surprising insight was the total distance covered by Ather users in Reverse Assist – 81,197km – using it to manoeuvre around parking spaces with ease.
Riders also registered the highest single-day, monthly, and yearly usage in 2022, covering a distance of 500km, 8,059km, and 48,059km, respectively. The highest distance covered by all Ather scooters in a single day and month stands at 2,010,902km on December 21 and 56,568,252km throughout December.
Future-ready with 430,000 units manufacturing capacity
What is helping Ather achieve better numbers is the improved supplies to its showrooms across the country. The company has become future-ready in the sense that with the going on stream of its second manufacturing plant at Hosur in Tamil Nadu in end-November, the company has expanded capacity by 250% to 420,000 units per annum. The new plant, which employs 1,600 personnel, is twice the size of the first plant and has two vehicle and three battery lines. Increased automation levels mean assembly times are down by 20 percent.
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