Ather launches fastest, most powerful ‘Apex’ scooter

The Ather 450 Apex comes with an “only throttle” option that is similar to one-pedal driving on electric cars. When you twist the throttle in the opposite direction, Ather’s “magic braking algorithm” kicks in and starts regenerative braking. According to product manager Vikram Raj, this can bring the scooter to a halt smoothly without the need to apply brakes.

The Ather 450 Apex will finally come with a 100 kilometres per hour top speed, which makes it the fastest in the company lineup. Every other scooter it currently sells can only reach 90 kilometres per hour. Ather CEO, Tarun Mehta, says the company has also improved the scooter’s handling and manoeuvrability along with the performance. 

The scooter has a new Warp Plus mode that is faster than the Warp mode the company is made for. In a promotional video broadcast by the company, the Ather 450 Apex can be seen easily overtaking a 125 cc scooter and a 155 cc motorcycle during a drag race. 

Currently, the Ather lineup consists of two scooters built on the 450 platform — the 450X and the 450S. The more budget-oriented Ather 450 S has a 2.9 kWh Battery and can go from zero to 40 kilometres per hour in 3.9 seconds. It has an ARAI-certified range of 115 kilometres. It takes more than 6 hours to complete a full charge and stars at Rs 1,29,999 (ex-showroom, Delhi)

The more expensive Ather 450X comes in two variants — one with a 2.9 kWh battery and another with a 3.7 kWh battery. The former has a certified range of 111 kilometres, while the latter has a range of 150 kilometres. They both have similar acceleration figures and come with a “Warp mode” for high performance. The scooters are priced at Rs 1,37,999 and Rs 1,44,921, respectively. 

As the adoption of electric two-wheelers picked up pace in the year 2022, there was a spate of electric two-wheelers catching fire. The fires were attributed to faulty batter cells and modules At the time, indianexpress.com interviewed Ather Energy’s chief business officer Ravneet S Phokela, to find out what the company does to ensure quality control. 

“Safety is always our number one priority. We design and manufacture our own batteries. We have been in the business since 2013, but we tested the battery for over five years with all kinds of scenarios before we began selling. This was to ensure that the batteries are suitable for all situations that Indian roads could throw at them. The fact that we haven’t had an incident is because we have been putting in work for the last six to seven years,” said Phokela. 

Of course, at the time of the interview, Ather scooters had not yet made the news for spontaneously catching fire. But shortly after the interview, an Ather scooter caught fire in the company’s showroom in Chennai. The company attributed this to a service error.