Electric mobility is the next big thing in India as well as in the rest of the world. Various central governments across the world are supporting electric vehicles in one way or the other. The Indian government too, has a National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), which aims to have six to seven million electric vehicles on road by 2020, but this looks far from possible as the project is yet to kick-off.
In order to make an early presence in the EV market, a Chennai based start-up called Ather is developing a high-speed electric two wheeler for the Indian market. Founded in IIT Madras, the young team has been working on this scooter since the last few months.
Ather hasn’t disclosed much about this electric two-wheeler scooter but has been marketing it as a high-speed vehicle. It has a top speed of 75kmph, which is really good for an electric scooter of this size. Once launched, it will be 20 per cent lighter than the current petrol scooters, thanks to the battery pack which tips the scale at just 15kgs. This battery charges eight times faster, with the 80 per cent charge being done under one hour. The scooter can do 0-60kmph in 11 seconds and features an android powered instrument cluster.
In order to support this project, Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal have invested Rs 6.1 crore in the company. As per their official website, the scooter will be rolled out in 2016 but the test rides of the prototype will happen soon in Chennai and Bangalore.
