Ather Warps Time With New Facility For Reliability

Ather Energy has inaugurated a new testing facility called “The Juggernaut” for better and more reliable electric two-wheelers. The Bengaluru based facility spans to an impressive 38,692 square feet. 

According to official communication from Ather, the facility is designed “to validate durability and safety across vehicle, system, and component levels, including on-road endurance. It houses dedicated labs for structural durability, battery testing, electrical & electronics reliability, and vehicle environment testing.”

One of the rigs in the facility is the MTS model 334 simulator, which is a 4 DOF (Degrees Of Freedom) road simulator. This device replicates real-world two-wheeler riding conditions with different shock forces applied in multiple directions. In fact, Ather says that one can simulate an endurance test of 1 lakh km in just 15 days, which otherwise takes around 10 years to cover in the real world. This not only reduces the testing time significantly, but also helps in efficiently optimising the chassis, suspension and other components to handle everyday conditions without failure.

Additionally, the facility also houses battery validation testing rigs and processes including “thermal performance test, water wading test, drop test and vibration and thermal cycling to tune the battery for performance and safety.” Ather says its battery packs undergo 272 tests and are IPX7 waterproof, and compliant with the latest AIS 156 safety norms. 

Ather invested Rs 2,388 million in R&D, accounting for 15% of operational revenue, with 46% of its workforce catering to research and development. The company has three R&D facilities in Bengaluru, Karnataka. With the new testing and validation center, Ather should be able to greatly bring down the time taken for repeated testing of components, thereby shrinking the development time while maintaining healthy levels of quality.