Upcoming Ather e-Bike: Brand Plays The Waiting Game

The Ather electric bike is on its way, as we all know it. It was first confirmed by the EV startup way back in 2019, but ever since the pandemic, and the booming electric scooter market, the priority of the brand seems to have changed up a bit. The project is not dead, but neither is it happening soon. 

Tarun Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, predicts it will be another 2-3 years at least. According to him, he needs this time to gauge how the Indian electric motorcycle segment is developing. This seems to be logical since there are currently only a handful of players in the segment Ather has planned to target – the 125-200cc ICE-equivalent e- bikes. 

Though the electric motorcycle segment isn’t growing as rapidly as e-scooters, things are slowly beginning to look more promising. We also have other premium E-bike brands including Revolt and Oben. Even premium E-bike maker Ultraviolette is getting into the relatively more affordable segment with the Shockwave, and also plans to get into the commuter segment in the next five years. Ola Electric launched the Roadster electric motorcycle in this segment, with all fanfare nonetheless, but its deliveries are yet to begin (at least at the time of writing this article). Ather is not looking at a first mover advantage here, unlike its strategy with electric scooters. 

Ather is more focussed on delivering a well planned, developed, and executed product. This is quite evident with the Ather electric scooters that we have seen and ridden. This philosophy will also drive the brand’s e-motorcycle development. The brand has always let its products do the talking instead of making outlandish commitments. 

The timeline that Tarun has predicted will also coincide with that of Ather’s third manufacturing facility setup that’s happening in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. It is expected to be operational by 2027. Swapnil Jain, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, has stated to the media that the new facility will be pivotal in the development of the brand’s new vehicles. This could hint that the new facility will accelerate the motorcycle platform development. It’s called the Zenith platform and was announced last year. 

Realistically speaking, the upcoming Ather electric bike’s launch is still about 3-4 years away. But by playing the waiting game, Ather will have a much clearer picture about how its rivals will be performing in the segment. The brand will get to witness the market response to the Ola Roadster series, and this will be valuable for Ather to also temper its expectations and also tweak some developmental aspects. Moreover, Ather will also get to see how Honda will do as it plans to launch its first commuter electric bike by around 2028. Honda is known to have very careful approaches to new products, so seeing how Honda’s plans pan out will be extremely advantageous to Ather. But one thing’s for sure - expect the overall quality of Ather’s upcoming electric bike(s) to be consistent. Afterall, trust factor is extremely important for Indian audiences, and the Hero Splendor’s unwavering market performance is a true testament to this.

(All images for representational purposes)

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