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Informist, Tuesday, May 6, 2025

 

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--Ather Energy: In talks with OEMs to allow use of our electric chargers
--Ather Energy: Electric scooters' penetration strong in tier-2 cities
--Ather Energy: Not looking to enter affordable scooter range
--Ather Energy: Co's high-end portfolio sells more than our entry-level
--Ather Energy: Super comfortable with product pricing, we don't discount
--Ather Energy: Not worried about profitability, costs are coming down
 

 

By Anand JC and Gopika Balasubramanium

 

MUMBAI - Newly listed electric scooter maker Ather Energy Ltd. Tuesday said it has had "five to six very good conversations" with other original equipment manufacturers to allow them to use its electric charging infrastructure. The company's Chief Business Officer Ravneet Phokela did not divulge the names of the potential adapters of Ather Energy's indigenously developed chargers or the timeline in which these deals could fructify.

 

If implemented, this could be the first instance of formally sharing resources in the still-nascent electric vehicle industry and could go a long way in boosting the use of such vehicles. Ather Energy uses an alternating current and direct current combined charging connector as the standard for light electric vehicles. The charger has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The same charger can be used to charge electric two-wheelers as well as three-wheelers. However, other industry players will have to adapt their hardware to use Ather Energy's chargers.

 

"While it seems simple that you just change the charger, it is actually a hardware change," Phokela said. "And hardware change is typically a complex process because all these systems are connected. So even if somebody chooses to say yes to it, it still takes time because you have to make a platform change. It takes time, effort, and money."

 

One automobile giant has already adapted to Ather Energy's chargers, its corporate promoter Hero MotoCorp Ltd., which had a 34.76% stake in the company as of Jun. 30. Hero MotoCorp and Ather Energy have collaborated to set up an interoperable fast-charging network of 550 chargers for electric two-wheelers in India, giving the former's scooters access to Ather Energy's charging stations.

 

Ather Energy provides charging infrastructure through Ather Grid. As of Dec. 31, the company had 2,616 fast chargers across 314 cities.

 

Unlike other players, Ather Energy is not looking to adopt a mass-market strategy. Peers of Ather Energy like Ola Electric Mobility Ltd. have begun offering scooters priced below INR 100,000 to corner more market share. Ola Electric is the market leader in the electric two-wheeler space with a 34.1% market share as of Dec. 31. However, Ather Energy is content with its current pricing strategy.

 

"(We are) super comfortable (with pricing). Which is why we do not discount. How much discount did we give in the last seven years? Left, right, centre, every brand was discounting, we were very disciplined," Phokela said.

 

The chief business officer said Indians are premiumising and upgrading their preferences. "It is a myth that people want to buy the cheapest, they need to see value," he said. "Our high-end portfolio sells a lot more than our entry-level portfolio. A lot more. Not by a small margin, by a huge margin."

 

The average selling price per unit of Ather Energy in the first nine months of the financial year 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) was INR 129,743, higher than Ola Electric's INR 126,784 in the same period.

 

Ather Energy's portfolio comprises two product lines, the performance-inclined Ather 450 and the convenience-inclined Rizta. The newly launched Rizta, targeted at family usage, has been driving the recent gain in market share by the company. Ather Energy started operations by selling the Ather 450 line of scooters that offer higher top speeds. These were a hit in the southern markets, but not in the north.

 

Performance scooters form 19% of India's scooter market, with a large majority of this preference concentrated in southern India and some regions in the east. People of northern and western India residing in New Delhi and states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Maharashtra prefer convenience scooters, Phokela said. The company is also seeing higher penetration of electric scooters in tier-II & tier-III areas.

 

"We were not placed in the convenience segment where you had players like TVS Jupiter, Honda Activa. But Rizta changed the game for us," he said. Rizta's launch has enabled Ather Energy to increase its market share in regions beyond the south.

 

A significant player in the electric scooter industry, Ather Energy had a market share of around 12% in FY25. It has a particularly strong presence in southern India, where it is a market leader. "If you look at the last quarter, all of (India's) south put together--Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, AP (Andhra Pradesh)--we are the number one player there," Phokela said.

 

Like Ola Electric, Ather Energy, too, is yet to deliver a profit. The company reported a loss of INR 5.8 billion in Apr-Dec. But it is not too worried currently, as its costs are coming down at a healthy clip, while sales volumes are holding up. "We have a timeline (on turning a profit), but we can talk about that later," Phokela said. "We are very comfortable with that, genuinely."

 

Ather Energy's INR 29.8 billion initial public offer included a fresh issue of INR 26.3 billion and an offer for sale of INR 3.5 billion. Ather Energy was listed on the bourses Tuesday at INR 328 per share, a 2% premium to its initial public offering price of INR 321. However, it ended Tuesday's session at INR 302.3 on the National Stock Exchange, down 5.8%.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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