One of the issues precluding the faster adoption of EVs is the fact that fast charging public infrastructure is not easily available. Addressing it, Electric vehicle startup Ather Energy has signed an MoU with Karnataka, committing itself to 1,000 Ather fast chargers across the State.
The co-founder & CEO of Ather Energy, Tarun Mehta, took to Twitter to share the news of the agreement with the Karnataka government.
Last November, Ather Energy had announced the launch of its next-generation public fast-charging infrastructure called Ather Grid 2.0. It had already begun the installation of this public fast-charging network. The new deal with the Karnataka government puts a seal of formality on it.
Also, to maximize the usage and efficiency of these chargers, Ather Energy is looking to make its charging connector an interoperable open standard. That is, any electric two-wheeler will be able to use the Ather Grid network.
Ather ups the ante
Had an incredible meeting with the Hon CM @BSBommaiWalked in with an intent to intro us, walked out with a joint MoU committing 1000 Ather fast chargers across the state. Amazing speed & support from govt to enable this!Karnataka is at the forefront of EV. Excited to be here! pic.twitter.com/1wsbGyt8VEFebruary 3, 2022
Ather's today announcement comes after it shared its monthly sales data for the first time, reportedly selling 2,825 units, registering a year-on-year growth of 366% over January 2021 numbers.
Ather is upping the ante as it is facing tough competition from many rivals. Ola, for instance, even if its plagued by delivery issues, recently has raised $200 million. India's traditional bikemakers like Hero Electric, Bajaj Auto, and TVS MotoCorp are all getting down to business with their own EVs.
Ather, for its part, got a Rs 420 crore investment from the Hero MotoCorp. (Hero Electric and Hero MotoCorp are two different entities.) Hero MotoCorp holds 34.8% equity in the Bangalore-based electric bike maker that holds third spot on the list of electric scooter sales with 12.13% of the market share in 2021. Ather Energy, so far, has raised about $160 million since its inception in 2013.
Ather Energy – the company behind Ather 450 and 450X electric scooters - has ramped up its production capacity by more than a hundred per cent. It has plans to increase its annual production capacity to one million scooters from 4 lakh by the end of 2022, as well as install 5,000 fast chargers across India.
To this end, the company has got up a new EV manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, adjacent to its first production facility that was commissioned early last year.
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