Apr 17 2024, 08:36
Ather is riding on these 5 factors to break TVS, Ola's e-scooter dominance:
With Rizta, a family e scooter launched recently, Ather aims to improve its market share and become a key player beyond South India. And to achieve this, the Bengaluru startup is doing things it has never done before. Will the bet pay off?
But Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy is not a typical startup in a hurry. So much so that it took the company, co-founded by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013, five years to launch its first model, the Aether 450X, in September 2018; and 10 years to launch its second model, the Rizta, recently.
In contrast, competitors like Ola Electric, TVS Motor, and Bajaj Auto started their electrification journey much later but have surpassed Ather in sales.
But Rizta, launched on April 6, 2024, a family scooter, could potentially bring Ather Energy back in the race.
Ather aims to fix a lot of things with the Rizta. It has five key tasks in hand which the new model can help it achieve.
Ather has a strong presence in South India. In states such as Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the company has a 20%-24% market share in electric two-wheelers. In Telangana, Goa, and Andhra Pradesh it has a market share above 14%. However, Ather's market share drops to 4% when we move to northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. There is a reason why Ather e-scooters work down south.
A longer battery warranty will remove a key concern of EV customers today. In fact, Ather's Phokela highlighted the fears of large battery replacement costs as a key hurdle for mainstream adoption of electric scooters.
Jain says, supply chain is the other area they are working hard on to reduce costs. The company is undergoing many design changes and thus it prefers not to have long-term supplier contracts. The key is to find alternative suppliers, and to find the right suppliers, know-how "important is automotive for them".
A scooter, purposed to be built for families and large storage, can serve commercial use cases well. In fact, a product reviewer highlighted that it carries a striking similarity with Bengaluru-based startup River's Indie e- scooters, which is built for commercial use case. The base and mid variants of the Rizta are priced around INR16,000 to INR18,000 cheaper than the base variants of Ather 450S and 450X in Bengaluru. The starting price of INR1.1 lakh and the on-road price of INR1.3 lakh is also a well-thought-through move to tap the larger market of e-scooters.
From December 2023 to March 2024, Ather dropped prices of 450S to INR1.1 lakh to test market acceptance of the brand. The demand exploded to above 10,000 units a month and forced Ather to curtail shipments of the product in its key southern markets. The Rizta, too, starts at INR1.1 lakh.
source: et
Apr 17 2024, 08:36