Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy is planning to expand its production capacity by 12-fold and introduce a new range of products including an electric motorcycle.
Ather Energy currently has a manufacturing capacity of 35,000-40,000 units a year. It is in the final leg of setting up a greenfield factory that will have a capacity to produce 500,000 units a year, which will come up before September next year.
Having marked its presence in the market of Bengaluru, the start-up is looking to adding 30-35 cities in the next two-three years. About 10-11 cities will be added in 2020 alone. It has recently penetrated into Chennai recently and has become its second market after Bengaluru.
Besides Bengaluru and Chennai, Ather Energy’s immediate plans are to enter other large cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, which will provide it scale. In mid-2020, the company plans to enter the Mumbai market. At present, Ather Energy sells only one product, the Ather 450, which is priced at Rs 1.15 lakh. Its maiden product, the Ather 340 had to be pulled out after the entire demand almost moved in favour of Ather 450.
