All 450S owners can share their experience in this topic. I will start with my review.
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I own an Ather 450S 2.9 KWh and a couple of days back completed my 5K kms 1st service at Ather PCMC Pune Maharashtra service centre.
I wanted to share my brief ownership review coupled with 5K service experience.
As there is no 450S specific subcategory for review and ownership experience, I am putting my post in this category. I had applied for a category creation, but it is still pending approval. Mods can feel free to change category if needed.
I needed a secondary vehicle and after analyzing current range of option in the market, I decided to go for an EV as my primary is an ICE vehicle which can be used for longer journeys. This was going to be my first EV vehicle, so I had to be careful and after thorough study shortlisted 3 offerings 1] Ather 450S 2] TVS iQube 3] Bajaj Chetak. There was a 4th offering but was not even considered you know why 
. I took test rides of them all but as you would expect conclusion was Ather 450S being the best overall experience.
Since then, I have been using it daily for my commute. Here are my 2 cents about the ownership.
1] Looks Build Quality: 8.5/10
Looks can be subjective but for me I find it appealing. The rear looks a bit on the narrow side, but the overall angular design looks good.
Every component be it body panels, switches, side stand, side footrest feels solid and after 5K kms there is no rattle, loose parts, creaking and no panel gaps. I take good care of my vehicles and that may be the reason it still looks and feels like day 1.
2] Ride & Performance Experience: 8.5/10
The ride is sporty but comfortable (although not plush) with good feedback and feel. The grip is good. It’s a blast to ride it especially on good, paved roads. Similarly, it performs excellent on bad roads with suspension handling effortlessly. I enjoy riding the 450S irrespective of road and weather condition.
3] Practicality & Pillion Comfort: 8/10 & 7/10
There’s load of under seat storage and good space in the front footrest area to handle a lot of groceries and goods, so no complains there.
Pillion comfort on the other hand needs improvement (which was done in Rizta) as seat is not long enough and if pillion is healthy, it will be uncomfortable for them. The pillion footrests that are included in the body design instead of the usual folding ones although looks good doesn’t work great and causes discomfort to pillion irrespective of height and weight.
4] Software & Features: 8.5/10
The reason for going with the S variant was that the touch interface didn’t seem worth the extra asking price to me coupled that with display lag issue heard online and praise from Shumi from MotorInc for the colour inverted LCD of the 450S made my choice clear and boy was I right. Never even once did I feel I was missing out on the touch display of the X variant. All the features are useful to me & work as expected. There is no lag or display shut off issue etc. I am happy with it except for the maps that only shows arrows (disadvantage of inverted LCD displays) which is lacklustre, and I never used it after the first two times. All the other ProPack features are actually useful and not gimmicky. The app compliments well to the overall experience.
There is the occasional sync, no network, Bluetooth connection issues but not a big deal,
5] Range and Charging: 7/10
One thing I like about Ather is that the range you see on your dashboard is the range you get, and it is reliable. I always ride in Sport mode with coasting regen turned on and hardly use the brakes (used only for stopping) It feels like one pedal driving and after getting used to it, it just feels comfortable and natural. I usually get a range of 68 to 75 on average in Sports mode.
Note: In sport mode on 100% charge, the dashboard shows 70 Kms. (I am 6 ft and weigh 75 kgs)
Ride mode is ok & Eco is grandpa slow. But Smart Eco is stupid and dangerous as accelerator inputs from your wrist will never give the same acceleration output and it might give more range but it’s not for me. I had a bad experience with it and since them I have never used it again.
The range is nothing to praise about and is too low for the price in my opinion but its more than enough for me and so I never faced range anxiety.
Charging with included 350W charger is painfully slow. If you must go someplace but vehicle range is less than required, then don’t even think about charging for some time and you will get enough range for the trip. It will not happen because of slow charging.
I usually plug it in overnight and it is full by morning. So, when people ask me how long it takes to charge, I say only 1 min, as 30 sec to plug in the charger and 30 sec to remove it in the morning. 
Overall, I am happy with my purchase and after buying the vehicle I had not once needed to take it to service centre for any issues. Just plug it in, charge it, turn the key on and off you go. It’s been a completely trouble-free experience so far and hope it will continue the same.
Now comes the 5k service experience.
I dropped the vehicle at PCMC Pune SC on 21st Oct 24 morning and was told vehicle will be ready by evening. In evening I receive a call by 6:30 notifying that the vehicle is ready, but SC will close by 7 pm so come quick or you can collect the vehicle next day 10 am. I confirmed that I will collect in that evening itself.
When I reached the SC at 6:50 pm the SC is open, but I am notified that the billing person who called me has left and now I will have to collect it tomorrow. What kind of sick joke was that. Even after I notified that I would collect it that evening itself and reached before time they didn’t have the patience to wait 10 min that to after saying “ok you can come” to me on call. If you had to go you should have mentioned it in the call itself that sir, I won’t wait for you and even though I am calling you to collect your vehicle you won’t be able to collect it as I won’t be there. I came all the way to SC like it was a prank. So instead of getting angry over some stupid SC personnel I left and came back next day evening after my office to collect the vehicle.
After reaching the SC, the invoice was for 1,079 which included 5K service, some zip ties, & “premium polish”. I paid for it and when I went to see the vehicle it was in the same condition as I left it with the same mud marks. It looked like the vehicle was just sitting there and nothing was done. When enquired they said service is done. This was stupidity at its best like the customer has a big C written on their forehead.
I then told him that the vehicle is in same condition as I left it in SC & what about the wash and "premium polish’ to which he said, “Service is done sir and we wash when customer comes to collect vehicle”. He asked one of the service guys to take vehicle to wash and after the pressure wash, he just used some 3M solution that we use on vehicle plastic and applied it with sponge to the vehicle’s basically all black plastic parts. And that’s it for the "Premium polish’ worth Rs 200.
Overall disappointing service experience and the prank on first day was just salt rub on the wound.
After the service, I have no idea if they even check the vehicle, its belt, software update, battery health etc or was it just sitting in the parking lot and when I came, he just washed it and returned the vehicle. I have to trust the word of the SC person that service was done. I don’t understand why just software and belt checking costs Rs 800 when basically no oil, air filters, parts were changed like in case of ICE vehicle. The point of EV should be low service costs as basically nothing needs to be done. And for approx. Rs 1200 I got a glorified pressure water wash for my first 5K service. This concluded my extremely mediocre 1st service experience.
The vehicle is good, but I am not sure about the whole overcharged service which feels more like rip-off and less like actual good service. Had there been no compulsion from Ather to only get service from authorized SC or your warranty gets voided I would never get my vehicle servicing done at Ather authorized SC, but at present we have got no choice but to get ripped off all in the name of keeping the warranty safe for that unlucky rainy day when you will need it.
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My name is Swayam, and I own an Ather 450S. I bought it because of my brother, who already owns a 4-year-old Ather 450X. I love my scooter and can confidently say it’s one of the best EV scooters available in the Indian market. My daily commute is up to 30 km, and sometimes I travel 90–100 km on a single charge with a pillion rider. I don’t experience range anxiety, thanks to the excellent charging infrastructure in my city. However, there are a few issues. For example, the joystick stopped working within three months of purchase, and I am now unable to use any of the features on my vehicle. Despite mentioning this in the job card during the first periodic service, I haven’t received any positive resolution. Another major issue is the lack of dedicated space to store the portable charger after charging the vehicle. As a person living in an apartment, I currently have to carry the charger in the boot, which takes up almost all the space, leaving only 20–30% free. I would suggest introducing an accessory that allows us to store the charger securely in the parking space itself, such as a lockable box that can be mounted on the charging switch. This would be a convenient solution for many EV users.
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Hi Shekhar, as for the dead joystick is to be replaced under warranty. If you don’t get clarification form one SC I suggest you to visit other SC and get it replaced with a new one. For the storing charger in parking lot there are accessories like you mention available on amazon that you can check out.
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You’re right. I’m also not satisfied with my Ather 450s. Most of time I use smarteco mode and it was quite surprising for initial 2-3 months. But after that i also got slowed speed, Slower acceleration like that many times not always I complained and also went to service centre. But the issue not resolved yet due to problem not occured in front of service persons. But it exist often. Don’t know what to do.
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Hi Praveen,
I understand your frustration with SmartEco mode as even I faced the same. It’s Stupid and downright dangerous mode in my opinion.
See the SC will not be able to do anything about it because there is nothing wrong with it. SmartEco is designed in such way by Ather themselves.
I would suggest you to instead use ride or sport mode with mostly using coasting regen for slowing down & using linear, constant acceleration feedback to get great range without artificial limitations on the motor.
Plus, in Sport mode you get full power of motor whenever you need while getting good range if you follow my above 3 methods of driving.
Also, if you paid for the sport mode why not use it and have fun. You can always charge the vehicle and it won’t hurt the battery. You have warranty so why fear and have a frustrated experience with SmartEco mode just so you can get that few extra kms range.
Ask yourself if it is worth it.
Ride in sport mode, have fun, get decent 70-75 range, put vehicle to charging overnight to 100% everytime and forget to worry all the time.
On a full charge which cost Rs 21 for 3 units of electricity for 450S 3 KWh battery and getting 70 Kms range is still freaking cheap compared to riding an ICE vehicle where you will get 45 kms range for Rs 105 (1 Litre petrol).
Just enjoy your vehicle and don’t worry.