Sorry for the late reply…When you returning to office after a day’s leave, It feels the entire company is running because of you 
I hope you understand! So here is my report from 28.01.2020
Got up at 2AM, got ready and left home at 3AM in our E2O+. when I came to the E2O, I took out the charging cable and put it in the boot and shut the door. immediately I realised that I had put the key also in the boot. 
But I could unlock it using the Mobile app.
This was the first time I was taking the E2O+ to the airport…it is 45kms from my home. Drove only in F mode and not in B mode to conserve energy to return back home. I had called the airport parking team and confirmed that there is a charging point but I still didn’t want to take any chances. I went there and found the slot. it was painted in Blue, and “Reserved” was written. but they had put barricades, luggage carts and everything like a dump yard. I moved the barricades and all the carts away and parked my car. Pulled out the charging plug but it wasn’t charging. There was a Fuse somewhere inside the junction box which I found out and after I turned it on, it started charging. I was relieved that I can go back home in B mode 
Met Raghav, Anagh, Rajesh, Swapnil at the airport. As soon as I landed, @abhishek.balaji received us and we were taken to The Lalit in a taxi. enroute we were discussing about the probable price of 450x…Our guesses varied from 125000 to 150000. It was raining but luckily not very cold. I say lucky because I had actually forgotten my jacket. Met Ather customer #1 Aditya too and other people from Chennai.
The event started a bit late than scheduled but it gave some time to have some tea and freshen up. Very soon we were seated and the unveil started.
Tarun explained the journey so far -the funding, the team the patents etc. The future roadmap was also shown about expnding to 10 cities by 2021 and 24 cities in 2022. There was a special mention of the community. @raghav.srinivasan @rajeshkav @arvind_nair @Rahul every one starred in the short movie. My watch, My helmet, My nephew’s Rakhi and his birthday cake made a special appearance on the stage.
With all those done, It was time for the product to take centre stage. Tarun started with a comparison to the market benchmark - Activa and how 450 was faster off the blocks. Then it was time for the 450x specs (or rather the improvement over 450).
- 18650 to 21700 form factor cells. Good
- Range increase of 107kms to 116 kms ARAI & 75kms to 85 kms in Trurange. Mainly because of the new cells
- Peak power from 5.4Kw to 6Kw
- Peak torque from 20.5Nm to 26Nm
- Weight reduction by 10 Kgs to 108kgs…current 450 had already reduced to 110 I guess
- A new Warp mode…With this , The 450x would be the fastest scooter in India
- Charging time at grid increased by by 50% to 1.5km/min…nice but I don’t use the grid at all!
- Android open source OS with snapdragon processor.
- Bluetooth with calling alerts
- Dark theme
- Smart accessories like smart helmet, TPMS
All these were nice upgrades. The ad film of the 450x astarted and the scooters arrived on stage in all 3 shades. Black and yellow looked mean, white and green looked beautiful as usual and a bit more sportier with the all-black handle cover, Green and red looked gaudy and not very nice.
Tarun explained that there would be two variants or subscription models similar to a netflix subscription. Ather 450 itself had some new ownership models that were never heard of in the 2 wheeler segment earlier (lease, esrvice subscripion etc). this was taking it to the next level. Even performance would change according to the subscription model. Plus and Pro as they like to call it.
The Plus and Pro are basically the same scooter with different performance maps. It is something like the ‘Plus’ being the successor of 340 and the ‘Pro’ is the successor of 450. If you opt for the Plus plan, the map will restrict many parameters and if you opt for Pro, the full potential of the scooter will be unlocked. I guess it will be done through OTA updates. For example, when I see the spec sheet of the 450x, only installed capacity of the battery is mentioned (2.9kwh). In the 450 spec sheet they had 2.7kwh installed capacity and 2.4kwh usable capacity. I guess Pro plan lets you use 100% capacity and in Plus plan, only 80% of battery is usable.
Then came the pricing part. When Tarun told that the 450x would cost 99000 and I was like whoa!. But then the catch was it would cost 1699 for Pro and 1999 for Plus. The immediate question I got was…how will this work? He went on to explain that users can change this anytime they want and pause it when they go for vacation may be. “Interesting” I thought. He told that battery maintenance, replacement and everything would be taken care of by Ather under this plan. Which means users would literally get infinite warranty of the battery and they need not worry about degradation and replacement after 3 years. These subscriptions never suit me personally…netflix or anything. I don’t have netflix or hotstar subscriptions, I have prime only because airtel gave it for free. I still have a DTH connection. So I wanted to know the outright cost. He told that users can buy outright at 149999 for Plus and 159999 for Pro. Tarun told that outright purchase would mean that battery warranty would be only the standard 3years that’s available for 450 right now.
Pricing was not very important for me to be frank. I was more interested to see what upgrade programs that 450 owners like us would be getting. However there was no mention of this in the event.
Q&A started and someone asked about the upgrade program and it was told that it will be revealed later.
Someone asked if these subscriptions also cover the service and data like for the 450, he told yes but again, it was followed with “more on that later”
Someone asked how will lease work on subscription. answer was lease will be available but more details will follow in the coming days
For deliveries it was told that 450x would start deliveries from July onwards pan-india
Other questions covered dealer network and how they’ll work on that front
Later we were allowed to take pictures of the scooter but by the time I went none were switched on 
For me the disappointment was that there were a lot of questions left unanswered or pushed for later.
The price was higher than my guess and I didn’t know how people would react. but it didn’t take much time to realize when I interacted with others at the event and reading the forum. People were shocked at the price. I felt happy that I got a good deal for my 450 and I was waiting for the upgrade program details. two of my friends have booked the 450 and were waiting for this. I called them and told that the 450x is wonderful scooter no doubt but expensive at the same time. I told them to decide what they want personally from the scooter. One guy immediately completed the payment for the 450 and cancelled his 450x pre-order. the other wanted a high performance scooter and he decided to cancel the 450 order.
In the event we also spoke to Ather team and What I could gather that the 450x launch was more a business driven step. Ather 450 has not been generating revenue and the investors will obviously want returns and this event was a step in that direction. It works out to around 50k more than the 450 to the end customer making it the costliest scooter in the country. All parties may be right in their respective position, but after yesterday no body is talking about the scooter and everyone is talking about the price. Everyone is telling “It is a good product no doubt but way too expensive and confusing”
Pricing apart, I loved the matte black colour, I hated the mint shade. It was better in natural light but on stage it was really bad. I could take some pictures of it in natural light after the event
Coming to the competition, everyone is talking about Chetak and iQube. I feel Chetak is the closest to Ather. But only after a test ride of the Bajaj will I be able to understand where exactly it stands. whether Bajaj will take the cake or Ather justifies it’s price tag? One thing bugging me is the fact that Chetak top speed is only 60kmph. I know it’s enough for city, but is it fun too? Let me answer these questions when I test ride the Chetak this weekend. I don’t think the iQube will even come close to these two, considering it is a hub driven scooter like the crappy Okinawa scooters. again a test ride will answer this.
By the time I reached airport, there were 300 messages on this topic. all my waiting time at the airport was spent in reading every post and the sentiment was loud and clear. By the time I landed and removed the flight mode at 11:30pm, there were another 100messages.
I came to my E2O and saw that it wasn’t charging. I doubted some foulplay but everything was untouched. there was 66kms range left. only 4% and 6kms was added. reason was that the charging plug was in tension and it was pulling a bit and that was enough for it lose contact and stop charging. wish it had a solenoid lock like Ather! Anyway, it was enough charge but I had to drive back in the F mode. I reached home at 12:45am with 20kms range left. I slept immediately.
The next morning when I woke up at 6, I saw some 170 messages 
. Glanced through it as there was hardly anything new. even till now, even hour I see 50 messages!!! it was loud and clear to everyone. But the silver lining is Ather is still ready to listen. They have invited all Bengaluru owners for an open house in two days. No idea what exactly they have in mind, but “explanation of pricing and taking feedback” is what they’ve mentioned.
With this pricing I’m happy that I’m an early adopter. I’ve got a good deal I’m continuing to enjoy my 450 and it is fast approaching 8000kms.
If anyone interested in buying the 450x asks me for suggestions, I’ll redirect them to this post by @Shreyas.G where he has put it nicely about who should buy this and who shouldn’t.