I haven’t noticed any decrease in range either, in fact, I’ve been getting pretty good efficiency lately. Now, with a battery better than the current one, if treated well, will be pretty reliable, or have decent health atleast for the next 3 years. So isn’t it kind of absurd that Ather came up with subscription plans for the X with infinite battery warranty? I know people have concerns about battery cost and replacement. But that’s also because most have never used an electric vehicle before, even myself.
So here’s what I think: I’m mostly sticking with my 450. The upgrade doesn’t seem big enough to change. Because although I do about 600+ Kms a month, I’m not going to use / will barely use the full potential of the X. I would mostly be a plus user. Bluetooth isn’t a big deal. Yes, better battery chemistry is a plus point and all the other smaller advantages like side stand indicator, android, etc. It’s a great product honestly! The move to android is genius and will enable a lot of amazing updates. The main thing that led to the subscriptions is people’s concern about battery dying early. Now, I’m a really careful user. I clean the vehicle regularly, I keep the belt clean and I get good efficiency. I keep the vehicle in the shade always so battery isn’t affected. I also make sure I charge only till about 85% usually and it almost never drops below 30-40% so I’d rather prefer the 3 year warranty because I know that the battery will last for about 5years atleast with 70-80% capacity. And then I can change the battery in about 7 years where the capacity goes to 50% when I can afford to spend about 50-70k for a new battery which will end up cheaper than paying more than a lakh or two in those 7 years 🤷🏻♂
But I’m still gonna wait for the upgrade plan before I cancel, because I prefer buying it whole. And I’m not sure how much my 9month old 7k Kms Ather will fetch me. I really really wish they fix the DOT with a magnetic lock though🤦🏻♂ I really like how the POD was designed.
Also, they’re giving us an option to upgrade the existing 3G module to 4G on our scooters. That, and dark mode will be great and then I probably won’t be missing much.