As an Other 450 owner, does it make sense to buy DOT.? What happens to the existing POD?
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Only if charging were that simple
He dint account for lower rate of charging for around 1.5 hrs and powered delivered isn’t consistent.
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Hold on to the old one cause it’s a collectable now 
Not worth the extra 1.8k considering you’ll pay for slower charging. Well if they do exchange it’s even worse.
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The best part was looking at the beauty of the old pod, i could stare at it for days… Dont care how functional the new one is…i need my stormtrooper charger
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New dot is a downgrade and we don’t need to sugarcoat in defense of it. For those who are saying it’s just an hour extra time for charging, well that’s not a small difference. For most people in most cases, 4 hours or 5 hours doesn’t matter much difference, but it matters a lot in few critical situations. I understand if Ather wants to charge extra for installation or if Ather found something wrong with the pod, but defending the new dot citing slow charging is safe for battery is a bit too much. If it’s a such huge advantage for lifespan of battery, then they should quantify and publicize it. I find it strange that there is no official post on twitter on this big change yet.
Note:
I fully understand how difficult it is for starting a new automobile company and how capital intensive that can be. I will continue to support Ather and purchase one as soon as it enters my city, but as someone who has been waiting for Ather for many years by holding on to my old bike, I feel a bit disappointed with this change.
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Does this mean once DOT is installed, some unit inside the vehicle will be removed? I also read new ather 450 is 3.5 kg lighter due this change.
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Yes… The internal AC to DC conversion unit will be removed
If my understanding is correct, There will be no change made to the 450s which are already delivered.
The existing owners can continue to use the existing pod. If anyone wants to buy the new DOT, they can buy.
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There is a large aluminium box (onboard AC-DC converter) just behind the bag hook. That will disappear.
I wonder if that space could be repurposed to store the new bulkier portable charger or to house a coolant tank and do liquid cooling of the motor.
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Actually, I feel liquid cooling would be an over kill for this motor…
But we can use that space for secondary battery which will increase range… May be @Shreyas, Ather can provide an option of having variants with secondary battery for increased mileage.
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3.5 to 6kg will not make a big difference…
THE bad move from Ather Energy!
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If I heard it right it was 7 kg decrease by this change.
For our scooters weight ratio was 51:49 front:rear. For the 111kgs kerb weight of the vehicle, it is 56.61kgs:54.39kgs. Removal of ~3kgs of AC-DC makes it 53.61kgs:54.39kgs which gives a small improvement to 49.6:50.4
Wonderful ideas these two. If any one of those 2 comes real, it will be really nice.
No doubt there are some advantages with the Dot. It has solved the 5 complaints and also gives some more advantages as neatly articulated by @rajeshkav in his post.
The biggest disappointment I have with the Dot is the 1 hour additional charging time. It’s discouraging for people who want plan long rides. In my Mysuru trip, I experienced that waiting for a recharge is the biggest pain point. Another hour to that will be too much. For daily use, there will be hardly any problem however.
The other negatives of a bigger portable charger and probably a lower IP rating are still acceptable. Although these have left me with a couple of points less in promoting Ather to my friends.
After the price advantages of GST, FAME II & 80EEB, my wife was saying we must’ve waited. But now she is happy that we got it earlier.
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As clarified during 3rd owners meet,
Dot charger supports existing deployed vehicle and upcoming new vehicles. The difference in new vehicles, inbuilt charger will be removed.
Existing vehicles :
Which means in old vehicles both Ather grid, dot and current portable charger supports and 0 - 80% charger will be in 1-2 hours.
New vehicles :
They won’t be inbuilt charger, it won’t support current Ather home charging point and current portable charger and charging time increased from 0 - 80% in 4 - 4.50 hours.
Even if we say, it increases battery life and overcome charging issues which are reported by existing owners.
It is tuff decision which is being taken from ATHER and I am sure upcoming users will be tired to charge their bike at home by charging for longer time.
This is going to affect the minds of upcoming rider who cannot plan for longer trip by concerning the longer charging time than the current existing owners.
I’m Proud to be early pre-owned Ather 450.
Note:
Ather (home charging point)
0 - 80% in 1- 1.5 hours
0 - 100% in 4 - 4.5 hours
Ather Dot
0-80% - 4hrs 30mins
0-100% - 5hr 15min
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This is incorrect. The grid chargers bypass the onboard AC-DC converter. So it will work with both old and new models
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Thanks for correcting. (I corrected my previous post).
I just got the reason why inbuilt charger fan does not turns ON everytime when I plug into Ather grid.
Thank You.
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Went to the Ather Space to pick up my portable charger, saw the Dot there, it looked a bit flimsy and not as flush as the current one, was able to see the fan through the ventilation grills on the Dot, would prefer the Pod any day over the Dot. I must say it is very small in size, kind of came out from a Star Wars Movie 
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I don’t really buy the excuse that the Dot is easier to install compared to the Point. If you are living in an apartment, there is no easy installation. You would need a professional to connect the home charging point from your meter. One of the biggest reasons for me buying an Ather over an Okinawa was that the whole experience was seamless and Ather installed the charger at home, as compared to Okinawa, who said I have to install it myself (or buy a vehicle with removable battery and carry it to my apartment for charging).
Ofcourse, this doesn’t affect me, but charging for the installation would mean that Ather loses one of their biggest selling points. Ofcourse, compared to the others, who don’t even provide the installation service, Ather is atleast providing the service for a charge, but it is still a step back, since Ather already charges a premium for their vehicle compared to the others.
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Thanks Rajesh for a detailed review and explanation on Dot, which clears a lot of confusion with the Dot.
I have a unique situation with me and would like your suggestion on this. I have my Ather 450, which i got on 24th August. I also bought the Portable charger from Ather. I do not have the Home Charging Pod installed at my home.
Reason: I am about to move to a new Apartment in another 3-4 months from now. Due to which i did not got the installation of Pod at my current residence, and requested to hold off my Pod Installation to a later point of time once i have moved to my new home. This is the reason i have bought the Portable charger and i am using it for daily charging at home.
Now, my question/confusion lies on the fact that, should i opt for the Original/Old Big Charging Pod when i have moved in to my new apartment, or should i get the Dot installed instead?
If you can help me with this confusion, considering whats best for the Ather and its Battery Life.
Note: I do not mind the big size of the Ather Home Charging Pod, as my installation would be in a Basement Parking, and its Presence/Flashy light/High Fan Noise will not disturb anyone.
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Me too in the same situation except that I have moved to the new place but parking slots are not allotted!!
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