Had an urgent work to attended a meeting at silkboard.
Had 30 mins time but my scooter’s battery got low…
To attend the meeting and to go home, I needed around 25km range and in my scoter 29km was remaining. Planned to charge in HSR LAYOUT for 10 min and then attend the meeting (in the scooter’s map it showed the grid as available).
When I reached there someone had put their scooter for charge and left. Contacted the owner through CC and received response that the owner is on his/her way…I waited for 20 mins but no person was seen.
No option but to move on and attend the meeting at silkboard.
At last, flight reached home with a balance of 5km range.
This is a real recurring issue not just for those of us relying on the Ather Grid, but has also become a common discussion point with other EV owners globally. This is why the worldwide charging standard that is taking hold everywhere (CHAdeMO) by default locks the charging socket when charging but automatically releases the lock once the vehicle has charged completely so that someone who might be waiting can take it over.
Maybe it is high time the @Ather.Team looked into incorporating this protocol into Ather Grid too?
I am sure someone from the Ather Team would be able to give a more specific answer, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on this.
The interoperability problem for EV chargers exists everywhere in the world today and not just in India. This is not a novel issue and we often see that when a new technology comes into the market, there is a constant stream of innovation happening in it and therefore it takes time for a standard to form. This is especially true with EV companies that are all trying to develop “the best” charger by themselves in parallel. As a result, it is impossible for them to keep coordinating and updating their chargers based on each others’ needs.
But the standardisation is not far. US EV car manufacturers now are actively looking to collaborate on this so that the charging station of one manufacturer can be used by others. After all, this would be a win for all EVs and encourage faster adoption. (For an interesting read on the history of car charging ports in US, you can check out this article). Even in the rest of the world, quick charging methods like CHAdeMO is taking hold slowly but surely.
Hopefully, the day is not far off when the charging technology reaches maturity, innovations slow down, and one protocol evolves as the clear choice. At that point, you might see manufacturers reach a consensus and support interoperability.
Until then, it is a bittersweet wait for every early adopter
Most manufacturers are not focusing on fast charging, and hence the requirements are different. Here they usually go with the Bharat EV standard.
We can’t use the same standards as for cars, since there is difference in the platforms used. EV Cars run on a platform with much higher voltage than a two wheeler platform. Further, these connectors used in EV Cars are expensive and would result in EV two wheelers being even more expensive
That being said, there is work happening in standardising the charging connector for EV 2 wheelers.
@nishant.dk manyata tech park has more than a lakh techies working.
Have you planned a charging station over there?
We see so many ather scooter at the tech park.
Hi @rajeshk12th,
Manyata Tech Park is an iconic workplace in Bangalore and we have reached out to the tech park management in the past, and there position has been that if tenants bring up a requirement for EV charging stations, then they will consider installing one.
Do you work there ? Or can you connect us to some EV users who there? Then we can take some testimonials and reach out to the tech park management again, referring the requirement from people working there.
Message me directly if you have the contacts and we will take it up from there!