Ownership Experience

Suraj_madhu · December 16, 2019, 7:58am

Yes of course. Do note that it works based on the data it gets from the IMU. So if you notice that the auto cut off isn’t working, it might be because you didn’t lean in that much on that turn.

As a matter of fact I do face the same. I think it’s just the predictions which aren’t 100% accurate.

This is quite common. I don’t think you need to worry since your scooter is no where affected it’s just the dashboard which has a few glitches. Like any other new software out there. There will always be a few glitches here and there.

That’s not normal. What do you mean by shutdown?

Completely normal! It won’t go by 500 though. You might have to wait for 1000-1500 Km on your ODO for the sound and floorboard vibrations to come down. But there will be a single high pitched tone at around 18Kmph. Not nearly as much as you might be getting now.

I don’t think it’s your belt slipping. The sound might be a bit new for you. I think you should wait till 1500kms

udayt_7 · December 17, 2019, 4:11am

Thanks for clarifying things Suraj

Oh okay, It was hit and miss and I couldn’t figure out whether it was working or not!

The vehicle starts from loading screen with Ather logo and takes some time to display the usual dashboard, This happens only if you have put the scooter in shutdown mode. But I faced this issue 2-3 times even though I had not put it to shutdown.

Damn, I was hoping that sci-fi noise would go away by 500 km

raghav.srinivasan · December 17, 2019, 4:19am

This is a known software glitch and is one the stability related items Ather is working on. As long as the motor does not cutoff, you have nothing to worry about.

If you see he motor losing power during these dashboard blackouts then pls raise a service request immediately as it is a safety issue.

yash.varma · December 17, 2019, 5:16am

I just hope that they don’t bring back that original extra torque in a new mode and call it ludicrous mode…

gpbhattar · December 17, 2019, 6:34am

Hi All,
Just clocked 1k on my odo. 30 days after my delivery. Pls remind me, when is the vehicle due for first service? 1k or 5k? And how long does it take for service?
TIA

rajeshkav · December 17, 2019, 6:44am

Check this out

gpbhattar · December 17, 2019, 7:04am

Thanks. 5k periodic service makes sense. But to be doubly sure - there is no service after the first 1k running? Probably to check belt tension, screws, rattling sound etc.?

I had an issue with the throttle. Ather service guy came and attend to it this morning. He told me about 1k service and to schedule it.

Suraj_madhu · December 17, 2019, 7:33am

What was the issue you had?

santsplen · December 17, 2019, 3:21pm

Need testing on this issue I had 2 days back,

1- Start the scooter
2- Run the scooter for about 2 kms about 50-60 kms speed.
3- Turn on and wait for 2 minutes.
4- Start he scooter turn it on and ride for another 1 km.
5- While moving at about 30-40 Kms turn on the kill switch (motor off position)
6- Now turn off the kill switch again (motor on ) then try to acelerate , I did this and motor did not respond , tried to turn on and off the kill switch and tested same issue could not accelerate , its like motor is turned off.
stopped the vehicle turned off the key and then tested the same steps as above and now it worked as expected ,once kill switch is off motor works.

Can you guys check as I feel this is a bug and needs to be reported.
I have reported this issue , its been 2 days and there is no response from @Ather.Team .

raghav.srinivasan · December 17, 2019, 3:28pm

Once kill switch is used, you need to do the regular ignition sequence to start the bike (brake+ignition switch). This is how it is in every 2w I know.

Never ever engage the kill switch while riding, its extremely dangerous.

santsplen · December 17, 2019, 3:30pm

even after brake and igintion start button motor says started but did not move forward.
Had to turn off the key and tested same steps and it worked now.

duggujain12 · December 17, 2019, 3:56pm

I had a motor cut off itself
I was riding at 75 and it just turned off and i tried to start it again it showed motor on but it was not accelerating
I gave it for service last week and @Ather.Team has given me a loaner vehicle for a few days until my vehicle is serviced.

harishgv78 · December 17, 2019, 6:19pm

Hi raghav, Even I had thought the same. But once I read the A450’s user manual completely, I remember reading that to turn of the motor while gliding in slopes to save battery. So I was doing the same whenever I find a sloped road. Turning on the motor and accelerating was not an issue to me until last 2days. I had the same issue like @santsplen said. I did not think much about it. I just turned off the key completely and turned it back on and continued with my journey.

raghav.srinivasan · December 17, 2019, 6:36pm

The manual only says to use the kill switch when “Pushing” the vehicle down a slope. This is to avoid accidental acceleration when you hold the handle bar while pushing the bike.

gpbhattar · December 18, 2019, 4:55am

The throttle developed some friction while twisting. Started happening after 1k kms. Called for service but they said it was normal.

rajuvelur · December 18, 2019, 5:03am

Once u cross 30 kmph, if u turn off your motor using the kill switch, it will not turn on. You have to come to a complete stop and turn the Motor on. If your speed is below 30 kmph, and u turn off, u can turn on the motor using the ignition switch and the brakes on the fly. This has been experienced by many riders. This is completely normal

shardul.phatak · December 18, 2019, 9:34am

first of all i don’t get the idea of using kill switch while riding > 0kmph … if you want to glide, just release accelerator. Motor will not consume or resist more for sure
although testing these kind of scenarios might welcomed by “Ather” to make product robust … but then you should be on their test team, not regular user

nit1995 · December 18, 2019, 9:51am

If you are not throttling, you are not using any energy. There is no use of switching off the motor for that.

udayt_7 · December 19, 2019, 7:19am

Hello all,

I took my Ather 450 delivery on 30-11-2019.

It wasn’t an experience I thought it would be, I was waiting for this day since 6-8 months and It was very disappointing!

I think you guys would understand when I’ll explain the whole timeline and the effort it took me to convince my family to buy this vehicle.

I am also the guy who watched the launch of Ather on YouTube, followed the blog on Medium, read the forum and was very impressed with the specs, support, charging, features…

It was May 2019 when I returned back to Bengaluru after completing my Masters and we didn’t have any bike or scooter at home. My dad told me took buy a vehicle soon as it would be necessary for home. I told him about Ather, showed him what the vehicle has to offer and he rejected and told me to get Access or an Activa.

I was reluctant and whenever this topic came I used to put Ather videos on YouTube and showed him all those features. It finally took me 3 months to convince him that we could buy an Ather.

Here is the Timeline

My vehicle delivery was scheduled for Oct-Nov 2019,

Pre-order: August 8 2019

Took the test ride: Oct 18 2019

Payment window opened: Nov 8 2019

Payment done: Nov 14 2019

Insurance Policy bought on: Nov 21 2019

RTO Form 20 sign: Nov 26 2019

Dot Installation: Nov 26 2019 ( From Ather, Rs.1800 was charged)

First RTO message received: Nov 26 2019

Second RTO message received: Nov 28 2019

Vehicle delivered on: Nov 30 2019

Although promised delivery was 3 months it took nearly 4 months for the actual delivery. In total it was around 7-8 months of wait for me to own this! I think the people booked the first batch of Ather 450s would understand this kinda feeling.

The Due-Date

PART 1

30/11/2019

We had booked the slot for 1:00 PM. Me, my mom and my friend had gone to receive the vehicle. We reached around 12:45 PM. Shazar received us as soon as we entered the showroom. We requested the delivery before 1:30 PM (time belief constraints).

They told us to wait for some time to finish the documentation, I straightaway went to search vehicle in those 10-15 Athers lined up for delivery, found my vehicle took a good look if it and showed the vehicle to my mom.

First thing she noticed was the height, second thing was absence of pillion footrest. I’m still bonkers about absence of pillion footrest, Its a must need in India (Please resolve this issue Ather). I was skeptical of whether she can sit on the vehicle with that height and absence of footrest. Shazar ensured that you can sit but need to tilt towards your right side and that’s how all the Ather owners are managing to do so.

Then paperwork came up, Signed all those documents and cleared up some doubts. Got all the required documents and coffee was served to us.

Then came the boring part, explanation of the vehicle and features!

This was boring because I was listening this for 2nd or 3rd time. I still obliged because all this is part of delivery process and it would help me remember well. Shazar explained me each and everything about the vehicle i.e features, dashboard, under-seat storage, charging etc. in detail.

It was almost time and Shazar took the vehicle outside, the clock was ticking and it was only 5 minutes to 1:30. My mother forgot about the glass door outside, came out hurrying up and slammed her head into the door. Hopefully it was very minor and she was okay in 10-15 minutes. I observed that there isn’t any push/pull sign on the door and just the handle, I know that people usually remember but you could add a sign to avoid this kinda situations.

Shazar adjusted the mirrors but I came to know that the mirrors are useless and they don’t give a good view on road only after I started driving the vehicle. My shoulders are a bit broad and I have tried titling and adjusting various positions till date but I could never find one satisfactory view.
Hey Owners, Any suggestions on adjusting the mirror?

Finally, Shazar gave a small gift on behalf of Ather team before I took off. Here are some photos that we took near Ather space,

Delivery Time

The gift!

The gift unboxed at home

And I started off revving the vehicle in a state of euphoria!!!

It was a cloudy day and nobody can predict weather in Bengaluru. I stay beyond Electronics City, I think my area is the last pincode for which Ather service is available in Bengaluru South. It was a 28-30 km ride and I was damn sure that me and my Ather are gonna get drenched at some point of time during my first ride.

I took the flyover and thankfully It was only drizzling and didn’t rain till I reached Electronics City. It was just 4 kms to my home and the showers poured in…I reached home around 3 pm finally while it was still raining, took some pics…

Charging Area

!

Some pics in different angles
MVIMG_20191130_144318|690x388

End of PART 1

udayt_7 · December 19, 2019, 7:40am

PART 2 - The Bad part

Everything about the day went well and good until it was time to charge the vehicle…

I plugged in the charging port to the vehicle and it was showing “Not Charging” or “Charging Completed”. I immediately called up customer care and they told me to do some troubleshooting (vehicle shutdown, reset/test charger, plugin-plug etc.). Nothing worked!!! They told me to wait for 30 mins and try the same process again but it was of no use…

I called them up again around 4 pm and told that nothing worked and my Ather isn’t charging. They told they’ll get back in 30 mins again and after 30 mins they called up and told that the charger is faulty and they’ll replace it on Monday (I took the delivery on Saturday). I was distraught, First day of the delivery the charger isn’t working and I had only 20 km worth charge (Eco) in the battery and I had to take the vehicle to Pooja at the temple at evening. I didn’t know how to explain this to my dad, my friends who came up to my home asking for a ride and my cousin who stays near my home whom I was boasting about the vehicle all these months. I didn’t have any other option to object them from using the vehicle until Monday 6:00 PM.

Another problem with the charging was, The Ather Dot was a bit far to connect to the vehicle. I could move the vehicle closer to Dot and charge but that would completely block the passage with no room to walk. I wasn’t there on the day of installation and my dad used another scooter to estimate the distance and that’s where the mistake happened, Ather bends way too much on the side stand and that scooter didn’t!

The passage will block if I move the vehicle any further and If I have to charge it I have to move till the cylinder area.

Since they were replacing the Dot on Monday, I called up customer care to request to move the dot by 1 - 1.5 meter.

The request was to move the dot from left side of the window to right side of the window.

!

Overview of distance between left side and right side

My dad told that he will talk to them and I requested for a Kannada speaking person and they called back. He told that extra charge will be applicable and the charge was around 150 per meter of wiring, The wiring and charger has already been invoiced and rewiring will cost extra charges . This is when I lost it, I had paid them 1800 as installation charges and they sent me a faulty charger which I never used to charge and they invoiced a faulty charger and when I request for shifting it by 1m they are gonna charge me extra cost again.

My dad didn’t know and still has no idea that I paid this extra 1800 for installation.

My dad politely asked simple logic:

You are anyway replacing the charger, So why not replace the whole setup starting from wiring since the mistake has happened from your end?

The guy told, we wont replace the wiring, we will only replace the Dot and wiring will remain intact while we change the Dot.

We will bring the wire and give it to you, Will you join that wire with the current one and move the charger when you visit on Monday ?

The guy replied, No sir, that’s not possible because the person who installs the Dot and the person who does wiring are entirely different and the wiring person won’t be coming on Monday. And, Joining the wire you bring is not advisable! We won’t even do 1 meter of wiring by attaching a wire, we’ll do wiring only from scratch we wont attach or join wires!

We’ll replace the charger on Monday and it will definitely work, after that if you wan’t to extend attach or join wire you can do it with the help of local technician, we won’t do such things, we’ll only do the wiring from scratch.

My dad lost his cool when he said these words because those idiots who did wiring had joined two wires when they first did the installation, they didn’t even bring insulation tape it seems so they took from us and never cared to return the tape (Its just Rs.20 but they call themselves as electricians) and I didn’t know any of this until he told me after the call. If Ather doesn’t do any such things why did they join 2 wires when they installed my charger despite paying the installation charges?

He lost his temper and blasted the customer executive, after he hung up the call and asked what kind of company is this? How do they have separate wiring and installation team? If they are lying like this on first day itself and how do you trust these people? give 1 star feedback to them, if they are not gonna shift the charger throw that bike and charger away, we should blame ourselves for buying this kind of vehicle.

(My dad didn’t know and still has no idea that I paid this extra 1800 for installation.)

I didn’t have answer for any of this because I was the one who convinced him for 3 months like an Idiot,

Next day I took the vehicle to nearby temple since there was very low range and parked it after coming back. I spent the whole Sunday regretting the decision of buying this vehicle. For the first time in my life I was really hoping Sunday to get over and Monday to come as soon as possible.

Well, Monday came and I got a call from them around 6 PM and I usually reach home at 7 PM so I told my dad that they have come to replace the charger and he went to home with his friend. I reached around 7 PM, one person had come and was checking the faulty charger and I stood there. He removed the faulty charger, unboxed a new one and installed it. He tried to plug in the new charger to vehicle and it wasn’t plugging in! He applied a little pressure and it went halfway and he told to switch on the charger and it wasn’t charging.

He removed the whole circuit again and reinstalled it and tried again but it didn’t work. The guy was checking charging holes and comparing it with old one taking photo and sending it to Ather team but didn’t say anything. After 30 mins or so I checked the charging plug holes on the new charger and compared it with the old one and guess what?

THERE WAS NO COIL TO PASS THE CURRENT IN ONE OF THE HOLES IN THE NEW CHARGER, THEY SENT A FAULTY CHARGER YET AGAIN!

How it was supposed to be (Old one)

The new one they had sent (I coil missing in those three big rings)

I asked him one of the coil isn’t there and only then he acknowledged that it was faulty. My dad’s friend looked and me and smiled. My dad didn’t tell a word and went inside the home. I was pissed, Any person would be… I called the customer care I don’t even remember whatever I talked at that time. I requested an invoice for Installation charges asked again for the replacement starting from wiring (which they obviously rejected).

I got a call next day, they told sorry again and ensured again they’ll install a new charger which will definitely work, regarding new wiring they told they will charge for wiring along with revisiting charges of Rs.1600. I just told them to put a new charger and couldn’t care about anything other than that, They came and installed a working condition charger and went that day I put it up for charging and switched it off at night.

30-11-2019 I got my vehicle and 4-12-2019 my dad rode it for the first time. Just imagine the situation I was facing!

Convincing three months to buy an entirely new brand of vehicle which came up into production only an year back that costs whopping Rs.1.14 lakh, that too an electric vehicle which is usually not preferred in the current time, waiting for four months to get it delivered, ensuring family that it’ll be worth the wait, telling friends that I made a good choice and advising them to buy this vehicle, and after all this facing this kind of experience.

August 8th I was very happy and excited, November 30 - Dec 4 were the worst days!

I am least happy with my purchase, I don’t know how many days it’ll take to build the trust on this vehicle and the company.

I think I will never recommend anyone to buy an Ather until I feel it’s worth trusting.

I was planning to buy a Husqvarna , too bad my dad is never gonna approve due to the experience that we had by buying a new brand vehicle that has come out!

I wanted to share this in the forum to get this into Ather team’s attention. I hope no other owner faces this situation in the future.

Please ensure that NO OTHER PERSON SHOULD FACE THIS KIND OF SITUATION EVER AGAIN.

Here are some points I would like to make here:

I know mine is a rare case but please ensure this doesn’t happen to another owner.
Again rare case, Shouldn’t chargers be checked before installation as one Dot charger is mapped only one vehicle ? And if possible, Dot charger can be installed on or the day before delivery to ensure there are no errors in mapping?
Ather Dot was introduced 15 days after I did my preorder and just like me there are many customers who didn’t know about the charger or the installation charges. This is a very bad practice as Dot charger should have been applicable only to the owners who preordered after it was introduced or you could have made it mandatory for the next batch of preorders.
Ather reduced the length of wiring that they used to offer for wiring from 20 meters to 5 meters. This is ridiculous because people who ordered would have estimated the expenses before they preorder. If you charge Rs.150 per meter only for wiring and a owner needs extra 10 meters, there is lot of extra expenses involved i.e. Rs.1800(installation) + Rs.1500 (wiring).
The charging time has gone up to 4 - 5 hours, I know this was done to improve battery life but we can’t charge during daytime or when in emergency as it will take a lot of time and this also forces the owners to do overnight charging everyday which isn’t a good idea!
If at all I had not paid the installation charges and installed the charger with the help of local electrician, would Ather take responsibility of the faulty charger that they had given to me ? ( I am pretty much sure that they would never take the responsibility and replied that "we had recommended you to get the installation done by Ather technicians, your local technician has got the wiring wrong and it became faulty and you have to pay up extra for the new charger and the installation" . This situation forces all the owners to get the charger installed only by Ather technicians which implies that the installation charges are infact not optional at all

I will be still active in this forum because, this forum was the reason I bought this vehicle. I will share my first ride impressions, ownership experiences etc.

I wanted to participate in the owners meet but it too far for me so, charging and range would be an issue.

I hope my Ather compensates one day for the experience I had,

Cheers!