@itsn78 - yes spot on.
@ather_rajs.in team - Thats what your animated diagraph means… in one gif, youhave 0-60 is 3.9 sec. Top speed is 80kmph and True range is 75Km… what do you expect consumers to make of this?
Kr,
Vignesh
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I just spoke with Anish in Ather… He informed they are involved in some development that will enable riders to toggle between power/eco while driving on the go…they are working that will still return 75km. It appears their tests are so far promising returning 80km… So overall, riders may not need to compromise power overall but only in certain stretches… thats true for even Petrol scooters/bikes unless rider is pushing really hard.
@Ather.Team can you confirm this?
Kind regards,
Vignesh.
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I believe the battery pack and other hardware will remain same. So to achieve the range we have to toggle between eco and power mode. It is nothing but compromising on the power and performance.
I would be more interested to know if @ather_rajs.in can achive the “True range” promised in reality without downgrading performance. This should not come with asking to ride at a perticular speed, don’t acceralrate too much etc.
I know even in the power mode if I ride scooter at 20KMPH constant, I may get 100KM+ range. That’s not fun. The point here is Ather’s marketing gave a perception that in power mode you will get at least 60KM per charge irrespective of driving style.
Range can be calculated with inputs such as load, battery pack, speed, vehicle dynamics etc. Customers thought Ather had taken care of all these and come up with true range. In reality it is different. If your source from Ather is reliable than Ather is also asking us to compromise on fun to get the range.
That’s why we would like to hear it from @Ather.Team itself.
Thanks
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It is nice to read the summery of the discussions.
When a product is marketed and it doesn’t deliver what is promised then it is natural that prople will be disappointed.
True range 75 km in eco mode and 60 km in power mode.
No matter what the driving conditions and habits the Software should reserve enough power to stretch it to the promised range.
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In power mode when the vehicle realises more battery is used by aggressive riding then there should be aome percentage of the battery reserved at the end which will stretch the distance and with reduced powers.
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In Eco mode with limited power and load and riding style again some percentage of the battery to stretch the range to 75 km should be made.
Ather team needs to work on it
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Thank you to everyone who attended the Open House. It was one of the most engaging sessions we have had. Apart from a bunch of topics, we discussed range in detail. As Nilay had mentioned earlier, it requires comprehensive background to understand how & why the range numbers go up and down. Reason why, we hosted the session. We will try and put out a detailed blog on this soon. Till then, this is a quick highlight of what was discussed:
- Present numbers of riders are at a median of 63km with enough riders lying on both sides of this number.
- The variation is not owing to vehicle factors like battery capacity but due to riding patterns, pillion riding, variable tyre pressures, riding on inclines, etc which impact range numbers drastically.
- Some things we are looking at are:
a. Providing more feedback during ride on energy consumption
b. Giving a flat lined range on full charge rather than invoking accurate range prediction till we have enough data about the way you ride. Presently we are going to put this number as 65km for all vehicles.
c. Adding a third mode which curtails higher energy consumptions increasing your likelihood of getting 75km on particular days when you don’t want to take a chance.
Yes, we didn’t do a great job on detailing TrueRange. While the intent was to put a number that most riders will get on a daily basis and not a lab tested number or a 30 kmph constant, TrueRange got intrepretted as a minimum range that everyone will get irrespective of how you ride.
We know this is not a comprehensive response. More on this will be explained to you in the journey of owning the vehicle. We will also create a blog with more details on range demystification soon.
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@vishwacs111 how’s the range now? Has it picked up from before? How much in non-eco and eco? How is the public charging infrastructure and fast charging experience?
Got the first OTA and that started showing the standard charge numbers (65 for eco and 50 for non Eco) at 100% charge. Didn’t see any change in the actual range which varied between 55 to 70km depending on all the factors already mentioned in this thread. Got a notification for another OTA now which I own’t be able to do till tomorrow. Will keep you posted.
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@Shreyas As a prospective owner of a Ather scooter, I think I just want to focus on getting from Point A to Point B. A lot of the range anxiety potentially results from all the additional mental overhead. In the trip navigation on the bike, is there an option that will allow us to integrate AtherGrid charging visits during the ride in case the current range is lower than the distance to the destination. Tesla does this.
I am not hearing any range concerns from any of the owners recently…can I count it as the issue is resolved and if driven properly we can achieve a 70km range target?.. Anybody tried to achieve the max range with conservative driving…if so please share the information…
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Has @Shreyas the bike been tested in stop gap traffic seen in Avenue road and BVK Iyengar road or similar roads. It would be a very interesting to see the range after being driven in such conditions since both roads have very heavy traffic seen at peak hours.
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Thanks a lot for the update. The true range has become 75 to 63. If we cannot that regularly during Eco mode, even after initial excitement over, then it is not a great news.
Ather has mentioned that based on the data people get anywhere between 45 to 80. Can any owner confirm who is getting 75-80 really. Or s it just illusion?
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Increase in riding population may give lot of input data to @ather.team to fine tune the machine algorithm. This may also help owners to better distance per charge. So sir, you just ride and ride!
Have you tried the range in non - echo mode and how much km you can expected?
the more data Ather get may help them to arrive at a better estimation of true range but not neccesarily it will improve the range what you are going to get.
Actually I am least worried about theit poor estimates. As time goes by, estimation may improve. Until then, we may not be able to rely on their estimator.
But the actual range if it goes down from what they have told so far, that is the problem I am telling about.
If you buy Activa, regardless of what mileage their pamphlet claim as per ARAI, you know the true mileage will be around 40-45 for majority of riders.
Similarly even for Ather, regardless of how bad their estimation algorithm is right now, the actual range should be around 70 for majority of the users once the initial excitement period is over.
Eagerly waiting for updates from owners
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Hey Guys,
I have a question about the RANGE. I commute to work everyday on my current ICE bike and cover about 60 KM(North Chennai to Porur). Would I face any issues after buying the Ather? I have 2 concerns:
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I’m worried if i have to drive the entire stretch in ECO mode. If I were to use the ride mode, I would be left with a buffer of only 5 KM (65 KM being the max in this mode).
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Reduction in range over time with this kind of usage. Would Ather replace my battery if the range deteriorates to a point where I can commute to work only using ECO mode?
Firstly I don’t think these modes are what decide your range. Thecertainly try to but. I’ve gotten true range of 92 on sport and 45 in Eco mode also.
So if you want to do your commute of 60km you’ll have to tweak your driving style to get you a true range of 70-75. Which at least for me in Bangalore is attainable, so Chennai must be possible. But idk the terrain your commute is on. So keep that in mind. Also remember your last 10km would be in eco mode irrespective, If you plan to utilize a 100% of your battery capacity everyday. So I think attaining a true range of 70-75 for a 60km commute is good. Doable with a little practice. Defintely. And a speed of 60 can be maintained and still get a range of 70 but the terrain and stop and go traffic also matters. I went all out one day and rode inside the city with slow acceleration. I had a top speed of 65+ kmph. And a projected range of 92Km.
You could also consider using your portable charger at your workplace.
About ather replacing your battery. Only if your battery health is under 70% after 3 years they’ll change it for free.
On a side note. Ather said they’re looking into making a more energy dense battery for the our 450s so. Maybe when we buy a new battery next time we’ll have a much better range too.
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Thanks Suraj. I can certainly be mindful of the riding style so that maximum range can be extracted. However the 2nd aspect is concerning. If we assume 100% battery capacity = 75 KM, then 70% should give me a range of about 53 KM which would definitely be an issue. If Ather doesn’t replace the battery, I would end up shelling around 30K for a battery replacement from my pocket 
Ather will replace it if it’s down to 70%. That doesn’t mean the battery health WILL come down to 70% after 3 years.
Ather has said that the scooter will have to run for 50,000Km at which point the battery health would be down to 70%. Ather says they have that value based on an average usage and that the battery should last 4-5 years. I’m sure ather set these numbers with a little modesty because they always love to over deliver. So I personally feel if you ride wisely and keep the SoC over 15% and ride 60Km a day. The battery will last you long enough that the new battery isn’t TOO expensive to buy. And I pray by that time we’ve moved further into better battery technologies and cheaper ones too.
Also I did some basic math(might be wrong)
I calculated the money saved if I were to use my Ather as apposed to a 2 wheeler with a mileage of 45 for 50,000 Km. You’d save over 50,000 rupees in fuel. I’d say that makes up for the battery replacement cost wouldn’t it.
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When riding without range anxiety… Without braking…very efficiently… At speeds of 60-70kmph, I get 80km for a full discharge.
60kms should not be a problem after 2-3years…
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