Electric Vehicles

Ather plans 2,500 fast charging outlets by end of 2023

Written by Kanad Kalasur

Earlier this month, Ather Energy had announced that it had installed the 100th fast charger, as a part of the Ather Grid fast-charging network. Now the company has announced that there will be over 2,500 public fast chargers installed by the end of 2023. Currently, the chargers are distributed over Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Amongst these, Ather says over 60 percent of these are located in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Ather Grid : Expansion Plans

The electric scooter start-up has been pretty much increasing its charging network since past year. The company also ramped up its Grid setup across multiple locations. Back in October, the company had 580 fast chargers functional. The number increased to 1000 by February 2023. Ather has aimed to install 1,400 chargers by the end of this financial year, i.e. by the end of 31st March 2023.

The company has also announced a new scheme for corporate customers, apart from upfront discounts and other freebies, the scooter maker would install a grid in their office free of cost if four or more employees opt for an Ather scooter.

The availability of a grid plays a decisive role in the purchase decision of customers. With range concerns, prospective owners would be more tuned to purchase the electric scooter if there were multiple charging networks in their cities.

Ather outlets in India

As per Ather’s plans, its rapid expansion has now reached the 100-store milestone. Growing from 50 stores in September 2022, to 100 in just a short span of five months is a commendable achievement. Currently, Ather is available across 80 cities in over 20 states. Further, in all these states, Ather has also emerged as the market leader across the top scooter-centric markets. This includes Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.

Currently, Ather has a market share of 14.1 per cent in its segment. This makes it one of the top 3 players in the segment. Ather’s efforts in the EV segment are clearly visible. As per the recent trend, we see that the company is not just being concentrated in tier-1 cities. In fact, Ather has been targeting more tier 2 and tier 3 cities. It currently has 64 ECs present in these regions, which helped the brand garner 41 per cent of its sales volume in the last 3 months. Given the current demand and popularity, Ather plans to open 200 touch points by March 2023.

Also Read – Ather 450X catches fire, wiring harness caused it.