Ather Energy's S340 launching by first quarter of 2017

Ather Energy's smart S340 is likely to give serious competition to conventional scooters

Fossil fuels and ozone layer are depleting at an alarming rate and the switch to alternative energy sources now is not a question of if but when. While globally manufacturers are launching hybrid cars, the greatest leap towards alternative mode of transportation has been by Tesla Motors with its completely-electric vehicles.

Electricity being the only viable clean energy option available globally, manufacturers are seriously going for electric vehicles. Ather Energy, a home-bred company headquartered in Bengaluru is one such firm started by two IIT Madras graduates- Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. Their first upcoming product is an electric scooter dubbed the S340.

Buying a premium electric scooter might seem as a big investment at first but its low running costs and sheer convenience in the city, provided you have a charging infrastructure at home, more than makes up for it. The Ather S340 is designed to be faster and lighter than most conventional scooters. It comes equipped with a touchscreen integrated with the company's cloud database that allows the rider to access and upload accessible navigation and user profiles.

The S340 gets a slightly kicked out rear wheel with forward riding profile to give it a sportier stance. The electric scooter gets telescopic suspension at front and a monoshock unit at the rear coupled with a zero lateral offset and low centre of gravity. It will offer two riding modes – sport and economy with customizable profiles that will allow the rider to to configure the scooter settings. The 3G enabled scooter could be connected to a smartphone and all the data can be accessed on the phone as well. The scooter gets 24x7 connectivity by which the vehicle's critical data is constantly analyzed and regular improvements are made over the air firmware and software updates. The S340 gets smart LED headlamps that switches on automatically and controls light intensity based on ambient lighting conditions.

The battery once fully charged gives a substantial range of 60 kilometres at 72kmph and the battery charges from zero to 80% in 50 mins. The S340 gets disc brakes at both ends along with alloy wheels and at 90 kilos, it is lighter than all conventional scooters available in the market. The S340 is expected to be in the production early next year and Ather Energy is also working on building a charging infrastructure for these vehicles and creating an ecosystem for OEMs.