New Ather 450X Test Mule Spotted In Bengaluru

But it’s not the pre-production version of the widely touted affordable variant of the 450X

New spy pictures have just emerged of a new Ather 450X being tested in Bengaluru. While there are some rumours floating around that this is going to be the much awaited affordable sub-1 lakh Rupee scooter from Ather to take on the likes of the Ola S1 Air, it’s actually more likely that this 450X test mule is being used to test new features which will be made available in Ather’s next OTA software update - Ather Stack 6.0, which should be available in a month or two.

At the Ather Community Day back in January 2023, where the updated 450X was launched, Tarun Mehta, CEO, Ather Energy, had stated that an affordable scooter wasn’t on the cards for the Bengaluru-based EV maker any time soon. He elaborated that the EV maker is more focussed on providing an electric scooter with a premium experience to owners, rather than something stripped down just to meet a (lower) price point. 

Tarun also mentioned that advanced features like Cruise Control, Crawl Control and Advanced Regen were on the cards for the current Ather 450X in the upcoming Ather Stack software update, and we believe that’s what we’re seeing being evaluated on this new test mule.

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Ather has been a little slower than its competition in rolling out new features, but it’s in line with the company’s philosophy of only releasing such features when they’re absolutely ready and working flawlessly. 

The upcoming Cruise Control will allow the 450X to ride at a set speed without any throttle input from the rider (something useful when on open highways) while Crawl Control will enable the e-scooter to move at crawling speeds in tight traffic situations without constantly having to roll on and off the throttle. As for the Advanced Regen feature, it will finally allow riders to set exactly how much regenerative braking to get from their 450X in each riding mode.

The Ather 450X is currently priced at Rs 1,58,462 (ex-showroom Bengaluru), including FAME II subsidy and goes up against the likes of the Ola S1 Pro, Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube S.

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