Ather 450 – The Future is Here
Electric scooters, as we know them, have not been perceived very well in the Indian market. A decade back, some manufacturers worked on their toes to introduce electric mobility. However, back then, the lack of charging infrastructure, a bare-bones design and a disgraceful speed limit kept buyers from switching to these products. But times have changed, as a Bangalore-based start-up Ather Energy had launched two electric-scooters in 2018 – Ather 340 and Ather 450. Our Ather 450 review further reveals… Barring a difference in performance and riding range, the Ather 340 and 450 are near identical to each other. But since we rode only the 450, we’ll be focussing on that. The idea behind the Ather 450 was to make a clean scooter. And I must say, Ather has done their homework very well. The design is nice and very well-balanced with a touch of sportiness all around. The sleek LED headlamp, taillamp and the 12-inch wheels look elegant and futuristic. There are some nice design bits like the flush-side stand, integrated pillion footrest and seat hinge finished in green that really works well with the design. Moreover, there are no vibrant or loud paint schemes, and the Ather is only available in White. The area where the Ather 450 feels more futuristic is the dedicated 7.0-inch touchscreen instrument cluster. The touchscreen packs a raft of electronic features such as on-board navigation powered by Google Maps, a document reader and a reverse assist. The reverse assist, as the name suggests, lets you reverse out of a parking space at 2km/h.