The funding marks the third
round of investments in Ather Energy, which is building the S340 - India’s
first smart, electric scooter. The
Board of Directors
of Hero MotoCorp,
in its meeting
held on October
26, 2016, approved an investment
of up to Rs. 205 crore, of which the immediate tranche is of Rs. 180 crore.
In February 2016, the company
had unveiled the S340 in the city.
ATHER ENERGY UNVEILS SMART ELECTRIC SCOOTER
S340
While the S340 is an electric
scooter which will begin production later this year, an electric motorcycle T6X
from Tork Motors was unveiled recently and will be launched soon. Bookings for
this electric motorcycle peeked to several thousand after the company announced
this new electric motorcycle.
TORK MOTORS LAUNCHES INDIA'S FIRST ELECTRIC
BIKE T6X FOR RS. 1.25 LAKH
Meanwhile, coming to Ather
Energy, this company has already received funding from entities like Tiger Global and Sachin and
Binny Bansal, promoters of Flipkart, in their personal capacity.
Speaking on the investment,
Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy noted, “The funding is a strong
validation of our product roadmap and technology capability, endorsed by
one of the biggest global automotive players. We believe smart connected electric
vehicles are the future and India will be an important global player in it. Our
vision is to fast forward to that future and this investment will help us
leapfrog several years of automotive experience"
This new round of capital
infusion will be used by Ather to sustain momentum in its journey of building
a future-ready product
platform, and to
accelerate the infrastructure and ecosystem development around electric
vehicles in the country, a company press release noted.
Commenting on this investment,
Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Hero
MotoCorp said “As the market leader and a global automotive major, Hero takes
the lead in many areas that benefit the environment, customer and industry.
Adoption of environment-friendly fuel is a priority for Hero, as is propagating
sustainable manufacturing through green facilities. One of our strategic
priorities, therefore, is to engage with the external ecosystem, including
start-ups in adjacent areas. Hero MotoCorp intends to enhance its participation
in the EV space by pursuing its internal EV program in addition to partnering
with Ather. Ather is the best start-up in the two-wheeler EV space and we
firmly believe that they are on the way to become one of the leaders in India,
potentially even globally. They bring together a vision with high aspiration,
ability to progress rapidly and the humility to learn and improve continually.
We are excited to be a strategic investor and see this as an important step in
building the necessary ecosystem needed to support commercialisation of EVs in
the country.”
The S340 electric
vehicle with a Lithium ion battery pack has a top speed of
72 kmph and a range of 60 km.
Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd. is an
automobile design and manufacturing company founded in the year 2013 by IIT
Madras graduates - Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. Ather is committed to building
smart, connected, uncompromising vehicles and seeks to reimagine urban commute
with the help of technology. The team of about 150 employees is currently
developing an electric two-wheeler, which will be completely designed and made
In India. They are presently in their stage of product testing and vendor
finalization for their first product, the S340.