With
a strong local ecosystem that has been developed, most of the supplier base for
Ather Energy is in Tamil Nadu, making Hosur an ideal location for the factory.
With a capacity to produce 110,000 scooters annually, the facility will serve
as Ather Energy's national manufacturing hub catering to demand from across the
country. Ather Energy has confirmed deliveries and presence across 27 cities in
15 states. (Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi,
Coimbatore, Kolkata, Calicut, Ahmedabad, Mysore, Hubli, Jaipur, Indore, Panaji,
Bhubaneshwar, Nasik, Surat, Chandigarh, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati,
Nagpur, Noida, Lucknow, and Siliguri). Ather Energy is likely to expand to 40
cities by the end of 2021.
The
factory is supported by the government of Tamil Nadu under its EV Policy. Apart
from the EV manufacturing, the facility will also focus on lithium-ion battery
manufacturing which is a key area of focus for Ather Energy going ahead. The
investment is an opportunity for value creation in the sector and will create
job opportunities in the region. As a part of this initiative, more than 4000
employees will be trained in requisite skills in the EV sector over the next 5
years.
The
manufacturing facility is built on Industry 4.0 principles and has one of the
most advanced solutions that integrates technology, human assets, existing
systems, and processes across the entire manufacturing network. The team is
also working towards making the factory 'Smart
by authorizing Smart algorithms to read the data collected and make
meaningful interpretations. The end-to-end supply chain process is very information
centric which tightly integrates Ather Energy’s processes, logistics,
warehousing, quality checks, production to finally vehicle dispatch.
The
facility has the capacity to produce 120,000 battery packs annually. Ather
Energy is the only EV OEM in India to make its own battery packs, and has filed
13 patents on the design and manufacturing of the li-ion batteries. The 2.9 kWh
battery of Ather 450X uses 21700 type li-ion cells giving the battery a high
energy density, charge and discharge rates enabling fast charging and high
performance.
There
is zero effluent generated from the Ather Energy factory. All E-wastes are
handled by Authorized Recyclers and there is zero water discharge because of
in-house STP & treated water circulation to flush & plantation.