BREAKING: The Updated Ather 450X Is Here

With the electric scooter segment in India witnessing a massive growth, manufacturers find themselves in a rat race to bring significant upgrades to their offerings frequently, if not new products, in order to secure their spot at the top of the food chain. In a follow-up to the Gen 3, Ather Energy has taken the wraps off its updated 450X electric scooter. Here are all the details on the latest generation Ather 450X. 

What’s The Price? What Are Its Rivals?

All these updates come at no additional price. The updated Ather 450X costs the same at Rs 1,35,452 for the 450 Plus and Rs 1,58,462 for the 450X (both ex-showroom, Bengaluru including FAME II and state subsidies). Deliveries of the updated e-scooter will commence from today, i.e. January 7, 2023.

The updated Ather 450X goes up against the likes of the Ola S1 Pro, TVS iQube S, Bajaj Chetak, Hero Vida V1 and Simple One.

What’s New?

As was heavily teased by the company, the first noticeable change is a range of four new swanky colours: Cosmic Black, Lunar Grey, Salt Green (replacing the Mint Green) and True Red. Out of these colours, the True Red shade looks particularly attractive, complementing the overall aesthetic of the sporty scooter.

Along with the above update, the seat on the updated 450X has been reprofiled, with the rider’s section now being longer and wider, while the pillion area is more elongated. The rider’s seat is also more contoured, and has a narrower profile up front to ensure one can plant their feet on the ground properly. 

The 7-inch TFT console has been carried from the Gen 3 model, though the default layout, as well as that for the various ride modes, sees some changes. Besides, the new UI, which comes in via Atherstack 5.0 firmware, also facilitates multitasking. 

The updated model also gets revised maps, which now get the new 3D Vector Maps, which allow for perspective change, akin to Android Auto seen in cars, as well as real-time traffic updates, giving you an ever clearer estimation of when you’ll reach your destination. Additionally, there’s also the inclusion of a trip planner, which allows for multiple stops on your route, say between charging stations on longer trips, to better deal with range anxiety, if any.

And to keep up with the rivals (read: Ola) the new 450X will offer Autohold (Ather-speak for hill-hold). This can function on inclines up till a claimed 15 to 16 degrees, that too for an indefinite amount of time, or till you tap on the brakes to disengage it. 

And if you’re wondering, Ather has stated that a majority of the updates can be had not just by the Gen 3 owners, but also the Gen 2 owners.

What Else Is on Offer?

Along with the aforementioned changes, Ather will also offer cruise control, crawl control and multi-mode regen. However, these will only be out in the next round of updates in the coming months; Ather’s rationale being they’re yet to perfect them. 

That said, prospective owners can now rest assured as the standard battery pack warranty has been extended to five years or 60,000km, which can even be availed by existing owners at a discounted price for the month of January 2023. 

Moving now to charging infrastructure, and Ather claims it’ll have a total of 1300 fast chargers up and running across the country by March 2023. And considering the difficulties many EV owners may have installing chargers in their apartment parking lots, Ather shall also offer a Universal 3.3kW AC charger for all two-,three, and four-wheelers EVs, which can be installed in the common points in residential parking areas. Further, these chargers can be accessed via a scan-and-pay function.

What’s Unchanged?

Our expectations for mechanical changes or improved performance remains unfounded, with the new model continuing to be powered by the same 3.3kW motor with peak output of 6.2kW and a 3.7kWh battery pack. The underpinnings too remain the same as before. 

ZigSays

The updated Ather 450X should now better appeal to a wider range of audience, and that’s largely down to the new functional features and attractive colourways. The updates also make the 450X a much more wholesome, userfriendly e-scooter than before. One small gripe is that we expected an upgrade in power. Ather is saving that up for another time, we reckon.