Ather 340 Is No More

We were pleasantly surprised last year, when Ather revealed it was bringing in not one but two electric scooters – the 340 and a higher-spec 450. While the 340 was meant to be the choice for the cost conscious buyer, it never really took off. In fact, 99 per cent of Ather’s customers prefer the higher variant (company claimed). Hence, the Bangalore-based start-up electric two-wheeler maker has decided to pull the plug on the 340.

With just one model in its portfolio, Ather has decided to focus its energy solely on the 450 as it plans to ramp up production capacity. The brand had ventured into Chennai a couple of months ago with cities like Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai next on its radar. Hence, in order to cater to these aforementioned cities and more in the future, the discontinuation of the 340 comes as a wise step from Ather.

There are small OTA updates for the 450 which includes the Eco mode (read all about it here) and minor improvements in the scooter for a better riding experience.

Here’s the company’s official press statement on the OTA updates:

Ather has been showcasing the new Eco mode for a while now and its finally out. We wanted all our Bengaluru customers and new Chennai customers to get the new mode at the same time, so we held off on releasing it earlier. Along with the Eco mode, owners' have also received a couple of enhancements:

Eco mode is here!

In addition to Sport and Ride modes, the 450 will now have an Eco mode. In this mode, the performance of the vehicle is tuned to give the rider a higher range than on Ride mode. The usage behaviour of Ather 450 owners has demonstrated that the range on 'Ride' is more than sufficient for their everyday needs. However, on days when you need to go the extra mile or when the vehicle's charge hasn't been replenished overnight, users can use the Eco mode to extend their range.

Flat-lining the displayed range, across modes
Now, the default range displayed on the dashboard at 100% charge in Eco mode will be 75 km. What about the Ride and Sport mode? 55 km and 65 km, respectively. This is a flat-lined number and only reflects what one is most likely to get.

TrueRange on the App
The Ride Statistics section will show the predicted range for the Eco mode based on your riding behaviour. Eco mode range can also be measured using one of the trip meters.

Enhancements
All that’s fixed and improved for a better user experience.

Motor fan noise reduction
Many customers reported that the noise emitted by the fan used to air-cool the motor was high. This update brings a new algorithm which will adjust the fan speed such that the noise is minimized.

Also, there are few other minor bug fixes that this upgrade will be taking care of.