Ather 450X: Warping Your Perceptions Of Electrics

Even though the scooter has a certified 116km range, Ather claims a real-world range of 85km for the 450X in Eco mode. We wanted to test out just how much range could you extract from the larger 2.9kWh battery and whether it was closer to the certified number or what Ather claims you would realistically achieve.

Unlike petrol-powered scooters, where the number of kilometres run divided by the fuel consumed gives you the fuel efficiency figure, range testing electric scooters is a painstaking process where you have to run the battery cry of charge completely. By completely dry, we mean push-it-to-the-nearest-charging-point-dry. To read exactly how we go about the process, you should check out this story. Following the same guidelines as the article, we achieved 91.4km in Eco mode, which isn’t all too shabby. If Ather’s own collated data is to be believed, almost 80 percent of its users barely ride more than 34km in a single day. Hence, technically you could go for almost 3 days of riding without ever needing to charge your 450X.

Speaking of which, charging times are almost the same as the 450. The 450X’s battery takes 3 hours 35 minutes to charge from naught to 80 percent via a 15A socket. After running the battery completely dry, it took a little over five hours for a full charge via a 5A socket. While that might sound like a lot, Ather’s fast charging infrastructure took 45 minutes to charge the scooter from 23-92 percent. The best bit is that until March 2021, the use of Ather Grid (the fast charging stations) is free.

Also Read: Here Are Two More Reasons To Buy The Ather This Diwali

Now, if you want to read on how good the scooter is actually to ride, you can head here and check out Arun’s first ride report. But the question that lingers in everyone’s minds with electrics is that does this electric scooter make for a better buying decision than a petrol-powered alternative? From all the electric scooters that we have tested thus far, the Ather 450X remains, without a shadow of doubt, the best. Paying 1.5 times as much as a TVS NTorq 125 or a Suzuki Access 125 is a pretty big ask. When you do the cost analysis of purchase and ownership, the 450X will eventually turn out to be money well spent. And at the end of 3 years, if you would want to part with your 450X, Ather will buy it off you for Rs 85,000. Now, that just makes the deal that much sweeter, doesn’t it?