Leonardo DiCaprio made it a part of his Oscar-winning speech and Tesla’s founder, Elon Musk goes on and on about it. So, what do both of these guys have in common? They have an eye on saving the future. A group of Bengaluru youngsters and alumni from IIT Madras are following suit by channelising their principles of clean energy to invent the first electric scooter completely made in India, Ather S340. Needless to say, when they brought it out for a spin at a start-up event in Bengaluru recently, it’s all people could talk about.
The core team at Ather Energy, a company that’s about to put the electric scooter on Indian roads, Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain and Arun Vinayak are barely in their mid 20s and are sprightly bright with ideas. They are excited by the prospect of less pollution and their optimism about cleaner tech is contagious. Quitting their corporate jobs in 2013, they got cracking on the shortcomings of battery packs in Indian electric vehicles and were later drawn to the idea of designing one, ground-up.
Three years later, today, a few thousands have signed up to test-ride the new wheels and just as many are electrified about preordering it. “Everyone loves the scooter’s design and are wowed by the touchscreen dashboard and that a two-wheeler comes packed with on-board maps,” says an excited Tarun, letting us in on some of its key features. “Those concerned about the specs are happy about its top speed at 72 kmph and fast charging capability,” explains the young CEO, who graduated in engineering design from IIT Madras.
Deriving the name of their company, and now the vehicle from the Greek mythological word for the purest form of air breathed by the Gods, the boys hope to stand true to their vision – building uncompromising vehicles that are futuristic. “When we spoke with owners of electric scooters, most were concerned about negligible power, lack of service support and poor battery life,” says Swapnil, the CTO, about tapping into problem areas with the right talent, and working to overcome it.
The young team is ‘driven’ towards automobiles in their spare time too. “You will inevitably find the team at a gokart track or meeting up on Sundays to catch the Moto GP live. A lot of our team treks and cycle on the weekends and they do some pretty astounding distances too,” says Arun, the chief product officer on how they balance work with fun. But for most part of it it’s the craze for wheels that keep them rolling.
