BENGALURU: Dubbed to be the country’s first smart electric scooter, the S340, designed and developed in-house by Bengaluru based startup Ather Energy made its public appearance at the recently held Web Summit Surge conference. With pre-orders and trials commencing in the next few months, owners are likely to get hands on their own S340s by the end of this year. The company has stated that the S340 will initially be available in three cities- Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai. Prospective buyers can experience the ride at experience centers owned by Ather Energy.

The S340 will be pegged under 1 lakhs as per the company’s co-founder Tarun Mehta. Presently available electric scooters which run on lead-acid batteries suffer setbacks such as a top speed of 25 to 40 kmph, poor acceleration, battery life of 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers and a 6 to 8 hour charging time. The S340 aims to change this perception of electric scooters and make the experience of riding one closer to a petrol powered scooters. It claims a top speed of 75 kmph, 0 to 60 kmph sprint in 11 seconds and an estimated driving range of 50-100 kilometers. What S340 has really excelled in, is its ability to regain about 90 percent of charge capacity in an hour and a lifecycle of 50,000 kilometers, owing to its Li-ion battery; which can be charged via easily available five amperes power socket. Ather’s battery pack is based on 18650 cell format; a format also utilized in the renowned, Tesla Model S electric car. To achieve desired cost and weight reductions and optimum thermal performance, the maker has integrated the battery management system within the battery pack, with the later being integrated into the chassis itself. On the safety front the IP 67 rated battery pack is sealed within an aluminium block capable of one meter underwater operation for 30 minutes.

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