Ather finally focuses on affordable electric scooters after losing its lead to Ola Electric and TVS Motor

• Ather Energy has revamped its product lineup to offer an affordable electric scooter.
• This comes at a time when Ola Electric and TVS Motor have raced past Ather despite starting much later.
• The Ather 450X is now priced closer to the Ola S1 and the TVS iQube.

Ather Energy, one of the oldest premium electric scooter makers in India, has now started offering an affordable electric scooter after losing market share to relatively newer entrants in the space like Ola Electric and TVS Motor. Despite a head start, Ather has seen these two companies race ahead in terms of volumes.

Ather entered the market in 2018 and was the first Indian company to offer a powerful electric scooter with features such as a large display. At that time, it competed with Hero Electric, which offered low-powered affordable electric scooters.

Ather has so far focused on the premium electric segment, ignoring demands for a more affordable variant. However, it looks like increased competition from other companies has forced Ather’s hand now.

“We’re revamping our product offerings to make an Ather scooter accessible to more customers,” Abhishek Balaji, community manager, Ather Energy said in a blog post.

Ather loses market share to Ola Electric and TVS Motor

Despite having the first-mover advantage, Ather has not maintained its market share.

According to a report by BNP Paribas, in FY20, Ather sold 2,906 scooters, while Ola was yet to debut, and TVS Motor sold just 24 scooters. In FY21, Ather sold 4,401 scooters, and TVS Motor sold 837.

After Ola’s debut in FY22, things started to change, but Ather continued to lead. The company sold 19,979 scooters, while Ola and TVS sold 14,398 and 9,637 scooters, respectively.

Everything changed in FY23, with Ola selling nearly two times the scooters than Ather. Despite some initial hiccups, Ola Electric managed to sell 1.52 lakh scooters in FY23, followed by TVS Motor, which sold 81,738 scooters, and Ather in the third position with 76,787 scooters.

In just one year, Ola Electric and TVS Motor managed to dethrone Ather. The biggest reason for this was the price difference.

During a comparison in August last year, we compared the prices of the Ola S1, the Ather 450X, and the TVS iQube S. Here are the prices of the three scooters in Hyderabad in August 2022.



Since then, Ola has become aggressive with the launch of the Ola S1 Air, which is priced starting at ₹84,999. TVS also has a more affordable offering in the form of the TVS iQube, priced at ₹1,15,293.

Ather revamps product lineup

Amid the decline in its market share, Ather has silently revamped its product lineup. The company has removed the Ather 450 Plus and now offers two options – Ather 450X and the Ather 450X with Pro Pack, and there is a difference of over ₹30,000 between the two scooters.

The affordable Ather 450X is priced at ₹1,16,378 in Hyderabad, and the Pro Pack variant is priced at ₹1,46,638.


Ather may still find it difficult to take on Ola as its affordable scooters offer features such as music playback and party mode, which have become quite popular. In a Twitter post, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal recently teased that the company is working on a concert mode for its scooters.


The reduced prices mean Ather has made some compromises, which we will discuss in a detailed post soon.

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