Ather Energy is reportedly planning to raise an amount of Rs 200 crore – Rs 300 crore over the next year to expand to new markets and further its product development plans.
Ather Energy had launched two scooters, Ather 450 and Ather 340, in June this year and had begun deliveries of Ather 450 in Bengaluru in September this year. This launch came nearly two years after it was first unveiled in February 2016.
“We are looking at around 5-6 months to deliver our first production lot that will about around 2,000 vehicles” Ather Energy chief executive Tarun Mehta had stated.
While both the scooters featured similar hardware at launch, Mehta had said they will be making a few hardware changes to differentiate the offerings in due course of time. The company is developing a new range of electric scooters that is set to hit the markets by 2020-2021.
The funds raised will also likely be used to expand its manufacturing capacity. The Bengaluru-based firm had started the commercial production of its scooters in July this year
“We are looking at scaling up our production from 50 units a week by July to about 250 vehicles a week by early next year. Eventually, we want to get to about 100,000 vehicles in the next three years” Mehta added.
Ather has also setup its own charging infrastructure network called AtherGrid, through which it currently has about 30 charging points across Bengaluru. In September, the company said it had started working on rolling out AtherGrid in Chennai, in preparation to expand to the city by next year.