The owner got it repaired the first time but still encountered issues dropping the range to an abysmal 12 km
An Ather 450 owner reported that the battery of his electric scooter failed twice in a matter of months. Unfortunately, the EV is now out of warranty which really limits his options of how to proceed further. Ather is one of the biggest two-wheeler EV start-ups in the country and has certainly sold a lot of electric scooters in the last few years. However, some owners have reported their terrible ownership experiences. This latest incident is yet another case in point. Let us delve into the details here.
Ather 450 Battery Fails Twice
The owner shared all the details regarding this incident on a Team-BHP forum. He mentions that his Ather 450X Series 1 electric scooter is 3 years old and he has driven it for 15,000 km. Now it is out of warranty. Unfortunately, he has started getting issues with it. As per the data in the screenshots he shared, his EV covered 11.6 km and consumed an unbelievable 96% of charge. The owner was riding it in Sports Mode which is not the most aggressive. After witnessing this, he contacted Ather support. The latter offered to repair the battery under a goodwill warranty. Additionally, he was also provided with a loaner battery in the meantime.
After about 4 weeks the battery was repaired and installed in the owner’s electric scooter. It worked fine for about 4 months. However, the problem re-emerged and the owner said that he then started getting a range of just 12 km. This has caused his trust in the company to collapse. In fact, he had booked Tata Punch EV, but now he is reconsidering his decision. When he wrote emails to the Ather support the second time around, it took him many emails and the response was still now satisfactory. Finally, he says that he is thinking of scrapping the electric scooter altogether.
My View
We know that EVs are still at an infant stage and the battery issues are only beginning to surface. Generally, electric cars have 8 years of warranty. However, the battery replacement cost after that period of time can be so huge that it would offset all the savings that the EV owner might have made during the usage. Hence, there has to be some relief for the owners which is why the EV adoption hasn’t been so rapid. Let us see how things pan out in this regard going forward.
Also Read: Ather 450X Thoroughly Abused in Extreme Test – Does it Survive?
