We recently visited a brand new Ather Energy EV manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. This new factory is spread across 123,00 sq. ft of area and is capable of manufacturing 1,10,000 scooters annually.
Highlights:
- 90% of Ather Energy’s production is localized in India.
- Produces 110,000 scooters and 120,000 battery packs.
- An electric scooter is produced almost every 4 minutes.
- Zero effluent and zero water discharge plant.
- Make in India Vision.
Ather Energy which started in 2013 as an EV scooter design n development company to manufacturing electric scooters, they have accomplished the achievement of making one of the most technologically advanced scooters.
The facility is one of the perfect examples of the “Make in India” campaign as 90% of the manufacturing products are localised and the battery pack is developed and manufactured in Ather Energy Hosur facility itself.
With this new facility, they can produce 1,10,000 scooters and 1,20,000 battery packs annually. Ather has increased its presence across 27 cities in 15 states and plans to increase these numbers rapidly to 40 cities by the end of 2021.
Co-founder Swapnil Jain says that back in 2018, it took nine days to make a single-vehicle. It went up to 750 vehicles a month in 2019. And by the time the brand began manufacturing the Ather 450X in 2020, production was at 1,750 scooters a month.
Ather Energy says both Ather 450X and Ather 450 Plus are completely made in India, except for the battery cells, which are imported from Korea. And says they’ll be localised as well after few years as there is no cost-effective way in the country available yet. The new plant has two highly automated battery lines, capable of making 120,000 battery packs a year.
The battery lines run parallel to the vehicle line, in an enclosed space because assembling the cells is sensitive work, requiring careful monitoring of humidity, dust levels and temperature. The 2.9Kw battery uses 21700 type li-on cells giving the battery high density, charge and discharge rates which allow faster charging and high performance.
Ather Manufacturing Facility is more of an assembly line than a manufacturing one as most of its parts come from the brand’s supply chain which is located in Tamil Nadu.
These all parts arrive at the factory for the first stage of quality control, called ‘Incoming Quality Control’. The dimensions and functionality of all the components are checked at random in designated labs.
Once approved, all parts are moved to high storing racks and are put out towards the assembly line when required. Then the battery pack is assembled at the first station of the assembly line, called ‘Zero Station’. Then other parts are assembled like shock absorbs, wheels, handlebars, etc. Further, all the electricals are assembled and this process takes almost 4 minutes to make one entire scooter. Then the vehicle is tested by well-trained testers at the factory to check if any problems. The employee at Ather said, “Out of 100 only 1 vehicle has minor issues which are then solved”. Every vehicle goes under a dyno test to ensure the power output is similar in all vehicles.
The manufacturing Facility works on Industry 4.0 principles making it very advanced and helps to get data in the entire process right from logistics to production to dispatch of the ready product.
Ather has installed a comprehensive public charging network, with 103 charging points in 12 cities. Ather says they are planning to collaborate with food chains, cafes, malls, and public spaces for their charging stations enabling the rider to get extra juice in the vehicle while enjoying their time.
Zero effluent is generated in Ather Energy Factory and all E- wastes are handled by authorised recyclers. There is zero water discharge because of inhouse STP and treated water circulation to flush and plantation.