Ather Energy is a pure-play electric two-wheeler company that designs and builds its own scooters, software, and charging network entirely in-house - a technology-first approach that began in the labs of IIT Madras in 2013 and listed on Indian stock exchanges in May 2025. The business has moved through three distinct phases - developing its first platform, building its operations backbone, and then expanding into new market segments - and that pattern of using each phase to fund and inform the next is the thread that runs through everything it does. At its core sits a conviction that owning the technology stack matters: roughly 80% of key hardware and all of the software is built internally, with nearly half the company’s employees working in R&D, making it one of the largest E2W R&D teams anywhere. # Business segments A single electric-scooter business expressed through three product platforms at different stages of maturity - a premium performance line, a family scooter that now drives most of the volume, and a mass-market platform under development - all wrapped in a proprietary software layer and supported by a company-owned charging network that doubles as an industry utility. ## 1. Premium scooters - the 450 series: the performance flagship that built the brand **The 450 series positioned Ather as “The Bike of Scooters” and still commands a premium price point, but it has been overtaken in volume by the family-focused Rizta.** - **Performance as the entry ticket** - the top-end Ather 450 Apex delivers an IDC range of 157 km, a top speed of 100 km/h, and 0-40 km/h in 2.9 seconds, numbers that established Ather as a credible alternative to petrol scooters for enthusiasts. - **A shrinking share of a growing pie** - in FY25 the 450 series sold 66,525 units, or 43% of total sales; by FY26 that had fallen to roughly 25% as the Rizta family scooter took over, even as absolute volumes continued to rise. - **Premium pricing that holds** - revenue per scooter was ₹128,295 in FY25, and the 450 line sits in the mass-premium and premium price brackets (above INR 1.25 lakh ex-showroom), where Ather fields six variants against competitors who have many more variants in lower price bands. - **Software keeps older hardware current** - the product development cycle favours backward-compatible over-the-air updates rather than frequent hardware changes, so even Gen 3 scooters receive features like Infinite Cruise, protecting resale value and stretching the ownership experience. ## 2. Family scooters - the Rizta: the volume engine that changed the company **Launched in FY25, the Rizta expanded Ather’s addressable market into the convenience and family segment and grew to roughly three-quarters of all sales within two years, without denting margins.** - **Built for practicality, not speed** - the Rizta offers a large seat, up to 56 litres of storage, WhatsApp notifications on the dashboard, and voice commands via Alexa Skills, targeting buyers who prioritise comfort over acceleration. - **Cheaper to buy, not cheaper to make** - the Rizta is on average ₹16,500 less expensive than the 450 line, yet its margins have not dragged down the company’s overall margin profile, suggesting the cost structure was designed for that price point from the start. - **The geographic unlock** - Rizta drove market-share gains in new territories, particularly in Middle India where Ather’s share quadrupled from roughly 4% to 17.3% over the course of FY25 and FY26, and in Gujarat and Odisha where share tripled from 4% to 14% by Q4’25 after the Rizta launch in Q2’25. - **Scale at speed** - over 2.5 lakh Rizta scooters were sold within 21 months of launch, making it one of the fastest-ramping products in the Indian E2W market. ## 3. The EL platform: a mass-market scooter built for cost, not compromise **The EL platform is Ather’s bid to enter the INR 1 lakh to INR 1.25 lakh ex-showroom segment - where it currently has zero presence - using a ground-up redesign that swaps expensive materials for smarter engineering.** - **Steel instead of aluminium** - the EL platform uses a steel frame rather than the aluminium frame of the 450 series, reducing dependence on expensive commodities like aluminium and copper, and is expected to improve margins as a result. - **Fewer parts, faster assembly** - a simpler transmission, redesigned electronics, and an integrated onboard charger cut complexity: the platform enables 15% faster assembly, up to twice-as-fast periodic servicing, and service intervals stretched to 10,000 km. - **Safety without the cost of ABS** - a proprietary Advanced Electronic Braking System (AEBS) mimics the behaviour of anti-lock braking at a lower cost, a critical feature for a price-sensitive segment where every rupee matters. - **Dual battery chemistry** - the platform is designed to accept both LFP and NMC battery chemistries, giving Ather flexibility to switch based on cost and supply conditions without redesigning the scooter. - **Timed to the new factory** - commercialisation is scheduled before the end of calendar year 2026, coinciding with Phase 1 of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar factory, which will add 5 lakh units of annual capacity and is located closer to key markets in Middle and North India. ## 4. AtherStack: the software layer that turns a scooter into a connected device **AtherStack is the in-house software platform that powers every Ather scooter, and it generates revenue through a one-time Pro-Pack purchase that nine out of ten customers now choose.** - **Not a subscription, but a permanent upgrade** - the Pro-Pack is a one-time purchase attached to the scooter, not a recurring SaaS fee, and it contributed 6% of revenue in FY25 with an attach rate that climbed from 88% to 93% by Q4 FY26 even as volumes grew sharply. - **Features that Indian riders actually use** - AtherStack 7.0 added Infinite Cruise (which works across speeds up to 90 km/h and does not disengage on braking), Vernacular Dashboards, voice interaction tuned to Indian dialects, Pothole Alerts, and Crash Alerts that auto-notify emergency contacts with live location. - **Attach rates rise with store maturity** - new cities start low (Madhya Pradesh was at 40-50% a year ago) and ramp to above 80-85% over two to four quarters as awareness builds, which means the 93% blended rate still has room to grow as the store network matures. - **Backward compatibility protects the base** - AtherStack 7.0 rolls out as an over-the-air update and is compatible with Rizta Z and Ather 450X up to Gen 3, so older scooters gain new capabilities without a hardware change. ## 5. Ather Grid: the charging network that is becoming an industry utility **What began as a walled-garden charger network for Ather owners now serves one in eight charging sessions to non-Ather scooters, and the company designed the connector standard that India adopted as the national interoperability protocol.** - **Largest two-wheeler fast-charging network in India** - over 6,000 fast-charging points as of March 2026, with charging sessions growing 2.2x year-on-year to 7.7 million, faster than the growth in charger count itself. - **The standard-setter, not just a player** - Ather designed the Light Electric Combined Charging System (LECCS) connector in-house, and the Bureau of Indian Standards adopted it as the official Indian standard; ten partners including Hero Vida and multiple charge-point operators now use it. - **A consortium, not a proprietary lock-in** - Ather leads the LEAF consortium with more than 20 stakeholders including OEMs, charge-point operators, and suppliers, aiming to solve network fragmentation rather than hoard the standard. - **Unit economics that stand on their own** - the network has positive unit economics and a line of sight to positive EBITDA, meaning it is not merely a cost centre to sell scooters but a business in its own right. - **Intercity corridors are already live** - 470 fast chargers span the 2,335 km Ahmedabad-to-Kanniyakumari route, and a next-generation 6 kW charger unveiled in August 2025 delivers double the speed at half the size, adding up to 30 km of range in 10 minutes. # Manufacturing and supply chain **Ather designs everything but outsources component manufacturing, running a 99% domestic supply chain (by bill-of-materials value, excluding lithium-ion cells) across two factories in Hosur with a third, far larger plant under construction in Maharashtra.** - **Hosur is the incumbent workhorse** - the existing facilities have an installed capacity of 420,000 scooters and 379,800 battery packs per year, with two vehicle assembly lines and three battery lines running on a manufacturing execution system that monitors 35 line parameters and checks over 10,000 parameters at the end of each line. - **Factory 3.0 doubles total capacity** - the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar plant is planned for 10 lakh units per annum in two phases of 5 lakh each, with Phase 1 expected to begin production in Q3 FY27; once both phases are complete, combined capacity reaches 1.42 million scooters per year. - **More vertical integration at the new site** - Factory 3.0 will bring battery pack assembly, transmission assembly, painting, electronics assembly, and CED coating in-house, reducing reliance on external suppliers for processes currently outsourced. - **Location is a logistics advantage** - the AURIC industrial park sits near key markets in Middle and North India and is catalysing a supplier ecosystem, with several auto OEMs already initiating facility set-up there, which should cut freight costs and lead times. - **Multi-sourcing and chemistry flexibility de-risk supply** - 65% of components for the 450X are multi-sourced, and Ather uses LFP, NMC, and NCA battery chemistries with multiple suppliers for every component, while deploying value-engineering design changes to counter commodity inflation in rare-earth magnets, memory chips, and lithium-ion cells. # Group structure and partners **Ather is a standalone public company with no operating subsidiaries as of its last annual report, though it has since moved to incorporate wholly owned subsidiaries for insurance distribution and Hong Kong-based procurement, and it maintains strategic relationships with semiconductor and automotive partners.** - **Clean corporate structure** - the company had no subsidiaries, joint ventures, or associate companies as of the FY25 Annual Report; subsequent board approvals cover a wholly owned subsidiary for corporate agency insurance in India and a Hong Kong subsidiary for Asia-Pacific procurement. - **Semiconductor partnership with Infineon** - a May 2025 memorandum of understanding with Infineon Technologies focuses on advancing silicon-carbide and gallium-nitride semiconductor technologies for light electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and safety systems. - **Automotive expertise via the Khandelwal family** - a strategic relationship with Seona E Mobility Pvt. Ltd combines the Khandelwal family’s automotive sector experience with Ather’s EV technology platform. - **Lean workforce, heavy on R&D** - of 1,617 on-roll employees as of March 2025, 46% work in R&D across three facilities in Bengaluru totalling over 132,000 square feet, reflecting the company’s technology-ownership philosophy.