The electric scooter maker Ather Energy today inked a deal with a California-based company Sanmina Corporation which will manufacture and develop key components designed by Ather for its maiden scooter – the Ather S340.
As part of the deal, the integrated manufacturing solutions company will exclusively manufacture Ather’s charging system, battery management systems and dashboard at its manufacturing facility in Chennai.
The electric scooter startup, which was founded four years ago, is set to open up the pre-order for the S340 model in Bengaluru from June.
Ather’s first smart electric scooter S340 has a top speed of 72 kmph and a range of 60 km on a full charge. Ather claims that it can be fully charged in just 1.5 hours. The vehicle achieves an 80 per cent charge in 50 minutes in fast charging mode and can be charged from any 5A normal socket in normal mode.
Tarun Mehta, CEO & co-founder of Ather Energy believes that for a smart scooter like the S340, power circuits integration, onboard charger and charging stations is of paramount importance. Thus, the system developed by Sanmina and Ather will offer the utmost efficiency with the highest levels of safety.
Last year, according to media reports, Ather Energy was planning to invest close to $10 million in its manufacturing facility.
The firm itself has invested over Rs 100 crore in the development of the product and has received funding from a few marquee investors, such as Hero MotoCorp, Tiger Global and Flipkart founders.
In May 2015, it had raised $12 million in funding from Tiger Global for the development, testing, production, and launch of the Ather S340 . And earlier, in 2014, Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal had invested $1 million in the startup.
Ather received Rs 180 crore in its third round of funding from country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp in late 2016. In exchange, Hero had picked 26-30 per cent stake in the company.
The development was first reported by Business Standard.
