Ather Energy: Revolutionising Two-Wheeler Mobility
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela, Chief Business Officer at Ather Energy, makers of smart electric scooters, shares his insights on how Ather Energy is revolutionising two-wheeler mobility. He talks about how Ather is poised to drive serious disruption, not just through an innovative product, but the way they plan to retail, market and engage with their consumers.
Q 1. Although it’s still early days, how has the market response been to the commercial launch of Ather’s electric scooters?
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela: Consumers have been eagerly waiting for the Ather scooters for the past few years and the response has been overwhelming the past month. We are already booked for the rest of the year and are now taking orders for early next year.
Our experience centre, AtherSpace has been bursting at the seams with test ride booking slots getting filled 2 weeks in advance, and consumers walking in through the day for test rides.
Q 2. Apart from being Electric, Connectivity is another aspect wherein Ather is pushing the envelope to redefine mobility. Can you shed some light on how Ather is enhancing the customer experience with connectivity?
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela: At launch, our intelligence features include on-board navigation, OTA updates and on-board diagnostics. On-board diagnostic makes service and maintenance really convenient, as you no longer have to guess or estimate service schedules and consumers will always know what maintenance work has been carried out on their scooters and why. Importantly, we have an extensive OTA calendar that will allow us to introduce new features/upgrades at regular intervals.
In the coming months we plan to add more security features like geo-fencing, tow alert, more navigation features. We also plan to add more personalisation to the scooter, the more you ride the scooter the faster and better we can get to know your ride behaviour allowing us to add layers like personalised range prediction.
Q 3. Ather has chosen to sell through the online channel and experience centres, with doorstep delivery and service, which is an industry first, how has the consumer response been to this different retail experience?
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela: We took a holistic approach to the ownership experience, so every touch point has been designed to reduce friction for the customer and take every hassle away. Consumers walking into AtherSpace have loved the experience because it has been unconventional. The focus at the experience centre is to only educate and showcase the product and there are no “salesmen”. Only engineers there to answer questions and assist with test rides.
The doorstep service is an unexpected perk for most of them because its unheard of in the automobile industry, it takes away the hassle of planning your day around a “service”. The driving belief for everything we do has been a no hassle, zero compromise philosophy.
Customers really appreciate the end-to-end solution that we are trying to create and the fact that every process, every interaction is designed with their convenience and comfort in mind.
Q 4. Any new venture faces multiple challenges, what has been the single biggest challenge for Ather? And how do you plan on overcoming it?
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela: We have had a fair share of challenges along the way, from setting up a supplier and vendor base to find the right talent for the organisation. It has been a long and gratifying journey. Now as we begin commercial production and delivery, we will definitely find more lessons to learn from.
Q 5. With the push for electric vehicles growing, do you see internal combustion engine ceasing to exist in the future?
Mr. Ravneet S. Phokela: While we believe that the future is inevitably electric, realistically, we are a long way from seeing ICE completely disappearing, but it has begun. Electric vehicles offer better performance and a better ownership experience and once consumers begin to see this, the market will respond accordingly. But for that to happen, the industry needs to step up and create great products that can truly replace their ICE counterparts. Today we do not see enough of that happening.
