Ather Energy inks partnership with Flipkart to launch Ather Gen 3 EV scooters

Electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy has signed a partnership with Flipkart to launch the Ather Energy 450X Gen 3 scooters on the Indian e-commerce player's platform.

"We've entered into a partnership with Flipkart to launch the Ather Energy 450X Gen 3 scooters on the Flipkart platform. We are initially piloting this in Delhi NCR and will roll it out to the rest of the country soon.

Clarifying the availability of other marketing channels, Phokela commented that this move is not meant to replace the offline channel but will complement it.

"We continue expanding our distribution footprint and will be in 90 cities and 120 Experience Centres by FY '23. The awareness will be built through our offline distribution and our marketing channels," he said.

He added that customers would invariably visit an Experience Centre, take a test ride, get a feel for the product and then place an order. Alternatively, an aware customer might be comfortable placing an order on Flipkart because he/she has already been through an offline purchase journey.

Hero Moto Corp-backed Ather Energy was looking for its biggest ever fundraising round as the leading electric scooter maker is now looking to mop up as much as $200 million to $250 million.

Interestingly, Flipkart's co-founder and serial entrepreneur Sachin Bansal had invested Rs 170 crore ($23 million) in Ather Energy in November 2020. The Series D funding round also saw participation from Hero MotoCorp, the largest stakeholder in Ather Energy.

Headquartered in Bangalore, Ather was founded by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013. It manufactures two electric scooters - the Ather 450X and the Ather 450 Plus. It has also established an electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country called Ather Grid.

Ather targets to be the number one in market share by volumes, with operating costs of petrol two-wheelers rising, thanks to higher fuel prices, electric two-wheelers (e2Ws) are becoming a preferred choice, said Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy.

In August, Ather Energy reported its highest electric scooter sales at 6,410 units, a year-on-year growth of 297 percent.