Electric scooter maker Ather Energy expands facility to boost R&D

Spanning 38,692 sq ft, the facility is designed to validate durability and safety across vehicle, system, and component levels

Electric scooter maker Ather Energy on Thursday announced the expansion of its research and development (R&D) and testing capabilities at its product testing and validation centre in Begur, Bengaluru.

 

The IPO-bound company said that the expansion of this facility, called ‘The Juggernaut’, is key to Ather’s R&D ecosystem designed to ensure the quality, reliability and performance of its scooters, while also accelerating product development, testing and validation.

 

Spanning 38,692 square feet, the facility is designed to validate durability and safety across vehicle, system, and component levels, including on-road endurance. It houses dedicated labs for structural durability, battery testing, electrical & electronics reliability, and vehicle environment testing.

 

Swapnil Jain, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Ather Energy, said that electric vehicles (EVs) are fundamentally different from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and represent a relatively new technology. Therefore, it is crucial to rigorously test every component of the vehicle. He highlighted that Ather has made substantial investments in research and development over the years.

 

“Our products go through rigorous tests that are designed around Indian riding conditions and extreme usage scenarios, reflecting how customers use our scooters,” said Jain. 

 

Simulating Indian roads

 

Ather follows a layered validation approach, ensuring testing and validation at every stage. The facility features a 4 DOF Road Simulator (that can simulate road conditions) and MTS 334 road load simulator.

 

These help in targeted testing of systems like suspension frames, enabling early bug detection, faster design optimisation, and lower change costs.

 

Ather said its scooters go through multiple tests to ensure they can handle Indian roads.

 

Ather currently has three R&D facilities in Bengaluru, Karnataka, including one recognised as an in-house R&D unit by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). As of December 31, 2024, Ather’s R&D expenditure was ₹238.8 crore, accounting for 15 per cent of revenue from operations, and about 46 per cent of its total workforce is dedicated to R&D.

 

Ather has two lines of scooters, Ather 450 and Rizta that cater to the performance and convenience segments respectively. The company currently has two manufacturing plants in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, one each for vehicle assembly and battery manufacturing and an upcoming third manufacturing facility in Bidkin, Maharashtra.

 

Ather competes with players such as Ola Electric, Bajaj, Ampere, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motor Company. Many of these players are ramping up investments for their R&D and scaling up of their operations.