Thread by @visvickey

#Thread about EV Bikes & why @ather is solid?

The biggest lesson that @OlaElectric taught to all aspirational startups is that if you wanna disrupt the market come with a solid foolproof product rather than dumping the garbage. ⬇️ (1/14)

It was in the year 2017 I read about a passionate product incubated in IIT Madras. A group of engineers trying to build a world-class eScooter naming the company Ather Energy. EVs are not new to South India. (2/14)
*Below image is the first newsletter I received from Ather

↗️Reva 1994 - a pioneer & first functional EV car started in #Bengaluru later sold to @MahindraRise
↗️@ampere_ev bikes started 2007 in #Coimbatore later invested by @RNTata2000 himself & now sold to Greaves.
They're way ahead of their time when India is not ready for EVs (3/14)

Both were barely recognised due to the people not ware about alternate fuels/energy & necessary for the EVs. They invested their time, and money to bring a solid product & believed one day India will be EV ready. (4/14)
tinyurl.com/y4blwc86

Without any support or subsidiary push from the Government, both tried really hard to stay in Business. Ampere started building EVs for the B2B segment which was largely capitalized by the small scale industries. (5/14)

Though they were market-ready the looks & aesthetics are not appealing. There were no complaints of vehicles burning or malfunctioning. The biggest rock to be turned down is - an apple-like product in EVs. @atherenergy was just budding at that time. (6/14)

I was curious to know how this is going to come up & started following their updates via monthly newsletters. I bet, only a passionate team can send newsletters like this⬇️ almost written like a personal diary. They spoke about both bottlenecks & progress they enjoyed. (7/14)

My brother an R&D Engineer, who works for a global automaker always says, any new car needs a solid 5 years of R&D to hit the market. The below SS tells the story & I can relate to what my brother was referred to. (8/14)

I saw Ather 340 testing in Chennai & I felt it's going to disrupt the market & change the way of looking at EV bikes. Though I didn't express my interest, I had a chance to Test drive the 340. I truly felt it's the Apple in EV. (9/14)

After knowing about Ather all these years when Ola came up with aspirational words (largest EV factory, No dealership networks, competitive pricing) in a very short span after taking over the dutch company @Etergo_official I doubted their efforts in R&D. (10/14)

I have no offence to OLA & I truly welcome any aspirational ideas but it must have a solid plan & determination to give a fool-proof product to our aspirational Indians. They haven't done enough groundwork & were not transparent. (11/14)

After @atherenergy caught people's attention & raising fuel costs gave a sudden push to EV sales & companies started flooding into the market without any research. The current incidents fear people who were excited about getting into EVs, causing setbacks. (12/14)

Mistakes happen & people always learn from them. I request the EV makers to reinvent themselves, invest in R&D, invest in passionate engineers, and invest in people. There is no urge for your product or for your brand. There is an urge only for a good product.
(13/14)

EV is future, future is electric & no doubt about that. New players will come every day & a brand must focus on building a product that helps to transform people's lives. Trust is a valuable asset & don't take it for granted. Welcome to the future of electric mobility 👍
(14/14)

#EV #Ather #Ebikes #electricvehicles #India #Automobile #Battery