Ather Energy crosses 5 lakh electric scooter milestone; Rizta drives growth

Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy on Monday said it has crossed a major production milestone with the rollout of its 500,000th scooter from its manufacturing plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

The milestone vehicle was Ather Rizta, the company’s family scooter that has become a key growth driver since its launch last year.

“Crossing 5,00,000 scooters is a major milestone for Ather. From our very first prototype to today, our journey has been about building not just vehicles, but a scalable, reliable, and consistent manufacturing ecosystem,” said Swapnil Jain, Co-founder and CTO, Ather Energy.

He said the achievement reflects years of focused engineering, rigorous testing, and meticulous attention to quality, along with the trust of the company’s growing customer base.

Ather said the Rizta now accounts for over one-third of total production volumes. The company has been expanding its presence in north and central India, with an increased focus on tier 2 and 3 cities alongside metro markets.

The company currently operates two manufacturing facilities in Hosur, one for vehicle assembly and another for battery production, with a combined capacity of 4.2 lakh scooters a year.

Ather is also setting up a third manufacturing facility in Bidkin, AURIC, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, which will be developed in two phases under Industry 4.0 principles. Once fully operational, the manufacturing facility will take Ather’s total annual capacity to 1.42 million electric scooters across all locations.

Founded in 2013, Ather Energy is among India’s leading electric two-wheeler manufacturers, competing with players such as Ola Electric and TVS Motor in the fast-growing EV segment.

PM E-DRIVE claims deferred

Last week, Ather Energy said it has deferred demand incentive claims worth ₹26.25 crore under the government’s PM E-DRIVE scheme after supply chain disruptions forced temporary deviations from local sourcing norms.

In a regulatory filing, the Bengaluru-based company said China’s export ban on certain heavy rare earth magnets had disrupted the global supply chain, impacting Ather’s traction motor manufacturing process.

As a result, its motor suppliers had to make “temporary adjustments and deviations” from the Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) guidelines, particularly concerning the domestic fitment of magnets.

The company said the temporary change could affect its ability to submit demand incentive claims for up to 52,500 electric scooters manufactured or to be manufactured under the PM E-DRIVE scheme.