Can Ather’s quality beat Ola’s scale?
New Delhi: Swapnil Jain and Tarun Mehta didn’t know each other when they entered the portals of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in 2007. By the time they graduated a few years later, the two design engineers had become friends. For a time, they went their separate ways, with Mehta going to Ashok Leyland while Jain ended up in General Motors.
They would reunite not long after to establish Ather Energy, which would go on to become one of India’s largest electric two-wheeler companies. Initially, however, Ather was the last thing on their minds. Jain had spent the better part of his IIT course studying solar powered stirling engines, which are more efficient than standard solar panels.
When he realized it wasn’t practical to scale up the technology, Jain turned his attention elsewhere. “From food to electricity, mobility to hospitality, healthcare to even services, energy is at the heart," he told Mint, sitting in his office in Bengaluru, attired in a T-shirt and sneakers. Meanwhile, Mehta, who was at Ashok Leyland, had taken an interest in batteries.
India back then was teeming with archaic lead-acid batteries, which were heavy, offered limited power and range, and took forever to recharge. Mehta realized the potential lithium-ion batteries had to disrupt the market. After a bit of convincing, Jain was on board.
“It was clear that EV was the future and lithium-ion batteries would pave the way for it. We wanted to make batteries, management systems and chargers. But no automaker was ready to make the vehicle, so we decided to make the vehicle itself," said Mehta.
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