Ather 450X

The Ather 450X is one of the most premium electric scooters in India. The 450X began life back in 2018 and over the years, Ather has made continual improvements to make it one of India’s best, and most fun-to-ride electric scooters. In fact, I was among the first few automobile journalists to sample the original 450 back in 2018, and I also used a 450X as my personal long-term test bike for about six months, and managed to clock close to 4000km commuting to office and back. And after having so much time with it, I can say without a doubt that the Ather 450X is my favourite electric scooter. That said, it has a few shortcomings that I’ll discuss in detail here

The Ather 450X’s design hasn’t changed ever since it was launched, but I don’t think that’s a problem. It’s a really good looking scooter, with sleek body panels, and a narrow body, which makes it look really sporty. What I really like about the 450X is its clean panels with zero body graphics - it just looks very classy. And the design has some really standout elements too, such as the small contrast colour patches on the front and rear panels, and the aluminium frame on which the seat hinges, which is also finished in the same contrast colour.

Even the turn indicators, which have been integrated in the handlebar cover, look really slick. 

The 450X is available in seven distinct colours - Cosmic Black, True Red, Stealth Blue, Hyper Sand, Still White, Space Grey, and Lunar Grey, of which the last three have been recently added as a part of the Overtones edition. My favourite has to be the Hyper Sand paint scheme, which uses a desert sand paint across the entire body, contrasted by some orange bits. It’s one of the most unique colours I’ve seen on any Indian scooter.

If you want to know more about the colours added in the latest Ather 450X Overtones edition, check out our Overtones colours explained guide.

Ather 450X Build Quality

The Ather 450X is one of the best built scooters in the Indian market. The panel gaps are minimal and consistent throughout the scooter, and the paint finish is impeccable. In the six months I spent with the scooter, nothing went wrong, nothing broke and nothing came loose except for one of the mirrors.

The 450X’s aluminium mirror stalks look and feel really top notch, but they’re literally mounted on one Allen screw. Once it came loose on my test scooter, it kept coming loose until I used a thread locker to keep it held in place.

For safely braking on loose surfaces, the Ather 450X gets combined brakes, i.e. when you apply the rear brake, the front brake gets applied too. But honestly with the kind of performance on offer and price, I would’ve really been happier if Ather equipped the scooter with ABS, at least single-channel.

New for 2024 is a Multi Mode Traction Control. Ather says that this system can reduce rear wheel torque much quicker and more precisely than any traction control system on an ICE vehicle. In my daily riding, there was never any point where the traction control got activated, and to test the system, I had to purposely go on a gravel path and open the throttle hard. While I think traction control on a scooter is somewhat pointless, the fact that it works quietly in the background keeping you from skidding is quite reassuring.

There are a couple of other safety features too, such as Emergency Stop Signal, which flashes the tail light rapidly when you brake hard, warning people behind you that you’re suddenly coming to a stop. And there’s also Fall Safe - which automatically switches off the electric motor in case of a crash. Thankfully I never had to test this system, but it’s definitely good to have. Apart from that, you also have theft and tow alerts, which let you know through the Ather app on your smartphone if your locked scooter is being moved without your knowledge.

Ather 450X Convenience features

The Ather 450X gets a 7-inch colour TFT touchscreen console with Smartphone connectivity. The screen can show what music you’re playing on your phone and even gives you music controls. You also have call and message alerts, and the recent software update also lets you see the last few Whatsapp messages you’re received on the screen. I feel showing Whatsapp messages while you’re riding is a bit of a safety concern, and I would be happier if Ather had only stuck to showing you notifications alerts. The screen also has built-in Google maps for navigation and you can use the touchscreen to search for your destination, or you can even search for it on your phone using the Ather app and push that navigation data to your scooter. That said, while the screen’s user interface is very well laid out and easy to read, the screen’s touch controls feel laggy, especially once you open maps. So I would always use my phone to select my navigation destination, instead of trying to feed it using the touchscreen controls.

In order to improve range, the 450X also gets regenerative braking. This can be controlled in two ways - Coasting Regen and Magic Twist. Coasting Regen is quite simple and starts working as soon as you release the throttle, slowing the scooter down and recharging the battery in the process. While you can turn off coasting regen, you can’t control the amount of regen you get. Magic Twist on the other hand, requires you to rotate the throttle in the opposite direction to get even more regenerative braking. And the amount of regenerative braking you get in Magic Twist changes based on the selected riding mode. This system, although it works well, is quite unintuitive to use. The throttle rotates only a couple of degrees in the opposite direction, and I found it almost impossible to modulate regen braking. Plus, when you’re trying to twist the throttle in the opposite direction, it becomes very difficult to keep your fingers on the front brake lever.

My favourite features on the Ather 450X have to be Auto Hold and Park Assist. Auto Hold automatically keeps the scooter stationary if you’re on a slope. This was really useful if I was stuck in traffic on a slope, as I didn’t have to keep the brakes engaged. Park assist lets you reverse the scooter, so if you’ve parked on an incline, it’s very easy to back it out. And with the one-touch park assist button, switching the scooter in and out of this mode is really easy.

Storage And Practicality 

The Ather 450X’s 22-litre underseat storage feels small compared to how much storage you get on something like the TVS iQube ST. While I could fit a full face helmet in the boot space, if I had to carry the portable charger with me, it would take up more than half the available space. At least Ather gives a felt carrying case with the charger, so it doesn’t rattle around in your boot while you’re riding. But without the charger, I could easily carry a week’s worth of groceries in the boot.

Storage options are limited on the 450X. Apart from the underseat storage, you get no cubby holes or any other storage pockets on the apron. Which meant that anything that I couldn’t carry under the seat had to sit on the floorboard.

And while the floorboard could easily fit my laptop bag, it didn’t leave too much space for my feet. But this could be a bigger problem for me as I wear size 11 boots. What I found particularly annoying was how much the scooter leaned once I parked it on its side stand. Not only did it take up more parking space than other scooters, my bag would promptly fall off the floorboard as soon as I parked the scooter.

Ather 450X Rider Comfort

The Ather 450X’s seat is fairly comfortable and accommodating, even for larger riders. The 780mm seat height is low enough even for shorter riders to get both feet on the ground. But because the battery pack is under the floorboard, the floorboard is quite tall.

Even with my height of 5’9”, the handlebar does contact my thigh when taking tight U-turns. And the soft seat foam combined with the slightly knees up riding position (for me), would give me a backache after about an hour of riding. That said, I weigh 82kg, so shorter and lighter riders than me should have no real concerns. But taller and heavier riders would find the riding position a bit cramped.

Ather 450X Pillion Comfort

The 450X’s pillion portion of the seat is quite wide and spacious. I had no problems riding pillion, and the large aluminium grab rail always helped me feel secure when I was sitting behind. But what I love most about the 450X’s pillion experience is the rear passenger footpegs.

These are more like foot boards rather than pegs, and are a natural extension of the floorboard. But because they’re slightly tucked into the bodywork, they didn’t push my legs out and around the rear body panels, like on other scooters. Honestly, the Ather 450X has one of the most comfortable pillion experiences among Indian scooters.[

Ather 450X City Performance

The 450X has a mid-mounted electric motor with a belt drive. This motor makes 6kW (8.1PS) of peak power and 26Nm of peak torque. Acceleration is smooth and quick when you open the throttle, and after I did performance test, here’s how the 450X compares to its immediate competition:

The Ather 450X might not be the quickest electric scooter in the market, but it’s got enough performance to overtake traffic quickly, as soon as you open the throttle. It’s smooth and silent, except for the whine from the drive belt when you start riding quickly.

Ather 450X riding modes

As with most electric scooters, the Ather 450X offers multiple riding modes - 4 in this case. Smart Eco has been designed to give you maximum range. Top speed is capped at 50kmph, but because it doesn’t limit acceleration too much if you have enough battery charge, this was my go-to mode for riding in the city.

Only when the battery charge starts falling below 30 percent, you start feeling that the acceleration is a bit sluggish. Ride gives you the full top speed of 90kmph but a very nice and linear acceleration, while Sport mode dials up the acceleration further. On my commutes, I would usually use only Ride and Sport modes. Only when I would be in a particularly mischievous mood, I would use the top Warp mode, in which the acceleration is simply ballistic.

Range and Charging Time (4/5)

Ather 450X Range

The Ather 450X is available with two battery pack options - 2.9kWh and 3.7kWh. Now I’ve only tested the one with the larger 3.7kWh battery pack, so I can’t really comment on how the 2.9kWh variant will perform. Ather claims an IDC range of 161km for the larger battery pack, but on my daily commute, I was getting about 120km on a full charge. My commute is about 20km one way, with 8km through congested city streets, and the rest over a fairly congested highway (at least during office commute hours). 

Now the 450X doesn’t have the highest range among Indian e-scooters. The Ola S1 Pro, and particularly the Simple One offer more range. But the best thing about the 450X is that its range prediction is super accurate. Whatever range it showed on the dashboard was exactly how much I would get without fail. So I would comfortably charge the scooter once or twice a week at the most without ever having any range anxiety.

Ather 450X charging time

Charging the 3.7kWh battery from 0 to 100 percent takes 5 hours and 45 minutes using the provided home charger. This 700W charger plugs into a standard 3-pin 15-amp household socket. Unfortunately, I don’t have a plug point in my parking spot at home. But with such accurate range prediction, I never had any range anxiety, and I could always plan my commutes in such a way that I would leave the 450X charging in my office while I was working. 

During those times when I was on leave from office, I would plan my city riding such that I would end up at any one of the many Ather Grid charging locations around Pune for a quick top up. This DC fast charger can give you about 15km of range in 10 minutes of charging. So a half an hour chai break while the 450X charged in the background was the perfect solution to give me enough range to get back home, and then to the office the next day for a full charge. That said, when I was testing the scooter, fast charging using the Ather Grid was free to all Ather owners. Now though the charging cost is Rs 1 per minute, and you’re limited to only 80-percent charge. Honestly, I don’t think this is a big issue as a 30-40 minute charge would be enough for most people to get to their home charger.

Ather 450X Underpinnings

The 450X doesn’t use an underbone chassis like most other scooters. It has an aluminium floorboard frame which houses the battery pack, an aluminium trellis subframe and a cast iron front tube to which the telescopic fork mounts.

The swingarm is cast aluminium and it features a center mounted monoshock, much like motorcycles. It’s running on 12-inch wheels at both ends with specially developed 90/90-12 sized tyres specially designed by MRF for Ather.

Ather 450X City handling

Even though the 450X has a kerb weight of 111.6kg, it feels really light on its feet. Moving through tight traffic is really a breeze, and the scooter changes direction without any effort.

At the same time, even with its slightly skinny tyres, I never felt that there was a lack of grip when quickly maneuvering through traffic.

Ather 450X brakes

The 450X gets disc brakes at both ends - 200mm at the front and 190mm at the rear. The front brake on this scooter is really easy to modulate and gave me sharp and precise braking whenever I needed it.

The rear brake though, even with the combined braking system, had a habit of locking up easily if I squeezed the lever too hard. Here are the braking performance that got in my tests, compared to its rival;

Ather 450X Ride quality

On good roads, the Ather 450X feels really stable and smooth. But since the 450X is a sporty scooter with an emphasis on good handling, the ride quality is firm. When I was riding solo over large bumps and potholes, the front suspension would soak up everything fairly well, but the rear always felt too stiff and would toss me around on the sharper bumps. But the moment I was riding with a pillion, the rear suspension would settle down, and while it still didn’t feel plush, it handled bumps and potholes without feeling unsettled or uncomfortable.

The Ather 450X was the first electric scooter to show me just how good EV 2-wheelers can be. And now, so many years later, it still remains one of the best premium electric scooters you can buy in India. It’s not cheap by any means, but if you like your scooters to be sporty, like me, and have the cash, unlike me, it’s a great option.

That said, it’s not for everyone. If you value practicality more than fun from your scooter, there are other options which might suit you better. And if you ride solo most of the time and can’t manage a stiff suspension setup, the 450X certainly isn’t for you.

Variants

Ather 450X variants and Pro Pack

The Ather 450X is available in 2 variants - 2.9kWh and 3.7kWh. The 2.9kWh variant is priced at Rs 1.47 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru) and gives you an IDC range of 126km on a full charge. The 3.7kWh variant is Rs 10,000 more expensive, at Rs 1.57 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru), with claimed IDC range of 161km. I would always recommend the 3.7kWh variant as the extra range would give more peace of mind, and it’s not that much more expensive.

That said, the biggest issue with the Ather 450X’s price is that if you want all the fancy features that I’ve spoken about - Magic Twist, Auto Hold, Google Maps Navigation, and all, you need to shell out extra for the Pro Pack, which costs Rs 17,000 more for the 2.9kWh variant and Rs 20,000 more for the 3.7kWh variant. Since all the useful features are locked behind the Pro Packs, it pushes the price of the 450X quite high.

Ather 450X vs TVS iQube

If you’re looking for a comfortable family electric scooter, the TVS iQube (any of its variants), is a better option than the Ather. It offers more storage and a lot more comfort, and looks quite conventional too (great for older buyers). But it simply doesn’t have the performance or the fun factor of the Ather.

Ather 450X vs Ola S1 Pro

The OIa S1 Pro offers a lot more features than the 450X and more range too. Plus, it’s got a more classic design which should appeal to a wider audience.

If these things are high on your priority list, then the Ola S1 Pro might be something to consider. But in terms of quality, the Ola falls quite behind the Ather, and has also proven to be more unreliable. 

Ather 450X vs Bajaj Chetak

Here's how the Ather 450X compares against the Chetak 3501.