Electric Vehicles always fascinated me since they started growing in popularity abroad. I was, since a very long time waiting for some Indian companies to come up with Electric Scooters! 3 years ago, assessing the market, I realized that it is still going to take some time for the EV revolution in India and decided to import a Xiaomi Mi Electric scooter from China.

After waiting of wanting an indigenous EV, Ather introduced themselves. I was so excited about Ather’s initiative that I followed them everywhere, every step of the way, from inception, planning, testing and even trials!

I booked the Ather EV in 2019, but to my surprise, my booking was rejected as I came from a small place and they were only catering to Tier 1 cities in their initial days. But my persistence with the Customer Care to get me the EV was very high. After much deliberation, it was decided that they would arrange for the scooter in Bangalore, and I would have to get it to Belgaum. Finally got my hands on it in September of 2020 and I was the first proud owner of an electric scooter in my town. My 12-year-old son loves the scooter as it is silent, without vibrations and looks sleek too. The maintenance is so low it is almost too good to be true! Recently, I was able to convince my friend had him book the Ola S1, and I also have a friend who has a TATA Nexon driven about 20,000 KMs.

As of now, if someone plans to go around in an EV, the only convenient charging solution exists at home with the default charger provided with the vehicle, and the charging cycles are usually overnight. It gets crucial to pay extra attention and plan every step of the way, especially if it’s a long journey somewhere.

There are still many challenges that are present, lack of charging infrastructure is on the top. People need to see chargers around them, at every nook and corner just like there are fuel stations, and only then will they realize that the ease of use, convenience of recharging of EVs is easily a notch above that of ICE vehicles.

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- Anand Desai, Belgaum