Ather To Cut Off Public Fast Charging At 80% Charge - Reduces Overall Wait Time

Bangalore-based EV firm Ather Energy has intimated to customers that charging at its Grid public chargers will be cut off when the batteries reach 80 per cent.

This information about the optimization upgrade to the Ather Grid fast public charging network was shared by the Bangalore EV services provider to its customers through a notification on its app.

The reason behind this is rather simple - reducing waiting times for customers looking to charge their Ather electric scooters. This means that Ather owners looking to fast charge their scooters on the go will have to wait for less time to access an Ather Grid charger.

In essence, what Ather is doing here is allowing owners to charge up their scooters using only the fast charging capabilities which allow for high charging speeds of up to 80 per cent charge.

Ather's two current electric scooters allow for quite a quick rate of charging when plugged into an Ather Grid charger. The 450 Plus offers a fast charging rate of 1kW/minute from 0-80 per cent which means an 80 per cent charge from empty takes 80 minutes.

The 450X, on the other hand, allows a fast charging speed of 1.5kW/minute from 0-50 per cent which drops to 1.1kW/minute from 50 to 80 per cent battery charge. This means that fast charging the 450X to 80 per cent takes about an hour.

By optimizing its Ather grid charger to allow its scooters to only 80 per cent when plugged in, Ather is trying to ensure that its customers make more responsible decisions when it comes to charging their scooters.

With the 80 per cent limit imposed on fast charging, more owners are likely to use their home chargers to ensure that the battery packs remain topped up.

This means that the Ather Grid fast charger will be available for the people who really need them, ie: owners running out of charge and looking for a fast top-up to get home or continue on with their long journeys.

Home charging both the 450X and 450 Plus takes 5 hours and 40 minutes for a full charge while a 0-80 per cent charge takes 4.5 hours.

Thoughts On The Ather Grid Charging Optimization Upgrade

The charging optimization update for the Ather Grid will ensure that the fast chargers provided by the Bangalore EV firm will be used for 'fast charges' rather than a full charge that can be done at home. Hopefully, this update will ensure that riders charge up their vehicles more responsibly.