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The maker of 450 Plus and 450X electric scooters is looking to sell between 90,000 and 100,000 units in FY23, up more than 300% from sale of 23,000 e-scooters in FY22, people aware of its plans told ET.
In the first seven months of this financial year ended October, the Hero MotoCorp and Sachin Bansal-backed company sold about 35,480 e-scooters. The monthly sales run rate has exceeded 8,000 units in recent months and the company is well on its way to producing and selling around 13,000 units a month by the January-March quarter, people cited above said.
Ather Energy’s accelerating sales is visible in its market share performance. According to Vahan data maintained by the road transport and highways ministry, Ather Energy registered a share of nearly 10% in the e-scooter market in the last three months, up from 6% at the beginning of the year.
A detailed questionnaire sent to the Bengaluru-based company did not elicit a response till press time Wednesday.
Ather Energy had registered a revenue of Rs 408 crore in FY22 from sales volume of around 23,000 units. In the first half of the current fiscal, it has already crossed the annual revenues of previous year by registering a turnover of Rs 515 crore with gross profit of Rs 40 crore, according to its filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
Apart from monthly volumes touching 10,000 units a month, there is also an incremental business opportunity coming from sale of accessories such as helmets and tyre pressure monitoring systems.
“We are targeting sales volume of 90,000-100,000 for the current fiscal year as demand for the product continues to remain encouraging and installed capacity inching up with new plant getting commissioned,” a senior company official said on condition of anonymity. “The demand for Ather’s scooter continues to outstrip supply despite its premium positioning in the EV segment,” the person added.
MCA filing of the company shows that it had an average selling price of Rs 1.88 lakh per unit in the first half of FY23.
This even exceeds premium motorcycle maker Royal Enfield, whose realisation stood at Rs 1.66 lakh per unit in the first six months of FY22.
Mainstream two-wheeler makers like Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor had average realisation between Rs 45,000-65,000 per unit.
That said, realisation per unit for EV companies is higher than ICE players as EV companies get FAME subsidy of around Rs 50,000-55,000 per unit that is included in realisation per unit.
Ather Energy has installed capacity of around 120,000 units, according to a Jefferies note released in April 2022. This is likely to increase to 500,000 units annually when the second plant is operational by the end of this month.
The firm has invested close to Rs 250 crore in plant and equipment in the last 30 months, according to its MCA filing.
"The company could break even in the next 12-18 months if no further investment is lined up in the medium term and utilisation remains above 70-80%,” said the company official cited above.
Ather Energy reported a loss of Rs 344 crore in the first half of FY23 and a similar loss in the previous fiscal, according to the MCA filing.
The company has raised $327 million from equity investors so far. The last round of funding implied a valuation of around Rs 6,000 crore. The company had debt of Rs 341 crore on its books at the end of September 2022.
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