We are all aware of the fact that the main component of an electric two-wheeler or a four-wheeler is its battery pack. We also know that these battery packs, over time, lose their efficiency and degrade. What a lot...

We are all aware of the fact that the main component of an electric two-wheeler or a four-wheeler is its battery pack. We also know that these battery packs, over time, lose their efficiency and degrade. What a lot of people don’t know is that the battery packs are extremely expensive, and recently, an Ather 450X electric scooter owner shared his experience of battery replacement in his 1.5-year-old EV scooter. He shared the costs of the battery replacement, revealing that an out-of-warranty battery pack costs Rs 95,000.

Ather Battery Replacement Experience

The video of the Ather 450X EV scooter’s battery replacement cost and experience comes courtesy of Pradeep on Wheels from YouTube. The vlogger starts off the video by taking his Gen 1 Ather 450X electric scooter to the dealership. He then asks the service representative to take a look at his scooter and create its job card. Following this, he mentions that his scooter is facing some issues, and its range has decreased significantly. Following this, the sales representative gives him the job card, and in the next clip, the vlogger states that he is returning to the dealership after 45 days.

He elaborates that after he left, he was told that his scooter’s battery would be replaced under warranty. After this, he reaches the dealership and asks the sales representatives about what has happened and why they needed to replace that battery of just a one-and-a-half-year-old EV scooter. To this, they replied that his battery was defective, and after they raised a complaint, they were given the direction of changing the battery under warranty. The vlogger then questions how he would know if the battery was replaced or not.

Following this, the sales representative showed the vlogger the pictures of the new battery right next to the scooter when it was about to go under replacement. He then saw that the pictures showed the battery and all the labels along with the new boxes of parts that were replaced during the time at the service center. Following this, he asked about the cost of this process of battery replacement in his scooter and also asked the pricing for other Ather 450X scooters like the Gen 2 and the Gen 3.

Ather Battery Replacement Costs

After his question, the vlogger was presented with a bill for his scooter’s battery replacement, which came out to be about Rs 49,000. The cost of the battery alone was around Rs 48,000, and the bill had an additional Rs 1,000 for the service cost of this replacement process. He mentioned that he did not have to pay both of these costs as his vehicle is currently under warranty. He added that he also did not have to pay the service cost as he already paid around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 for subscription which includes all the service costs.

He then asked the sales representative about the cost of the battery pack without the warranty. To this, he replied that Gen 2 battery without warranty costs Rs 84,500. Meanwhile, the Gen 3 out-of-warranty battery pack costs Rs 94,500. The price difference, he mentions, is because the Gen 3 battery is bigger than the Gen 2 battery. Lastly, he added that he only had to pay Rs 274 out of his pocket for battery tags. However, he added that he should not have been asked to pay this additional cost as the replacement was caused due to a faulty battery and not something that he would need to change if there was no battery replacement.

Problems Faced During Replacement

Following this, the vlogger mentions the four main things he noted during the battery replacement process. He first stated that when he first dropped off the vehicle, he did not hear from the company representatives for over 3 weeks about the issues and action. Next up, he added that he also did not get any proper timeline as to when his new battery pack would come and when it would get replaced. He added that he received only vague timelines.

Additionally, he stated that even though his scooter was sitting at the company dealership for over 45 days, he did not receive a temporary loaner vehicle. He mentioned that his monthly running is around 2,000 kms, and he had to manage on his own as no vehicle was given to him. Lastly, he reiterated the costs of battery packs and mentioned that they are extremely high.

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