Ather 450 performance tested

When we first rode the Ather 450 a year ago in Bengaluru, it surprised us with how quick it felt. Electric scooters in the past have usually been cheap Chinese creations, or utilitarian options that weren’t capable of crossing 50kph. The 450 is different, and when we rode it last year, we were convinced that it was up there with the best of the 125cc segment. Today, the TVS Ntorq 125 is the best of the 125cc segment in our opinion, so when Ather let us borrow the scooter for a short while, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to stick a Vbox on both scooters in search of the facts.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enought time with the Ather to test it for the range, but going by user reviews from Bengaluru, the quoted range of around 70km (Ride mode) seems realistically achievable. Now, before we get on with the test figures, here’s a look at what the power and torque output figures for both scooters are like.

It’s clear to see from the table above that the TVS has a definite advantage in terms of power, but the Ather makes nearly double the torque. The fact that the Ather weighs just 2kg more than the Ntorq makes things even more unpredictable. So without any further ado, let's get to it, starting with flat out acceleration.

Acceleration:

The Ather 450 is capable of two riding modes – Ride and Sport, both offering different levels of performance. We tested the scooter in both modes, and unsurprisingly, there was a significant difference between the two. For the comparison with the Ntorq, we’ll use the figures from Sport Mode.

As you can see from the table above, the two scooters are neck and neck until 60kph with the Ather not falling behind by more than 0.5sec at any instant. The gap even comes down to just 0.17s at the 60kph mark. However, after this, the Ather begins to lose pace while the Ntorq continues to charge ahead without much loss in urgency.

From here, the gap only grows and the Ather takes 7.98sec to accelerate from 70-80kph while the Ntorq does so in just 5.04sec. Overall, the Ather takes 4.67sec more than the Ntorq to get to 80kph from a standstill.

Top Speed:

We also found out that the Ather 450’s dash has a roughly 10 percent speedo error, so while it indicated 89kph, the Vbox indicated a top speed of 79.90, which we rounded off to 80kph in the table above. The Ntorq, meanwhile, indicated 92kph and seemed to have a little more in it, but we ran out of space. The Ntorq has a smaller speedo error as well, with a true Vbox recorded top speed of 86.84kph. It’s worth noting that the Ather reached its limit in this test, but our previous tests of the Ntorq have seen a Vbox-recorded top speed figure of 95.42kph.

Roll ons:

We ran three roll-on tests for both scooters – 20-50kph, 30-70kph and 50-80kph.

Here, we found that the difference between the two scooters is much smaller and you can take a look at the exact numbers in the table above. One interesting discovery we made was that like a lot of battery powered machines, the Ather’s performance drops by a noticeable margin when running low on charge. For instance, we tested the scooter when the battery was at 35 percent and found the 30-70kph took 12.16sec – nearly 2sec slower than when fully charged.

Braking:

The Ather is one of the only scooters in our market to come with a rear disc brake, but the rear locks quite easily, despite being equipped with CBS. Ather has said that this is something it is working on, although the company has been doing so since the initial launch in June 2018. The Ntorq comes with a front disc and rear drum brake, and the scooter we tested wasn’t equipped with CBS. That said, the numbers proved that both scooters are almost identical in terms of braking performance – separated by an almost insignificant 0.02m.

Conclusion:

The Ather 450 is quick without a doubt. Yes, it may not be the fastest scooter in the market, but it’s certainly no slouch either, and the fact that it keeps pace with one of the fastest 125cc scooters on the market, attests to that.

Also see:

Affordable Ather electric scooter in the works

Ather 450 warranty period increased to 3 years

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