Startup Street: Access to home-charging for EVs is a major challenge in expansion, says Ather Energy

Electric mobility company Ather Energy formally launched its brand-new plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

The new production footprint alone accounts for a capacity of over 1 lakh electric scooters with a scope of a 4-fold expansion.

CNBC-TV18's Jude Sannith spoke with Ather Energy's CEO Tarun Mehta at the plant to check in on how the new manufacturing setup is all set to change the company's operations.

Mehta said, "Previously we were in a much smaller plant in Bengaluru. The old plant allowed us to do 1000 to 1200 units per month. This new plant has an installed capacity of almost 9200 units per month. So it helps massively with the city expansion plan that we have in mind. We were present in two cities till October, now were are present in 8 and we will be present in 27 cities in the next 5 months."

"We are adding more than 30 charging points every month. So we should be somewhere around 300-400 fast charging points across the country by the end of this year", he said.

Speaking about the challenges to the EV market, Mehta said, "The biggest challenge that we need to resolve as an industry is access to home charging. Not enough customers have an easy way to charge at their homes. Government needs to mandate and support setting up of power supply in parking lots and a policy push here would really help."

Startup Street also spoke with Rohan Verma, CEO & Executive Director of MapMyIndia, to find out how the new mapping and geospatial data norms will unlock the value of the geospatial sector to all of India.

Moreover, watch Startup Street in conversation with Kabir Kochhar, partner at Anthill Ventures, who shared his views on the company's plan to enter the growth funding segment.