Ather 450 Apex first ride review: Standout Performer

Bangalore-based EV scooter manufacturer Ather Energy is celebrating 10 years of existence in the country, and to mark the occasion, it has come out with yet another iteration of the 450 scooter. It's called the Ather Apex 450. The scooter sports some design changes, software upgrades and most importantly, it makes more power. We're out in the lovely Meco Kartopia in Bangalore to find out what this scooter brings to the table, so without wasting any more time, let's get right to it.

Let's start off with what's new with this one. All the fibre parts are of the same shape as before, just that this model also gets these see-through panels at the rear that highlight the skeletal sub-frame of the scooter, which is interesting. Now you have a new catchy shade of blue that's unique to the 450 Apex and this along with the bright orange highlights means that you'll rarely go unnoticed when you're whizzing through the city on the Ather.

The Apex also gets a new 'Warp+' ride mode which replaces the regular 'Warp' mode on the regular 450X and we'll get more into the details of this in a bit. While the 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display is the same as before, the APEX gets some new vibrant colours on its UI that look a lot livelier now. There's an interesting bit that you can't see about this new Ather as well, and it has to do with its regenerative braking system.

With any regular e-scooter, if you are at 100 per cent SOC or state of charge, you'll find the resistance of the regenerative braking system to kick in mildly when you roll off the throttle and only properly step in when the battery is at about 80 per cent SOC, because, well the energy being regenerated would generally have someplace to be stored, but with the Apex, Ather say that it has configured the scooter's regenerative braking system to work a lot more consistently, even at 100 per cent SOC.

So where does all that converted kinetic energy go then, you ask? Ather tells us that it is dispersed around the motor in the form of heat. And this has taken some effort to do this and the company say that in this current form and configuration, this is the best balance between performance and safe thermal management that this 450 electric scooter is capable of. So all the electronics and management systems are working at their optimum efficiency to safely keep it all together. A pretty thoughtful and quite neat out-of-sight feature in our books. But wait, there's one more interesting party trick that the Apex has up its sleeve.

So there are some obvious differentiating factors that separate this Apex model from the existing 450 series of scooters, you have the different paint scheme, the see through panel, but the really interesting bit of kit on this model has to be the 'magic twist' throttle feature which basically implies that if you add negative input into the throttle it acts as a stronger regenerative braking function, so you technically don't have to use the brakes to bring this scooter to a halt in a jiffy because it slows down tremendously when compared to the regular off the throttle action.

Since we were out on the isolated karting circuit, I chose to test this feature out for myself and as it turns out, was left quite impressed with the way it functions. Once you roll off the throttle you feel the regen kick in normally, slowing things down in a way you expect it to. Add some negative input and the rate of rolling resistance increases along with a more rapid rate of deceleration. It did take some time getting used to, but once I got a grasp of the rate of deceleration with the magic twist throttle, it was easy to navigate the course at speeds you would normally associate with a ride in the city. While riding in Warp+, constantly on it for around 10-15 the system did appear to fade a bit, but that's the scooter's heat management system's way of telling you to ease off a bit. But the scooter didn't fail to impress one bit. On the performance front this one's definitely got it. Thrilling acceleration, good stopping power and an overall real fun ride. The best part is that it really feels quicker than the average 450X.

So the Ather 450 Apex technically has the same underpinnings and hardware as the existing 450 X that's currently on sale in the market, so you have the same suspension, wheels, brakes, tyres, everything is the same including the IP66-rated motor, the 3.7kWh battery, but now peak power is up from 6.4kW to 7kW, and that allows this scooter to accelerate from 0-40kmph in a claimed 2.9seconds as compared to the 3.3seconds it took to reach that speed before.

If you've ridden the regular 450X in Warp mode, you'll know that it's really fun and exciting, and in that sense, you could see Warp+ mode as taking the excitement factor up a notch higher. The Apex maintains the impressive performance and ride dynamics of the regular gen-3 450X model, feeling light, agile and always up for a quick ride. It is also the first 450 from Ather which is configured to actually hit a top speed of 100kmph, which is 10kmph more than all the models that came before it. And although it is dimensionally identical to and weighs the same as the latest gen-3 model, while now making the most power in Warp+ mode, the Apex in any other ride mode, boasts a marginally bettered range over the regular models thanks to the new software upgrades.

Ather tell us that the Apex is the last variation of the scooter that's based on this current 450 platform. The next scooter will have a completely new body shape, chassis and possibly underpinnings as well. So it's like they went all out in performance terms with this scooter setup and made it the fastest version yet because this is sort of the final hurrah for this particular model. The Apex comes with the same 3-year/30,000km vehicle warranty with a 5-year/60,000km warranty on the battery as the current gen-3 450X with the pro package, and the number of Apex scooters built will depend on orders received till around October this year. This means that we can finally expect an all-new very different looking Ather scooter to come out this year.

So what exactly is the Ather Apex 450? Well for starters, it is the most fun iteration of the 450 X that currently exists in the country because of the Warp+ mode, more power, the magic throttle… so yes, clearly there is a stronger emphasis on performance with this one and it feels brilliant once you actually get down to riding it. It does feel a lot quicker than the existing Pro package on the 450X. But of course, you are going to be paying a substantial fee over the cost of the older model because the 450X with the Pro package will set you back by Rs 1.80lakh (ex-showroom), and this one will set you back by Rs 1.89lakh, so that is a substantial sum, but then again this one doesn't avail of any government subsidies and the cost does include a 750W charger, a helmet and the TPMS system. So this isn't what you could term as your usual, conventional electric family scooter, but it is a fun performance-oriented scooter at the end of the day.

Words: Christopher Chaves
Photography: Manufacturer

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