Chances are that you haven’t heard of Ather Energy, a Bengaluru-based startup that was founded by Swapnil Jain and Tarun Mehta, both graduates of IIT Chennai. Chances are that you will soon be hearing a lot more of them, because the company has developed an electric scooter that looks great and is supposedly far superior to anything in the Indian market.

Electric scooters aren’t new to this country, with several examples from a few manufacturers (including Hero) having been introduced to the market. They haven’t taken off, though, mainly because they take a long time to charge, their batteries don’t last very long both in terms of distance-per-charge and lifespan and they’re slow – very slow. The people at Ather are attempting to change all this, with a scooter called the S340. According to a report on Quartz India, the S340 will get up to 75 kph, will charge quicker than your smartphone and has a battery that will last for more than 50,000 kilometres; it also has in-built SatNav, a touchscreen interface and the ability to sync with an Android phone. The company is taking orders and will launch the scooter next year, and they’re also going to be offering demo rides soon. Check out their website here http://atherenergy.com/