The Ather 450 is one of the most impressive EVs on sale in India but it was always held back for a simple reason — it wasn’t practical enough for the family man. The Ather Rizta aims to change that and goes a lot beyond. Unlike the 450, the Rizta is a large scooter and as a consequence, offers a lot of space for pillion and storage.
I really like the dual tone colour theme with the neutral shade that makes the scooter feel premium and youthful. The headlamp offers a good spread but could be brighter. It’s plenty enough for city riding though. It’s the small things that make the Ather Rizta special. It has a large underseat storage space which is fantastic but what makes it special is the storage bag that lines the boot space and you can fill the boot with stuff and simply pick up the bag to carry it home, no need to transfer stuff to another bag. The flexible bag on the front apron is another special touch. It expands quite a bit and gets waterproof zippers to ensure stuff stored inside remains dry. There is also a small pocket in front of the underseat storage to store your phone or cleaning cloth. Ather designers have really thought the storage solutions through on this.
It is a quick scooter as well — for a family scooter that is. The two Zip and Smart Eco modes are easy to toggle between on the go. The Zip mode is quick enough for most situations, even with pillion riding, and easily reaches a top speed of 80kmph. It does sap the range quite a bit. While the Smart Eco is another alternative for a more economical drive, I found it to be neither here nor there — it does not impress in performance or economy. Rather why not simply have a separate City and Eco mode and let the customer choose?
While Ather claims a range of 125km, so far I have managed to eke out upto 100km with 20 percent riding done in Zip mode and 80 percent in Smart Eco mode. The regen works well and the Magic Twist is a cool feature where twisting the throttle the other way engages battery regen.
Like the 450, the Rizta impresses with its tech-packed features as well. The TFT display is not a touchscreen unit, but is easy to navigate via a four way joystick. It easily connects to the Ather app and offers information on your phone about the scooter’s charge status and location. Overall, the Rizta feels like a complete family scooter.
