Ampere has started an ambitious 4,000km endurance ride with its Magnus GMax electric scooter, taking it from India’s easternmost sunrise point in Dong, Arunachal Pradesh, to the westernmost sunset point in Guhar Moti, Gujarat. The 15-day expedition, announced on World EV Day, will cover eight states and put the electric scooter through some of India’s most challenging roads, weather conditions and terrains. This ride is being undertaken by Girish Seth of Weekend on Wheels.
The Ultimate Endurance Ride is designed as a real-world test of the Ampere Magnus GMax rather than a conventional road trip. Over 15 consecutive days, the scooter will travel through high-altitude mountain roads, highways, urban stretches and challenging terrain before reaching Gujarat.
The journey will begin in the humid, monsoon-affected conditions of Dong in Arunachal Pradesh and end in the much hotter environment of Guhar Moti in Gujarat. Along the way, the Magnus GMax will experience a temperature variation of roughly 20°C, from around 15°C in Arunachal Pradesh to more than 35°C in Gujarat.
The expedition will also involve a descent of more than 1,200 metres from Dong towards sea level. This will give the scooter an opportunity to operate across significantly different elevations and environmental conditions during a single continuous journey.
The Magnus GMax will have to deal with five distinct types of terrain during the expedition. These include rocky mountain passes, forested hill roads, smooth national highways, dense urban city roads and the coastal and salt-flat terrain around Guhar Moti.
This variety is important because electric scooters in India are used in very different environments. The conditions faced by a rider in a mountain region can be very different from those encountered on a highway or in a busy city.
Ampere says every kilometre covered, charge and reading during the expedition will be recorded. This should provide a detailed picture of how the Magnus GMax performs throughout the ride.
The endurance ride is also intended to demonstrate the dependability of the Magnus GMax. This scooter comes with next-generation LFP battery pack that has been designed to offer a life of up to 2,00,000km. It uses a dual-frame chassis. Ampere believes the combination of the LFP battery, chassis and its NxG.io smart technology will help deliver durability, reliability, endurance and convenience.
The company is using the expedition to put these technologies through real-world conditions rather than limiting the demonstration to controlled testing environments.
The expedition is closely linked to Ampere’s “Built for Bharat” philosophy. The company says India cannot be defined by a single type of road, rider or weather condition. Electric two-wheelers therefore need to be developed with the country’s wide range of usage conditions in mind.
The 4,000km journey is intended to demonstrate this philosophy. From the steep and colder terrain of Arunachal Pradesh to the hot and long stretches of Gujarat, the Magnus GMax will encounter conditions that are very different from one another.
Vikas Singh, Managing Director of Greaves Electric Mobility Limited, said the expedition is aimed at testing the Magnus GMax’s durability, reliability and intelligence across challenging weather and terrain conditions. He added that the company wants to demonstrate how technology, reliability and performance designed around Indian conditions can help make electric mobility a smart option for the country.
The journey will include important stops in Patna, Varanasi and Jaipur. These will give Ampere an opportunity to interact with its dealer network, riders and local stakeholders.
The expedition will therefore serve a purpose beyond testing the scooter. It will also take Ampere’s “Built for Bharat” message to different regions and communities across the country.