Bajaj Auto resurrects Chetak in a new electric avatar and is aligned to its old Chetak. In the 1970s the old Chetak had gears and was faithful to its owners back.
Facts
But times have changed since then, and Chetak had to be resurrected to align. Below are 10 facts about the newly launched electric Chetak.
Fact 1
Bajaj will start selling the Chetak from Jan 2010 and its home base Pune. The Chakan plant also makes KTM, Avenger and Pulsar bikes. The pilot started in September.
Fact 2
The Bajaj electric Chetak scooter gets a robust frame and a single tubular suspension with a single side swingarm made up of light aluminium that lies traction motor that pushes the wheel to drive via gearbox is automated.
Fact 3
To make user experience world-class, the Chetak will come with the mobile app capable of tracking and providing the rider’s ride history.
There are other rich facets that Chetak will have like Security, Data Communication and User Authentication.
Fact 4
LED Headlight is horizontally elongated and aligns with the old Chetak. It also gets the daytime running lights and LED blinkers. Overall the entire design aligns with the old Chetak.
Fact 5
Bajaj has a strategy to start selling first from there Homebase in Pune and Bengaluru and then to other locations.
Bajaj will also take feedback from these two initial locations and then see how they want to go ahead.
Fact 6
The electric Chetak gets a steel body that is robust and sturdy and will long last when compared with its plastic competitors.
Fact 7
Bajaj has put around two years of effort to bring this electric Chetak to life with close to 1k people working on this project. Investment is still unclear.
Fact 8
Electric Chetak does not get a fast charging method. The entire battery consumes max 6 hrs to get completely charged. Batteries also do not have the option to swipe.
The batteries will be charged with the help of a standard 5 amp electric socket.
Fact 9
The electric Chetak gets two modes Sports and Eco. In Eco mode, Chetak can run up to 95 km, and in Sports mode, I can go up to 85 km. These are the results from Bajaj’s inhouse test runs.
Fact 10
The electric Chetak will go head-on with e-scooters from other manufacturers like Okinawa, Hero, and Ather.
LivingWithGravitys Take
Things we like
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- The resurrection of Chetak into a new electric avatar.
- The new model comes to align with its predecessor in terms of look and design.
- Bold as well as light paint schemes.
- Robust steel body
- 2 years’ effort put in by the Bajaj team is commendable.
Things we don’t like
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- Absence of fast-charging option.
- Swappable batteries should have been an option.
However, we feel this is just a start for Bajaj in the electric arena there is more to come but before we need to see how well Bajaj puts the price for electric Chetak in this competitive market.
