The Pune-based Indian multinational two and three-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto Limited recently announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chetak Technology Ltd. has rolled out its first Chetak electric scooter from the company’s newest plant in Akurdi in Pune, Maharashtra. The newest plant of the company was inaugurated on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late Shri Rahul Bajaj – the chairman emeritus of Bajaj Group.

According to the company’s announcement during the inauguration. Chetak Technology and its vendor partners would invest about Rs 750 crores in this new electric car production plant. It also announced that its newest plant will be able to manufacture more than 500,000 electric two-wheelers every year. The company added, “Co-located with a state-of-the-art R&D centre, CTL’s Akurdi facility is all set to be transformed into a major hub for the design, development, and manufacturing of Electric Vehicles,”

Rajiv Bajaj, Chairman – Chetak Technology Ltd. on the commencement of production in the new plant said, “Chetak is the original ‘Make in India’ superstar, which won hearts worldwide. True to those designed-and-built-in-India roots, the electric avatar of Chetak is born out of our strong R&D, deep understanding of products & consumers, and decades of manufacturing expertise.” He further added, “Today on the 84th birthday of Bajaj Auto’s late Chairman Emeritus Shri Rahul Bajaj, we have delivered on our commitment to commission this centre of excellence for Chetak by June 2022. This focused, integrated and agile facility is intended to power the Chetak’s ride back to the future.”

The new facility is integrated with cutting-edge robotic and automated manufacturing equipment for everything from logistics and material handling to fabrication and painting to assembly and quality assurance. These systems were created with a customizable product mix in mind, as well as the highest worker ergonomics and process efficiency. It will cover half a million square feet and employ more than 800 people. The inauguration of this new plant also harks back to the heritage of the Chetak and Bajaj brands as Akurdi is the place where the original legendary Chetak scooter was born in the 1970s.

Currently, the Chetak is available in two variants – The first one is the Urbane version and the second is Premium. The Premium version of the scooter gets additional features like a disc brake, metallic colour options, tan-coloured seats and so on. The urban version is priced at Rs 1,00,000 whereas the Premium version costs around Rs 1.15 lakh.

Both variants are powered by an electric motor which is capable of generating a maximum of 4.2 kW power. The Lithium-ion battery is IP67 rated and has 3 year or 50,000 km warranty. Bajaj claims that it takes 5 hours to charge the battery fully and 25 percent in just an hour. The new Chetak looks modern and comes equipped with features such as a fully digital instrument cluster, LED headlamps, and high-quality materials that justify the price. The company claims that over 14,000 Chetak e-scooters have been sold to date and more than 16,000 bookings are already in the pipeline.