The Bajaj Chetak, the electric scooter from the Pune-based Bajaj Auto has surpassed the 100,000-unit sales milestone in the Indian EV market. Launched in January 2020, the Chetak EV has taken 47 months to achieve cumulative sales of 104,200 units as of end-November 2023, as per SIAM wholesales industry data.
What’s notable is that 60% or 62,991 units of the total 104,200 units have come in the first eight months of FY2024, reflective of the growing demand for the zero-emission Bajaj on two wheels. These 62,991 units sold in April-November 2023 are a handsome 172% YoY increase (April-November 2022: 23,160 units), and 31,556 units more than the 31,435 units sold in all 12 months of FY2023.
The 62,991 Chetaks sold between April-November 2023 constitute 172% YoY growth (April-November 2022: 23,160 units).
On the cumulative wholesales front in the ongoing fiscal year, Bajaj Auto is just 5,229 units behind Ather Energy, the No. 3 OEM after Ola Electric and TVS Motor Co (132,894 units). The company clocked its best-ever monthly sales in the festive month of October 2023: 12,137 units.
The Bajaj Chetak, whose pricing starts at Rs 115,000 (ex-showroom Bengaluru), is powered by a 2.9 kWh battery, has a certified range of 108km on a single charge and a top speed of 63kph. The Chetak Premium’s highlights include a two-tone seat, body-coloured rearview mirrors, a satin black grab rail and matching pillion footrest castings. The Bluetooth-enabled Chetak app facilitates tamper alert, geofencing and over-the-air updates.
On the retail front, as per Vahan data, Bajaj Auto sold more Chetaks than Ather Energy e-scooters in the past two months. The legacy player, maintains its newly-claimed No. 3 rank with best-ever monthly sales of 11,668 units in November, up 29% month on month (October 2023: 9,052 units). The Bajaj Chetak had a market share of 13% in November, quite a jump from the 4% it had in January 2023. The company is looking to ramp up production as well as expand its network of exclusive Chetak showrooms. Expect Bajaj Auto to be among the EV newsmakers in the months to come.
The Chetak network, which has a presence in 141 cities across India, is to be expanded top 250 cities by March 2024.
On December 1, Bajaj Auto launched the Chetak Urbane MY2024 (above) with a 113km range and top speed of 73kph. Image: Bajaj Auto
On December 1, 2023, Bajaj Auto launched a new avatar of the Chetak called the Urbane, which costs Rs 115,000 in its standard form, and Rs 121,000 for an additional ‘Tecpac’, which unlocks more features and performance. The company website lists the Chetak Urbane as having slightly higher range (113km) than the current Chetak (108km). However, in the case of the Urbane, this is the IDC-certified range, while for the current Chetak Premium, 108km is its claimed real-world range (its IDC rating is 126km). The new Chetak Urbane gets the same 2.9kWh battery capacity as the current model.
The Chetak Urbane utilises the same colour LCD display as the Premium variant. In standard form, the Urbane offers a 63kph top speed, and comes with only one riding mode – Eco. With the ‘Tecpac’ installed, top speed rises to 73kph and the user gets a Sport riding mode as well.
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