Bajaj Chetak

hemanth.anand · October 16, 2019, 7:22am

What we know:

Things I’ve decoded / gathered from the videos and pictures of Chetak so far…

Body/Looks

Metal Body with clean retro looks
LED headlamps, tail lamps and blinkers
Circular surround DRL in Headlamp
Chetak logo inside Headlamp.
Centre stand and side stand
Body coloured side step for saree clad women
Foldable foot rest
Black 12" alloy wheels with red border
Contrasting red stitching for seats
under seat storage as well as front storage space.
Front storage has mobile charging socket, First aid cum tool kit and probably the portable charger
6 colours-Black, White, Gold, Matte Silver, Blue, Red/Maroon
Only Chetak branding…no Bajaj branding. Thankfully they didn’t name it Bajaj Urbanite Chetak Chic Electric as rumoured.

Suspension tyres and brakes

90/90-12 MRF Nylogrip Zapper tyres
Disc brake on front and drum brake on rear
No telescopic front shocks but a setup like Activa
Rear mono shock (on left side)

Powertrain

The 4KW motor is a direct drive mounted on the Swing-arm. This will mean it’ll be eerily silent!
The battery pack is located under the storage towards the front portion of the seat and is non swappable! the battery pack looks like a small aircraft cabin baggage!

Charging and Range

Portable charger. (Most probably stored in the front storage area).
Home charging station.
BMS with auto cutoff.
Charging port in under the seat where usual fuel filling cap is present-Not sure how to close the seat during charging.
Range in Eco mode 95kms and 85kms in Sports mode. not sure if it is ARAI rated or real world. if it is ARAI rated, it is low IMO

The switch-gear

The switches on the handlebar are finished in piano black.
The right side has 5 buttons M (Mode), R (reverse), another button (probably Power button), D (Drive) and the Right blinker switch.
The left side has 5 buttons high beam/low beam, light on/off, another button, (looks like N to me), Horn and the left blinker switch.
This is the first time I’m seeing separate left and right blinkers on left and right side of the handlebar. will take time to get used to IMO

The display cluster

It is circular and is further divided into two concentric circular sections.
The outside section has all tell tale lights. moving clockwise from the Chetak Symbol on top, we see high beam, right blinker and battery charging. Moving anti clockwise, we see light on/off telltale, left blinker, Neutral mode lamp and a generic warning symbol.
The inside section is a digital display and has may display features. the top half of the periphery shows speed progress bar. Looks like the max speed that can be displayed is 100kmph and hence the top speed must be around 90kmph.
The right bottom periphery shows the battery percentage progress bar.
The left bottom periphery shows modes - Sports, Eco, Drive, Neutral and Reverse. Not sure what exactly is Neutral mode for.

Top portion of the central area:

Bluetooth symbol
Play-pause symbol
Call alert indicator
Time display
Charging (plug icon)
Service reminder
Side Stand indicator
Battery temperature/overheat symbol

Middle portion:

Battery full of percentage indicator
Speed (kmph or mph customisable)
range (kms or miles)

Bottom area:

ODO 7-segment number area (kms or miles)
This same area shows SOC (statement of charge) during charging
Below that is TTC (Time To Charge) in hh:mm

Features

Keyless start stop.
There is a button on normal key slot area which is probably to open the cover for the front storage area.
Luggage hook on the front seat (like Vespa)
Bluetooth connectivity
Call alerts
Song play control of Bluetooth connected device
No touch screen or on-board navigation
Mobile charging 12V cigarette lighter socket

Chetak vs Ather 450

Looking at all these, it looks like Bajaj has ticked most of the boxes with Chetak and as expected, this will be the real competition to Ather 450.

Advantage Chetak

Elegant retro looks
Nice Colour options
Feature laden
Silent hub mounted motor
Centre stand
Rear side step
Brand name
Established dealer network

Advantage 450

Futuristic sporty looks
Smart, connected vehicle
Touchscreen and on-board navigation
Telescopic front shocks, two disc brakes, rear centre mounted mono shocks
Superb balance owing to the “designed to be an EV” approach
OTA updates
Belt drive that makes sound (sound is actually good)

Overall, I feel that Chetak will appeal to the masses (provided they get the pricing correct) while Ather will appeal to younger geeky people. If Chetak is like Activa/Vespa, 450 is like Dio/Aprilia.
Finally good to see two Indian companies having strong products and leading this new phase in 2-wheeler EV scenario.

Disclaimer: I’ve tried to collect correct details as much as possible. However since full specs/details of the Chetak haven’t been officially revealed, I can’t guarantee the correctness of the above!

Images:

Got some more pictures from twitter…

From that last picture I see that it has a front storage area. Inside that there is a mobile phone charging socket (something that Ather missed) and a toolkit & first aid kit on the right. On the left it’s probably a body cover or just a storage pouch.

Points mentioned on that sticker:

Driving without Key Fob will stop the vehicle while drive mode change
This idicates a start-stop button and a key fob.
For daily usage of vehicle, Battery charging every night is recommended
Ensure above 40% Battery Charge before long duration storage of Vehicle
Similar to Shutdown or Vacation mode on Ather
Avoid charging under snow and near hot objects
Parking under shade is recommended

Tyre size: 90-90-12 54J
single rider- front 22psi rear 29psi
with pillion- front 22psi rear 34psi

Other information I got from other sites…

Chetak will have 2 modes Sport and Eco with a range will be 85 kms and 95 kms respectively. Not sure if this is ARAI rated range.
All metal body.
IP67-rated lithium-ion battery and a swingarm-mounted motor.
NCA (Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide) type cells.
Reverse-assist feature.
Charger with a standard household 5-15 amp electrical outlet.
A home-charging station (like Ather dot) will be available at a nominal cost
Will be sold via Bajaj pro-biking outlets and KTM dealers.
No Bajaj branding on the scooter.
Will be launched in Pune in January, 2020 and prives will be revealed around that time. Sales will first start in Pune and then Bangalore

prasathvishnu · October 16, 2019, 7:28am

If a product comes from a Big Brand, the amount of exposure it gets before even we know how good it is… Really fortunate and looks kind of unfair for the startups…

But, Ather really has the biggest advantage of early mover here with benchmark set… Now, the momentum should carry forward much faster without compromise in its uniqueness (overall customer satisfaction)

samitbanerji · October 16, 2019, 7:36am

haha why would they not talk about price and specifications?

ranjan.nikhil · October 16, 2019, 8:27am

I have seen such launches before. I remember one product named tork which was launched with much fanfare in 2016. Still nothing has hit the market.
These launches never talk about details or price, usually these are events to guage public sentiment ( in this case share price of bajaj auto).

samarthraj · October 16, 2019, 8:53am

Its a semi-smart kinda scooter… The display console is digital but seems to have limited functionality. The website also talks about drive related data from a connected device. So still not smart scooter.

As far as design is concerned, I think keeping a conventional design is basically keeping in mind that, acceptability of something radical takes more time among public than conventional.

srinivasaraju · October 17, 2019, 6:52am

Looks like Chetak will be priced to compete with Ather 450. As per Team-BHP source, its going to be priced at Rs 1.1 lakhs. It will be interesting to see the specs and range.

Chetak Price

Nice to see more options in the EV space. The success of Ather 450, Bajaj Chetak will push the other companies like Hero, TVS, Honda, Yamaha, etc… to develop EVs. Hopefully Ather can increase the production and expansion rapidly to other cities.

abhishek.balaji · January 11, 2020, 1:03pm

Moving these to a new thread since Chetak launch details have been announced.

santosh.rism · January 11, 2020, 3:34pm

@abhishek.balaji, I like to appreciate you and ather team. Even we discussing non - ather product on ather forum. You guys are encouraging us.

hemanth.anand · January 13, 2020, 8:03am

Bajaj Chetak to be launched tomorrow, 14th January 2020. The event reminder videos are out on Social Media. As per the countdown timer, it is at 12 noon tomorrow

saurrabh · January 13, 2020, 8:17am

Chetak vs 450x …Hope 450x crushes Chetak in every way…

rcsharath · January 13, 2020, 8:50am

Ather 450 is already a superior product when compared to Chetak in terms of specs and performance.

saurrabh · January 13, 2020, 9:02am

Am not under estimating Bajaj as they are in the two wheeler business since we were kids, I know EV is something they are stepping in now but they do have lot of experience building products which cater mass market , As we are yet to see how chetak performs in real world lets keep the verdict open untill both of them face each other on roads…

shardul.phatak · January 13, 2020, 10:38am

chetak has 4Kw motor directly connected to wheel (without belt/chain), that might be an advantage in performance. Although it is unsure about that power being continuous or peak, so we’ll wait till official confirmation. Battery wise i guess it would be same(90-80 milage). Aesthetics >> both have advantage
features >> except OTA and digital dashboard, i guess even chetak will be on par with latest demands.

rcsharath · January 13, 2020, 10:57am

With a Step Reduction ratio, Ather has more flexibility with torque Manipulation. Mounting the motor directly to the wheel will result in an offset balance for the scooter, similar to CVT boxes on traditional ICE Scooters. It requires more care when tyres need replacement.

Suraj_madhu · January 13, 2020, 10:58am

It would also mean that there might not be a 50-50 balance like the Ather has. This makes a huge difference in handling if you’re not used to it. Recently I tried to ride my old activa and I just felt it was so hard to turn right and so much easier to turn left. I didn’t know it made so much of a difference.

Samanth · January 13, 2020, 12:05pm

More than anything, the most crucial factor is probably going to be the on-road price since that’s what most of the people look at.
If the 450X is priced competitively, it might have a slight upper hand at increased sales and outreach.

a1.mayur · January 13, 2020, 1:05pm

450 X I think will be definitely on the higher side than Chetak

shardul.phatak · January 13, 2020, 1:31pm

I think Ather has already lost the balance in newer 450s … they removed onboard ac-dc converter … which is roughly equivalent to motor weight … Please correct me if i’m wrong. Also 3-4 Kgs will not matter much IMO.

Suraj_madhu · January 13, 2020, 1:50pm

No, the left and right 50-50 balance is retained.

7 kilos. I just hope Ather doesn’t say that the power is more in the 450X because of some dieting and weight loss.

rcsharath · January 13, 2020, 1:52pm

3 - 4 kgs of unsprung mass is a lot and will impact efficiency and performance. This is the reason Ather chose 12 inch wheels and 90/90 section tyres as more mass on the wheels will reduce range.