8 posts were split to a new topic: Discussions on Bajaj Chetak
All i know about the scooter. Nitin Gadkari ji ne kaha “Ye appka product bahut badhiya hai”
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January 2020?? What have started the production for?? As per today’s launch event, the factory has started production from 25th September…
Are they forecasting such high bookings or are they aiming for 1 week delivery (time required for RTO & paperwork)??
Another observation from Nithin Gadkari ji’s speech. Some vehicle manufacturers including Bajaj had made a representation for delaying imposing EV policy, to which Government did not agree. Bajaj said they will come back with feasibility study of rushing into EVs, but launch of Chetak shows that they dropped the idea of study and directly went ahead with their EV project. Which means, Bajaj is now looking to get a first mover’s advantage (by a established brand) in the market.
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I think this comment was made by Amitabh Kant, NITI CEO.
One thing I am really happy , Government will soon bring Scrapping Policy. I am really delighted. In my view, none of the manufacturers should be allowed to sell their product, unless they have a scrapping policy. At any point of time, if a consumer brings back their product (working or non-working), manufacturer should take it back either at market rate or zero cost without a single question being asked.
I asked the same question with Ather on buy back policy almost a year back and I hope they are working on this. Without this social responsibility, government should not allow anyone to just make money.
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In fact, European companies are being asked to declare % recyclability of all materials used in their products.
I hope Government gives special emphasis on handling of Li-ion batteries in their scrapping policy. We all know how badly Lead Acid batteries are recycled today. Li-ion will pose bigger challenge at end of life disposal.
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Everything looks so sleek and nice except for the mirrors.
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Is this Bajaj Chetak?
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Notice the plethora of buttons on the handle? I see M, D, R, a right turn indicator and what possibly looks like an ignition button on the right hand side of the handle bar.
Guess R -> reverse. Wonder what M and D are for.
Left side seems to have Hi-Lo beams, horn and may be a pass light switch.
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That is just wow for collating so many minute details…
Range - They quoted it as real range tested in Pune City driving…
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Excellent summary. Chetak EV is using Bosch kit.
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Some more pictures and details of Chetak…
The two unknown buttons on the handle bar are known. The one on the left is play-pause that controls song playback on connected bluetooth device (headset or phone)
The one on the right is for opening front storage and seat. The seat has soft closing action it seems (nice)
The button on the usual key slot area is start stop button.
All buttons are backlit.
The bag hook on the seat also has Chetak logo.
It has vehicle number plate on the front storage…I like it!
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They should have designed this ebike as sporty as pulsar… It looks too retro and most of the youngsters won’t prefer such retro design…
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While i like the features in the scooter, i absolutely dislike the overall design. I have never been a fan of such retro design.
The boot open switch is very interesting, looks like a electrical release and not the usual wired system we have in today’s bikes and cars.
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I recently test drove the Benling Kriti at Rajkumar road showroom.
The kriti has a 48v battery. And the falcon has a 60v battery.
All of them have just a guessometer.
The battery is detachable with a traditional MCB.
For a 60k scooter I felt like the built quality is pretty poor.
The ride
So no license required. I rode it. Because the foot board doesn’t have to be mounted so high. The seat is pretty low too. Quite light. It’s a 800W BLDC motor. The pick up till 20Kmph is a bit better than out eco mode and then it almost completely dies out and the speedometer reading slowly moves up to 35 .
Id say this is a pretty good scooter but 60k is not worth it at all. When Okinawa is selling their ridge plus at almost the same price.
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EV showrooms seem to be popping up pretty fast these days. While it’s a good sign, i am worried that these guys selling poorly built vehicles using 2nd grade chinese kits will ruin the image of the EV market.
I walked into one showroom that sells “Jithendra” brand vehicles. They had 3 models on display, 1 lead-acid scooty type, another Li-on version of it and a Bajaj M-80 style load carrier vehicle.
The build quality was below my expectations. All vehicles still had filament bulbs for headlamps - how expensive would it have been to make that an LED?
Dash were LED digital displays showing SoC, mileage, speed and indicators. The weirdest part was that it has 2 horn switches - just incase the autowallah in front did not hear you the first time. Since it did not have an ignition button, the engineers decided to fill the empty ignition button slot on the right hand side of the handle bar with an extra horn switch.
They insisted that i take a test drive and gave me a scooter. The seat height was extremely low for me, very uncomfortable after having used the 450. Slow throttling allowed the vehicle to move with ease, but when you twist it, there is a giant lag. That’s ok if it would generate some torque and give you the “push to the back” effect, but no - it just continued in its own pace.
It was so slow i had to move aside so i dont get run over by tempos and taxis. But as luck would have it BWSSB had dug up the side and i ended up on an unpaved part of the road. I decided to turn back and get back on the road. I twist the throttle and absolutely nothing happens. I literally had to use a combination of my body weight and throttle to get it out of the unpaved part onto the road. The CoG was also weird and i did not feel it was safe to ride that thing.
When i returned back to the dealer, i told him about the lag and lack of torque. He goes “Oh, that’s because its a lead acid one and we stopped selling it”. Why would you then give it for a test ride!
And this vehicle was priced at 60k + insurance. The Li-on version was priced at 75k + insurance. I wanted to see if I can replace my Father in laws ageing Scooty with an electric scooter. Luckily he was not there when i test drove the vehicle, cos if he had seen the vehicle and the price tag it would have been impossible to convince him to switch to an electric at that price range.
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Chetak has 2.88kWh battery and 4KW motor. In comparison, Ather 450 has 2.7kWh battery(2.4 kWh battery usable) and 5.4 KW motor. Range claims of 85+ km is achievable. Chetak will have better range while Ather will have better performance. Bajaj is using Bosch’s components for majority of parts which is the reason for quick time to market.
Hoping that both Ather and Bajaj successful with their EVs which will push other biggies to make EVs.
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