The Bajaj Chetak is a motor scooter produced by the Indian company Bajaj Auto. Past models were petrol powered (either 2 or 4-stroke). The modern version is electric (known as the Chetak Electric), and is powered by a 4.2 kW BLDC motor with a 2.89 kWh lithium-ion battery pack,[2] and comes with a 90 km range.
History
Named after Chetak, the horse of the Indian warrior Maharana Pratap, the scooter’s original petrol version licensed production of the Italian Vespa Sprint. Chetak had absorbent waiting period , which sometimes had 10 years of waiting period [3] was an affordable means of transportation for Indian urban upper middle class families, marketed under the tagline Hamara Bajaj (Our Bajaj).
The Bajaj Chetak had design faults from the beginning with the main design fault being the vehicle not able to start when the fuel is in the dead zone, and hence the vehicle had to be tilted to the side to inject fuel mixture into the carburettor.[4] Around 1980, the Vespa-licensed design was replaced with an all-new in-house design that shared the same general appearance and style. During its heyday, its chief competitor was LML NV made by LML India as a licensed copy of the Vespa PX 150. In the face of rising competition from bikes and cars, Chetak lost ground in India, and production was discontinued in 2005 as Bajaj Auto stopped manufacturing scooters altogether.
Chetak Electric
On 16 October 2019, Bajaj Auto unveiled a new electric version of their Chetak scooter under the Urbanite EV brand. The production of Chetak Electric started on September 25, 2019, at the Chakan plant of Bajaj Auto. It was initially launched in Pune (4 dealerships) and Bangalore (13 dealerships) in January 2020 and was sold through select KTM dealerships.
Chetak Technology Ltd inaugurated their newly-built EV manufacturing plant at Pune’s Akurdi on the birth anniversary of Rahul Bajaj in October 2019. The plant has a capacity to manufacture 500,000 electric two-wheelers per annum.
As of 2023, the scooter is being sold in 100 cities and has over 40+ stores serving as exclusive Experience Centres.
