Bookings for Bajaj Chetak electric scooter have commenced from today in three new cities, namely Aurangabad, Mysore, and Mangalore. Interested customers of these areas can book the scooter via Bajaj Chetak's official website at a token amount of Rs 2,000. Earlier, the Chetak was only available for sale in Pune, Bengaluru, and Nagpur. It will soon be available in Hyderabad and Chennai also. The brand intends to introduce the electric scooter to 22 cities by 2022.
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It is a welcome move that Bajaj has started expanding the availability of the e-Chetak in other cities, but its prices still bother. Currently, it costs Rs 1,42,988 for Urbane variant and Rs 1,44,987, for Premium variant in Aurangabad (ex-showroom). However, these asking rates do not include the revised FAME II subsidy. Once the subsidy is given, the prices are expected to come down by around Rs 25,000, making it a bit economical. But till then, the Chetak is quite expensive than its core rivals TVS iQube Electric, and Ather 450X. However, TVS iQube is currently limited to Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru, whereas Ather Energy's reach is widest among all, covering major cities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, and others.
The Bajaj Chetak is powered by a 4kW BLDC motor that puts out a maximum torque of 16Nm. The real-world range of the Chetak is 95km in Eco mode and 85km in Sport mode. It takes up to 5 hours to fully charge via a traditional 5A power socket. Bajaj offers a 3-year or 50,000km warranty on the Chetak and its Lithium-ion battery. Its battery life is claimed to last for 70,000 kilometers which usually takes 7 years, provided the user ensures the lithium-ion battery is kept charged above 15% of capacity and used regularly.
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As for design and feature, this metal-bodied scooter features well-formed sequential lines and a floating wheel design reminiscent of the legendary Chetak. At first sight, it looks like a Vespa scooter. It gets flared side-body panels with a retro-looking front end. The headlamp and turn signals of the e-scooter are LED and the headlamp unit comes with horseshoe-shaped LED daytime running lamps. It also receives a fully digital plain LCD instrument cluster that comes with smartphone connectivity, geo-tagging, and geofencing features, as well as a turn-by-turn navigation assistant. The smartphone connectivity tech uses the Internet Of Things (IoT) feature that allows the user to track the scooter's location, check to charge status and range, give theft alerts, and many more.
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Bajaj offers the new Chetak in six color options that include black, beige, blue, and red for the Premium trim, whereas the base-spec Urbane comes in two colors: yellow and white.