Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG Bike Running Cost Comparison VS 125cc Petrol Bikes

One of the biggest reasons that Bajaj created the Freedom 125, which is the world’s first CNG bike, is to offer commuter buyers of India a whole lot of price saving. The claim is that in case you are a commuter buyer, you can half the actual fuel bill and save a lot on the running costs. Is that actually true? We take a look at the running costs for the Freedom 125 in Pune and compare it with what you would end up paying for popular 125 cc petrol bikes like the Honda Shine 125 and Hero Super Splendor.

*Estimated fuel efficiency

**Combined on basis of 2/3rd CNG use

Given that the Freedom 125 will first be available in Maharashtra and Gujarat, we shall consider the city of Pune for our comparison. And instantly one can notice that the per km cost of the CNG bike is almost half of that of the petrol counterparts. Over 100 km, the price savings are over ₹70. 

Since the 334 km range of the CNG bike is 2/3rd in CNG, we even brought out a bi-fuel running cost comparison. And even then, if you run both the CNG tank as well as the petrol tank dry, which is not advisable, you will still end up saving nearly ₹ 50 over every 100 km. 

Now, Pune’s CNG infrastructure doesn’t have a central pipeline connection. Hence, the rate of CNG per km is rather high. When we consider the same in Mumbai, where the CNG rate is almost ₹ 15 less, the savings becomes higher.

**Combined on basis of 2/3rd CNG use

As seen, the savings are more than half and after every 100 km, you will end up saving almost ₹80 (only CNG running) compared to the other two. Similarly, we have calculated the same for Ahmedabad.

**Combined on basis of 2/3rd CNG use

Clearly, the fuel savings are incredible and over a period of time, you are bound to reap a lot of economic benefits. The volatility of the CNG prices, though, within each state itself does cause some changes in the running cost savings. Yet, the grand total savings over pure petrol is far more.

And considering the asking price of the Freedom 125, if we factor in its top trim of ₹ 1.10 lakh, is a good ₹20,000 more than the top trim of the other bikes, you will recover the costs sooner than what you would on an electric scooter.

How much savings does it actually make in the real world? We shall answer that on July 14 at 10:10 am in our thorough road test review of the Freedom 125.