EXCLUSIVE: Affordable Bajaj Chetak Variant Spotted On Test

There’s a new Chetak on the horizon and it aims to be quite a lot more affordable and accessible than the current Premium version that is on sale. Yes, Bajaj is working on a Chetak that is using a hub motor.

This is going to make the e-scooter quite a lot more affordable as it will make do with the complex and heavy gearbox mechanism that is currently in place. Bajaj will be able to use a simpler conventional swingarm and twin shock arrangement at the rear, something that has paid off well for the TVS iQube electric scooter. This will help Bajaj address the biggest drawback of the Chetak, which is its high price tag given the fact that it misses out on a lot of modern features as seen in its rivals.

Considering the Chetak is already not the most enthralling e-scooters out there, expecting more from this hub motor is futile. Plus, if Bajaj is looking at using a smaller battery pack, chances are the real world range that you can expect from the Chetak will also reduce a little. Currently, Bajaj claims the 2.9 kWh battery pack is good to go for 90 km without a charge in real world riding scenarios.

There are no feature misses to speak of here as the Chetak itself is a rather simpler and frill-less ride. Perhaps, reverting back to the monotone negative LCD dash to save a bit of costs could be done.

The Chetak is currently priced at Rs 1.30 lakh during the current ‘festive discount’ period. If the new affordable version is to arrive in the coming few months, we could look at it being priced closer to the Rs 1 lakh mark. It would then be locking horns with the Ola S1 Air, which is also geared towards offering a rather honest riding experience.