A new ‘Electric Vehicle’ production plant has been launched by Bajaj Auto in Akurdi (Pune). By June 2022, electric vehicles will be available for purchase in India . This will require a Rs 300 crore investment to create the capability to produce 5,00,000 electric vehicles per year.
“In 2001, Bajaj 2.0 took off on the roaring Pulsar. In 2021, Bajaj 3.0 has arrived on the charming Chetak. Going forward, for the Bajaj portfolio, except for implementing one state-of-the-art ICE platform that is currently under development, all our R&D resources are now laser focused on creating EV solutions for the future. This alignment reflects our belief that light EVs for sustainable urban mobility is an idea whose time may finally have come,” Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said.
Akurdi is the site of the original Chetak scooter factory that made Bajaj Auto a household name in India. The first vehicle from the unit is expected to roll out by June 2022.
The investments made by Bajaj will be supplemented by a number of vendors, who will invest a further Rs 250 crore, the company said.
Of late, several automakers in India, including Bajaj, have approved incorporation of wholly owned subsidiaries to venture into manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles. Bajaj’s rivals Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motors, though slowly, are making steady progress to have a stable EV business alongside their traditional IC engine products.