Bajaj Chetak electric scooter is now the largest-selling EV scooter in India
Rajiv Bajaj takes a dig at Ola Electric even though the news of the Bajaj Chetak electric scooter catching fire has been going viral on the internet. Ola Electric is the biggest new player in the electric two-wheeler space in the country. It has revolutionized this space along with another EV startup, Ather. Despite the initial domination from the new companies, the legacy two-wheeler manufacturers have also pivoted and entered this space. Within a short span of duration, they have overtaken the new players in terms of sales. Let us take a look at the details of this latest case.
Rajiv Bajaj Takes a Dig at Ola
Note that over 3 lakh units of the Bajaj Chetak EV have been sold so far. Additionally, the two-wheeler giant will launch a new model of Chetak on December 20. In fact, at a recent award ceremony, Rajiv Bajaj, CEO at Bajaj Auto, said, “Ola to Ola hai, Chetak to shola hai.” This is a clear dig at the EV startup. Remember Bajaj Auto won the award for the ‘Outstanding Company of the Year’ prize at the recent CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards. He added, “My son Rishabh who has been part of the Electric Chetak team for the past 2.5 years told me this morning that based on December VAHAN registration data, our electric scooter Chetak is now the largest selling electric scooter, not third largest, in the country. So, the award could not be better timed.”
In a recent video by The MotorOLA Man on X, we see a Bajaj Chetak EV scooter lying on the road with smoke emanating from it. This incident came from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The scooter was on the road at a busy traffic signal on Jalna Road. The fire brigade was called on the scene to douse the fire. It was reported that two farmers, Bhagwan Chavan and Ravindra Chavan, were riding the EV from Varvandi village. Suddenly, they saw smoke coming out from their scooter while they were waiting at the traffic signal. Bajaj said that they would investigate this matter to unravel the cause of the fire.
My View
It is intriguing to see the CEO of the top two-wheeler company in the country getting involved in such banters with its rivals. However, we must understand that EVs are machines which can eventually malfunction. However, since EV fires are difficult to douse, they are considerably more dangerous than regular automobile fires. In any case, I am sure that such online banters between the rivals will keep on happening. We shall keep an eye out for details in this case.
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