Two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto today (December 20) launched the next-generation model of its popular electric scooter in the Indian market. The company introduced the updated Chetak New 35 series with cosmetic changes and mechanical improvements.
A new chassis frame has been used in the updated Bajaj Chetak, in which the battery has been placed under the floor. Thanks to this, the electric scooter will now have 35 liters of space under the seat. It now has a larger 3.5 kWh battery. The company claims that the new electric scooter will have a range of 153 km on a full charge.
The new Chetak 35 series of electric scooters will be manufactured at Bajaj’s factory in Akurdi, Pune, where manufacturing of Chetak scooters began in 1972.
The price starts at Rs 1.20 lakh. The Chetak 35 series electric scooter is the high-end series in the company’s EV range. It has been launched in three variants: 3501, 3502 and 3503. The Chetak 3501 is priced at Rs 1,27,243 (ex-showroom, Bangalore), while the 3502 is priced at Rs 1,19,999 (ex-showroom, Bangalore). At the same time, the price of Chetak 3503 has not been announced.
Bajaj has not revealed the price of the tech pack for the Chetak 35 series. The tech pack available with the current model of Chetak is priced at Rs 5,000. The company offers a 3 year/50,000 km warranty on the new Chetak. The Chetak 35 series will compete with electric scooters like Vida V2, Ather Rizta, Ola S1 Pro and TVS iQube.
Bajaj has expanded its dealership to 507 cities and the scooter can also be purchased on e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart. His reservation was launched on the official website. The company announced that deliveries of the 3501 will begin from the end of this month.
Bajaj Chetak 3501 is available in five color options – Brooklyn Black, Pista Green, Hazel Nut, Indigo Metallic Blue and Matte Red.
Design: an 80 mm long seat will be available for comfortable seating. The company said that the new Chetak scooter might look similar to the old model but a lot of changes have been made to it technically. The scooter’s platform has also been modified. The control system, motor panel, battery position and structure have also been changed in the new platform. This gives better autonomy, better storage space and better comfort to the scooter than before.
The new Bajaj Chetak 35 Series electric scooter features a horseshoe-shaped LED front DRL, a retro-style design with chrome elements and a sloping rear section. The 35 series has an 80mm longer seat compared to other variants. The electric scooter now has a larger floor, which provides more knee room than before. As a result, the wheelbase has also increased by 25 mm to 1,350 mm.
The Chetak 35 series electric scooter is built on a new platform.
The Chetak Series 35 electric scooter will have 35 liters of storage under the seat.
Performance: Maximum speed of 73 km/h and range of 153 km. The Chetak 35 series is equipped with an electric motor for greater performance. The company has not yet given information on its exact power. The company claims that the 3501 and 3502 electric scooter models can reach a top speed of 73 km/h. While the 3503 will get a top speed of 63 kmph.
To power the electric motor, a new 3.5 kWh battery has been provided, which is Chetak’s largest battery so far. The company claims that once fully charged, the scooter will get an IDC-certified range of 153 km and a real-world range of 120-125 km.
The 3501 model will have a built-in 950W charger, thanks to which the battery can be charged from 0 to 80% in just 3 hours. At the same time, a 950W outboard charger is available in the 3502, which can charge the scooter from 0 to 80% in 3 hours 25 minutes.
Features: Talking about map navigation and auto hill hold features, the Bajaj Chetak 3501 has a new TFT touchscreen. Features such as map navigation, smartphone connectivity, a key fob (remote lock/unlock) and an eco-drive mode are standard. Advanced safety features such as automatic hill hold will also be available in both variants of the electric vehicle.
For more features, you will have to purchase the Tech-Pack, in which you will get an additional driving sport mode. Apart from this, comprehensive smartphone connectivity features will be available including geofencing, sequential turn signal, guide lighting, tow alert, travel and data analysis and overspeed alert with speed limit settings.
The 3502 variant has a TFT display, but it is not touchscreen and has turn-by-turn navigation. This variant does not have a key fob and instead gets a mechanical key and only the eco driving mode. The Tac-Pack shares the same features as the 3501, but lacks the sequential indicator and on-board document storage function.