Bajaj Chetak EV Review: Old school comfort meets new-age tech

Bajaj is a household name in India because the manufacturer has been making two-wheelers for decades now. It has given birth to many iconic models, including the Chetak scooter. When the company announced the return of this iconic name in 2019 as an electric scooter, one might have thought that it would top the sales charts very soon. However, that has not been the case; the limited availability of the product being one key reason as the automaker seems to be taking a slow and steady approach towards its electrification journey.Now in 2023, there are 85 outlets selling Chetak EV across India and the company plans to bring this number up to 120 soon. With the Chetak being readily available to a wider audience now, should you consider it buying over the other e-scooters in the market? Let's find out!

The all-metal construction of the Chetak is a nice differentiating factor that sets it apart from the rest of the scooters. Its build quality and finish levels are rather nice, something that you expect from an automaker that has been building vehicles for a while now. The Chetak has a very smooth and curvy design all around and most design elements are seen at the front. In fact, the bulbous design is reminiscent of scooters from the years gone by.

There is a large LED headlamp with an LED DRL surrounding the unit that draws the attention of onlookers. A ribbed section runs through the middle of the front apron and ends just before the Chetak branding. It is accompanied by similarly designed, long turn indicator lights on either side. There are some silver highlights on the indicators and the section in the middle to add a retro touch to this scooter. Overall, I really like how this electric scooter just fits in with the other vehicles on the roads and does not feel over-designed or alien.

Two areas where the Chetak could still improve are the switches on the handlebar and the rearview mirrors. The switches are all within reach but do feel like they are made out of cheap plastic. The mirrors look nice and have a triangular design but do not provide a great view of the traffic behind you. I believe that if the mirrors were wider at the ends, they would be a lot more practical.


This scooter gets two storage spaces - one under the seat and one behind the front apron. The underseat storage stands at 18 litres and has been designed in a way that allows you to fit a half-face helmet in it easily. Up ahead, the four-litre storage compartment is used to house the charger but you can take it out and keep anything else in it if you so desire. There is also a USB port here which can keep your mobile device charged up. Bajaj has integrated a clever luggage hook that is hidden behind the Chetak logo. Pressing the logo will cause the hook to pop out and you can hang items of up to 3kg from it. The floorboard has a decent amount of room for a 6-feet tall person like me although I would not have minded a bit more space.

The seat is narrow at the front and becomes wider at the back. It is long and wide enough to seat two people with ease. The cushion is very comfortable too and the riding position is upright. This meant that every day riding on the Chetak was very relaxing and did not leave me tired even after encountering peak-hour traffic. It is safe to say that I hardly found anything missing in the Chetak when it came to storage spaces and seating position. It is one of the most comfortable scooter to ride and is aided by a great suspension (more on that later).
There is no denying that the Chetak is a bit thin on features. You get an all-digital instrument cluster but it is a very basic unit. It has all the essential reading that you would want to see and also supports smartphone connectivity. Although there is no turn-by-turn navigation or coloured instrumentation here, unlike its competitors. The biggest problem, however, is that the display is not very bright and can be a bit hard to read under direct sunlight, especially when viewed at an angle. In a time where we are seeing electric scooters with touchscreens and even conventional ICE two-wheelers offering navigation and alerts, the Chetak feels like it is lagging behind.

The Chetak does redeem itself with a hill-hold feature that works brilliantly. Whenever the scooter detects that you have stopped at an incline, it will prevent itself from rolling back even if you do not hold the brake lever. Every single time I needed the feature to work, it did without fail and really impressed me. It also has self cancelling turn indicators but their operation was not as flawless. Since this feature depends on the angle at which the handlebar is turned, I did find occasions where I was taking a turn with minimum input and the turn indicators would remain on.
The Bajaj Chetak is not a performance-focused electric scooter. It does not possess the neck-snapping acceleration that people have come to expect of electric vehicles and the top speed is also limited to a claimed 63 kmph. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned about the usability of this two-wheeler and its 3.8 kW motor. However, to my pleasant surprise, the scooter was capable of prancing across the city without much hassle. Most roads have a speed limit of 50 kmph, which the Chetak can reach easily. In fact, if you are on the lighter side of the weighing scale, it will even do a speedometer indicated 67 kmph. The acceleration is also on par with 110-125 cc scooters and you will not feel like you are slowing the traffic behind you in any way.

Another thing that really works well for the Chetak in the city is its brilliant suspension. It glides over potholes and broken tarmac with ease and very few of the shocks bother the rider and pillion. In fact, the ride quality is perhaps my favourite aspect of this machine. The brakes also work well and bring you to a halt quickly. I would have liked a bit more grip from the tyres while taking on bends but it provided good grip in normal conditions.


The Chetak comes with a charger that uses a regular three-pin plug. One can easily plug the scooter into a household socket and charge it in around four hours. Since the battery is not too big (3 kWh), the charging time is relatively short. Once charged, you can easily get a range of 85-90 km from this scooter. Despite a seemingly normal range figure, the Chetak is actually usable for day-to-day runs. There are two riding modes in the scooter - Eco and Sport. A good thing about the riding modes on the Chetak is that if you are riding in Eco and suddenly accelerate, it will automatically switch to Sport without requiring a button press. Once you reduce your speed, it switches back to Eco mode. This makes the riding process hassle-free and you also do not find yourself stuck in a situation where you are manually switching between riding modes very frequently.
There is no denying that the Chetak is lagging behind the competition in outright performance but that does not mean it is not a scooter you can use for daily commutes. It is meant for people that want a comfortable ride and do not have a daily running of more than 40-50 km. It is the most rider-friendly and easy scooter in the market. The combination of familiar elements with futuristic technology makes this a great option for people transitioning from ICE vehicles to EVs. It does not overwhelm them, instead it holds their hand and guides them through the journey. However, if you want the most amount of features and performance for your money, you can look at the options from other manufacturers. The Chetak employs many well thought features and aspects but I still felt that it should be offering more considering its starting price of Rs 1.44 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).