Bajaj Auto, the Indian two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturing company, has announced that it will soon be setting up a Rs 300-crore unit in Pune to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs). The Pune-based automaker hopes to produce 500,000 EVs per annum.

“In 2001 Bajaj 2.0 took off on the roaring Pulsar, in 2021 Bajaj 3.0 arrives 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 drive train resources are now laser-focused on creating EV solutions for the future,” said Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd.

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The new plant is located in Akurdi, the original location of the Chetak scooter factory. The first vehicle is expected to roll out from the factory in 2022. The unit will be spread over an area of half a million square feet in Akurdi. Additionally, the plant is expected to incrementally generate employment for over 800 people in the coming years, the company stated.

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“This alignment reflects our belief that light Electric Vehicles for sustainable urban mobility is an idea whose time may finally have come. Thus, this investment at Akurdi completes the virtuous cycle of hi-tech R&D competencies, high-efficiency engineering capabilities, world-class supply chain synergies, and a global distribution network which should leapfrog us into a market-leading position in EVs in India and overseas,” Bajaj added.

On top of the investments made by Bajaj Auto, vendors will supplement the investments to the tune of Rs 250 crore. The company is India's largest exporter of motorcycles and hopes to turn the new Akurdi plant into a hub of design, development and manufacturing of a complete range of electric vehicles. The company had recently released its iconic Chetak Scooter as an EV.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Dec 29, 2021 6:02 PM IST