Bajaj Announces Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Unit For India

Bajaj Auto has announced an investment of Rs. 300 crore ($ 40 million) investment and commenced work at a brand new manufacturing unit at Akurdi, the site of the original Chetak scooter factory. The new manufacturing unit will have a capacity of 500,000 electric vehicles per annum, and the first vehicle is expected to roll out from the new facility by June 2022. The manufacturing facility is expected to generate incremental employment for over 800 people, and will manufacture electric vehicles both for the domestic market as well as overseas markets.

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Bajaj Auto is India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.

Speaking about the new unit, Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Limited, said, "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. 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 global distribution network which should leapfrog us into a market leading position in EVs in India and overseas."

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The new EV manufacturing unit is located close to Bajaj Auto's state-of-the-art R&D centre.

According to a statement from Bajaj Auto, the new unit will have cutting-edge robotic and automated manufacturing systems for everything including logistics and material handling, fabrication and painting, assembly and quality assurance. These systems have been designed for flexible product mix, while keeping in mind the best worker ergonomics and maximum process efficiency, the company said. The Akurdi unit is spread over half a million square feet and will employ around 800 personnel, Bajaj Auto said in the statement.

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The investments made by Bajaj Auto will be supplemented by a number of vendors, who will invest a further Rs. 250 crore ($33 million), the company announced. The new EV manufacturing unit is co-located with Bajaj Auto's state-of-the-art R&D centre to foster greater collaboration, leading to faster time-to-market. It should transform Bajaj Auto's Akurdi facility into a hub for design, development and manufacturing of a complete range of electric vehicles, the company added.

Bajaj Auto is India's largest exporter of motorcycles, and is India's second largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume. The company is also the world's largest manufacturer of three-wheelers. Bajaj Auto is the first two-wheeler and three-wheeler company in the world to have reached a market capitalisation of Rs. 1 trillion, and continues to be the world's most valuable two- and three-wheeler company.