Bajaj Chetak: Highlights Of R&D Testing At New Akurdi Plant

The fledgling Indian two-wheeler segment received a shot in the arm when Bajaj introduced the Chetak in the market decades ago. It helped mobilise countless Indians and instantly became a household name in the country. While changing market trends and stringent emission norms killed the legend, it was reincarnated in an electric avatar in January 2020.

Bajaj Auto then set its sights higher with the inauguration of the new plant in Akurdi, Pune where it has managed to localise the electric scooter completely except for the battery cells. We recently got a chance to visit the plant’s R&D wing, and got a glimpse of the various aspects of quality testing which these electric scooters go through.

We were first taken to the rig testing section where the electric scooter was mounted on a rig that simulates road undulations via hydraulics. The scooter is mounted as a whole along with rider and pillion mannequins to see how it holds up on bad roads. There’s also another rig in parallel, which tests the chassis and other modules. The rig is capable of running different road profiles from different Indian cities, and the process is automated at night.

We then got a glimpse of how the electric motor is tested. The Bosch-sourced 4kW electric motor is tested for endurance, spanning several days. It is also placed in an environment that simulates Indian conditions including the weather, humidity and the likes. Additionally, the motor is also dyno tested in various conditions to ensure that its output figures and efficiency do not drop. Even the efficiency and the reaction time of the electronic modules are tested and monitored in different simulations to ensure they run smoothly out in the real world. There’s another area where the e-scooter’s electronic modules are tested to withstand vibrations. Sophisticated machines from Japan are used to test the shock resistance of the electronic components within the Chetak’s handlebar shroud, as well as the apron.

Lastly, the most interesting part of the visit was the battery testing area. This particular facility is separated from the other ones as the risk of fire and/or explosion is high, and in order to ensure the fire does not spread to other buildings, the facility is surrounded by a moat. Within this facility, the battery is placed inside an advanced simulator that emulates real world conditions including temperature, humidity, dust and even salinity levels. 

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In fact, the simulator can also test with various profiles that are designed to emulate the ambient conditions of different cities. The battery is kept under charge/discharge load inside the chamber and its output levels are monitored continuously. There are several levels of safety embedded within different subsystems, so even if one cell fails, it is isolated to prevent thermal runaway event. The battery pack is passively air-cooled, but there’s also a fan that turns on once it reaches a particular threshold. In case the temperature gets too high, the fail-safe mechanism prevents the battery from charging or discharging.

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Summing up, it was exciting and eye-opening to see how an electric scooter is designed and tested for Indian roads. The electrical and electronic components of an electric scooter account for as much as 70 per cent of its production cost. In the case of an ICE product, it’s the powertrain that takes up the majority of the production cost while electronic components such as ABS, fuel injectors, etc contribute to only a fraction.

Earlier, we also got a chance to witness how the Ola S1 Pro electric scooter is made. You can check out all the details here.