EV fires harmful, but to not impact demand: Bajaj Auto ED
Bajaj Auto executive director Rakesh Sharma on Wednesday said that while fire incidents were harmful for the electric two-wheeler segment, they would not affect demand. “Customers would be more careful about the choice of brands but it would not impact the shift from ICE to EVs,” Sharma said.
The company had delivered 10,000 Chetaks in 20 cities and has orders for another 15,000 scooters. Sharma said there has been an uptick in daily bookings since March 2022 as new markets were being entered.
Bajaj Auto has run the Chetak electric scooters in a 3,000-km marathon across the country to both popularise the model and test the scooter in different conditions. There is no alternative to testing and validation and the company continues to adhering to this strictly, Sharma said, adding that safety was built into the vehicle right from the design stage.
The company deals with established vendors to source components even in the face of supply shortages and is is keen to expand to more markets, but supply chain issues were making it difficult, he said.
Rising costs are also likely to impact the transition to EV vehicles.