Rajiv Bajaj takes a dig at EV startups

NEW DELHI: Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, who’s well known for his strong opinions, took a dig selling. “I am surprised that battery life, motor manufacturers have started electric vehicles and also what amazed me even more is that a few who were importing TV, fridge, mobiles also have begun selling electric scooters. Other manufacturers invested in start-ups as though it wasn’t their job and went south whereas some automakers have established products in scooter area. But we Bajaj are engineers who perform our tasks,” stated Bajaj without mentioning names of competitions. “While the country’s largest maker Hero MotoCorp has made investments at Bengaluru-based electrical scooter start-up Ather Energy, Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma established bikes branded ‘Revolt’. Bajaj Auto is your very first mass market two-wheeler maker to get unveiled electrical scooter Chetak.Bajaj, who stated that the vehicle wouldn’t be labeled higher than Rs 1.5 lakh, did concede that the company would initially eliminate money on the automobile but made light of this issue saying losses often translated into greater valuation for companies as seen in the instance of both Ola, Flipkart and Tesla. “I have seen that the stock price of fresh start-ups since money is burning going up. This is our venture to burn money and produce our stock prices go up”, ” Bajaj.Bajaj added the goal of the new venture is not to make money but instead be ready for the long run. He explained the business will not get into battery manufacturing or attempt to create an charging infrastructure in a bid. Bajaj educated, “Around 15 years ago, when the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had declared the switch to CNG, there were 1-2 CNG pumps in the city. We accounted for 88-90percent of three-wheelers offered, our customers were quequeing up for 4-6 hours. They didn’t burn the CM’s office but bankrupt our show-rooms. CNG infrastructure came up. What we are seeking to do is split the chicken-and-egg equation, and it’ll always happen that demand will precede infrastructure and not the other way around.In fact, since June 21 (Niti Aayog assembly to talk about timelines for change to electrical two-wheelers and three-wheelers), Bajaj said nearly half of his ‘thinking period ’ has become spent strategising on electrical vehicles. “When I heard about the electrical vehicle coverage I believed …When the going gets tough, the tough move into the government (ie Gadkari), ” he said.He added if he approached the minister, he offered him dinner, like a sacrificial lunch and then advised him that he’d led the government think-tank to put the ‘sword in the throat ’ and the attempt since has surfaced in Chetak.

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