Rajiv Bajaj slams EV start-ups, blames them for recent fire incidents

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, slammed startups in the electric two-wheeler space, saying they had no proper research and development (R&D) or engineering expertise, and had no business to be in the industry.

Calling such startups “upstarts”, Rajiv Bajaj said they should be held accountable for the recent fire incidents that are being reported from electric two-wheelers.

“You call them startups. I call them upstarts. I am amazed that people with no R&D, no engineering, no real purchase function in the engineering sense, nothing more than just half an assembly facility, are importing stuff that has not been really validated for the marketplace and are putting it out,” he said at the inauguration of an electric two-wheeler plant of Chetak Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bajaj Auto, at Akurdi in Pune.

Speaking on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Bajaj Auto’s late chairman Rahul Bajaj, who created the Chetak brand 50 years ago, Rajiv Bajaj noted that there were about 10 large ICE (internal combustion engine) manufacturers in India or petrol/diesel vehicle manufacturers, but in electric vehicles (EVs), there is one new company every day.

Enraged, he said there are only two types of EVs in the market — those which have caught fire and those which are going to catch fire and pointed out that the issues was not the fire incidents, which have happened in ICE engines and brands like Tesla, GM and Hyundai too, the problem was with the underlying process of manufacturing and how problems were resolved.