Bajaj, one of the biggest players in India’s motorcycle market, perhaps the largest motorcycle market in the world has launched a CNG-powered motorcycle considered to be the first in the world.
Bajaj new invention is a new compressed natural gas (CNG) model, the Freedom. This bike looks set to ease one of the biggest pain points for most motorcyclists in India.
Around 100,000 motorcycles are sold in India each month, and of these, around 70% are commuters, meaning the fuel price is extremely important to most riders in India. So much so that a spike in fuel prices in 1997 is attributed to the rise in popularity of 4-stroke motorcycles versus the more popular 2-strokes of the time.
The new bike is coming at a time when fuel prices are volatile. Bajaj has made the bold move to design the world’s first production motorcycle that runs on CNG.
With Freedom, Bajaj claims that riders can reduce their operation costs by 50%. The bike has a starting price of just $1,317, and when running on CNG, the 9.3 horsepower 125cc engine will propel the Freedom to a top speed of 56 mph. It’ll also have a 124-mile range thanks to the 2-kg/12.5-litre CNG tank that sits under the seat.
Some people will have problems with CNG’s availability and the wait times to fill the tank. To combat this, Bajaj has fitted the Freedom with a 2-liter auxiliary gasoline tank so riders can switch on the go. When running on gasoline, the engine has a slightly higher top speed of 58 mph, but its range drops to around 80 miles.
The rest of the bike is relatively basic but comes with a fully digital speedometer with Bluetooth connectivity. Customers can’t really ask for much more from a bike that costs less than $1,350.
CNG-powered motorcycles may find their way to the US and other parts of the world as fuel prices rise along with inflation. A cheap, super-economic commuter is just what people need. However, it is not certain if Freedom has started selling in other parts of the world.