Bajaj Auto on Wednesday said it will set up an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility at Akurdi in Pune at an investment of Rs 300 crore.

While work has already commenced for the facility, it will have the capacity to produce 5,00,000 EVs per annum and will cater to both domestic and exports markets.

Bajaj Auto said in a statement that the first vehicle from the new unit, spread over half-a-million square feet space, is expected to be rolled out by June 2022. The unit will employ around 800 personnel.

“In 2001, Bajaj 2.0 took off on the roaring Pulsar, in 2021, Bajaj 3.0 arrived on the charming Chetak.

“Going forward, for the Bajaj portfolio, except for implementing one state-of-the-art ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) platform that is currently under development, all our R&D drive train resources are now laser focused on creating EV solutions for the future,’’ said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto.

Pointing out that light electric vehicles for sustainable urban mobility is an idea whose time may finally have come, Bajaj said the investment at the facility will complete the virtuous cycle of hi-tech R&D competencies, high-efficiency engineering capabilities, world class supply chain synergies and global distribution network which should leapfrog the company into a market leading position in EVs in India and overseas.

He disclosed the investments made by the company will be supplemented by a number of vendors, who will invest another Rs 250 crore.

While Akurdi is the site of the Chetak scooter factory, Bajaj Auto said it is co-located with the company’s state-of-the-art R&D centre to foster greater collaboration, leading to faster time-to-market.

Shares of Bajaj Auto on Wednesday ended with gains of 2.70 per cent, or Rs 85.90, to close at Rs 3,262.40 on the news.