How much are possible Freedom CNG savings per year? I compare the overall running cost of an equivalent petrol motorcycle…
So, we are in this four stroke motorcycle era for decades but nobody ever did a proper mass market CNG motorcycle not just in India but in the world. This, in itself, is a big reason to believe that there are major complications involved in such a project.
But defying all odds, Bajaj worked tirelessly on a CNG motorcycle that we now know as Freedom. The biggest question is – What is the basis of Freedom CNG? Why did Bajaj work on it so deep? Here is a quick video that lists the single biggest reason of the existence of Freedom CNG…
Freedom CNG Savings – Example
As you must have watched, major reduction in running costs is the biggest reason why Freedom CNG exists. Now, let us say you buy a 125cc motorcycle costing Rs 1 Lakh that returns an average of 65 kpl on petrol and your monthly running is 2000 km (about 65 kms daily). You would require roughly 31 liters of petrol – which would cost you around Rs 3200 at current insane petrol prices (Rs 105/liter considered). So, your per km running cost comes out to be about Rs 1.60.
Next, your friend spends the same Rs 1 Lakh to buy the Freedom CNG and he uses it for the same application as discussed above. To travel those 2000 km every month, he would need to fill about 20 kilos of CNG (fuel economy of roughly 100 km per kg) – which would cost close to Rs 1500 (Cost of CNG considred to be Rs 75/kg). Which means his running cost would come out to be Rs 0.75. This is lesser than even half of the cost of the petrol motorcycle that we have discussed above.
Bajaj FREEDOM CNG – 3 Variants & Their Differences [Video]
If we extrapolate these same savings of Rs 1700 per month, you end up saving more than Rs 20,000 every year. If we assume that you and your friend keeps the motorcycle for 5 years, you would end up spending almost Rs 1 Lakh more than your friend. Even if you reduce your daily running, these are significant savings over petrol-only motorcycles.
We are, obviously, only talking about fuel costs here and there will definitely be a higher maintenance cost for a dual fuel motorcycle (despite Bajaj claiming against it). And the fuel economy that we have discussed is almost the rated fuel economy by ARAI and it may be lower depending on how you ride. But you get the idea – that with Freedom CNG you will end up saving a lot, over a similarly priced petrol-only motorcycle. Once we get the motorcycle for a thorough test we will definitely validate the exact fuel economy that Freedom returns.
