Bajaj Freedom CNG real-world mileage tested!

- ARAI-approved CNG mileage is 101km/kg

- We did two different mileage tests

- One test returned more than the ARAI mileage

The Bajaj Freedom has been stealing all the limelight lately. It’s not just because of it being the first-ever CNG-powered production motorcycle, but also due to the mileage and savings in the running costs it warrants. The ARAI-approved CNG mileage of the Freedom is 101km/kg. While that’s enticing, we did our own test of the motorcycle to find out the actual fuel efficiency the bike returns in the real world.

Interestingly, we did two different mileage tests for the Freedom with different kinds of riding. The first one was executed in our traditional way, over a distance of 50kms in the city, on a route which has less to moderate traffic. We rode the motorcycle at a relaxed pace, trying to mimic the riding style of an average Freedom buyer. In this test, the motorcycle surprised us by returning an efficiency of 104km/kg! This translates into a range of 208km on a full tank of CNG.

The route for the second test majorly comprised of wide open highways and there was some strain put on the engine of the bike. It was mostly ridden over 70kmph of speed, at times reaching 90kmph as well which is the claimed top speed (CNG mode) of the Freedom. In this test, we could extract a decent 80km/kg which means a range of around 160km.

Now, since we are only considering the CNG mileage, there is a bit of a caveat here. In the first test, while filling up the tank for the calculations, the gas pressure was around 175 which meant it could accommodate less CNG, thereby returning a higher mileage. In the second test, however, the pressure was over 200 and we could fill the tank up with around 1.97kg of CNG which would’ve translated into a lower mileage. In any case, both these figures should undoubtedly make the Freedom a frugal everyday commuter.