A consultative meeting arranged by the Climate Change Ministry may well have found the most fruitful segment of electric vehicles where there must be a switchover to electric vehicles, motorcycles. There is an ambitious target to be met, that of converting 30 percent of vehicles on the roads to electricity. With 29 million of the existing 37 million vehicles two-wheelers, clearly a major conversion would go a long way towards achieving that target. It would also help immensely in reducing the fuel import bill.
There are certain obstacles in the way. The network of charging points is poor. Apart from the chicken-and-egg nature of the problem (demand requires charging to be easily available, and
charging will only become available when there is demand), the distribution network is ill-equipped to handle the load that mass electrification would put on it. There is also the question of money. Two-wheelers are usually used by a social segment which may be upwardly mobile, but which has not yet arrived. That means buying a car. This segment is cost-conscious, and has already opted for a vehicle which does not cost that much to run or repair. If the people in it are to be persuaded to replace their bikes, they must be convinced that the fuel savings will be sufficient. The meeting was enthused by the idea of retrofitting, which would also solve the problem of what to do with millions of bikes, but again, are there going to be enough savings to persuade people to pay. Should the state pay? Apart from the fact that the IMF would nix such a proposal, it would create the situation for the sort of major scam that Pakistani bureaucrats seem to specialize in. The idea of retrofitting for all vehicles was raised, but it seems best for the motorcycle segment.
Pakistan assumes it has a surplus of electricity, but the ancillary projects it raises mean that this surplus could soon be converted into a deficit. Just take the EV sector. A growing economy would need more transport, and that would mean more EVs on the road. Also, the price of electricity would start approaching that of petrol and diesel, especially if the distribution set-up found it difficult to handle the load. Still, it is best if the journey on this road was to begin by motorcycle.
