On the face of it, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is all gung-ho about the introduction of electric vehicles, what with the recent decision to give students doing well in the boards e-bikes, as well as approving in principle a plan to lend money so that ordinary people can buy e-bikes. However, while there was much emphasis on getting EVs on the road particularly two-wheelers and three-wheelers, some of the looming problems were not addressed. Actually, they should have been sorted out before attempting a transition as ambitious as is being done. Pakistan wants to achieve 30 percent of all vehicles being EVs by 2030, in other words, in less than five years. There is a definite advantage to the government of this conversion, for it would mean less consumption of fuel, and thus lower imports. This would be a major saving on the import bill, which saw petroleum products worth $15 billion imported last year, itself down on the $18.9 billion the year before.
However, the government must keep in mind that no one is going to get an e-bike because it is in the national interest. The consumer will do so because it is cheaper. Mr Sharif was thus right to stress the need for quality and durability. However, there was no real looking forward to improving the distribution of electricity. It should be remembered that charging a vehicle takes more time than filling its petrol equivalent. A lot of charging will take place in residential areas, where the DISCOs are hard-put to maintain supply already. What happens when two or three ACs are running, while two or three vehicles are being charged?
It is welcome that there is a new emphasis on motorcycles. Not only are there very many, but they are heavy polluters. The winter smog is large cities will be alleviated. Young louts will have to do silent wheelies on Independence Day and New Year’s Day, and there will be no silencer to remove However, the government should realize that there will be no point in powering electric vehicles with oil-fired electric generation, so WAPDA must convert to renewables like wind, solar and hydel. Both two-wheelers and four-wheelers also have active secondhand markets, which are a potential hurdle, for the cost of battery replacement is so high that EVs have virtually no secondhand market. The government must stay on top of the game, for the prize is definitely worth it.
