OPINION
Zubair Khaliq
Luxury EVs, forex, and why they could change Pakistan
a very particular segment, and any EV with a decent driving range is currently out of range for most people. And while this is the case as of now, and there is a long road ahead to go before EVs are able to provide cheap transportation solutions for the general public, there is no doubt that EVs are going to be the future of transport. It seems that Pakistan has caught onto this, and around two years ago the government made the very progressive move of giving import duty based incentives for EVs. The step was hailed as a good move in the right direction. Pakistan’s transportation sector is entirely dependent on imported oil and thus foreign exchange. Driving EVs can save oil, and even the small segment of luxury car buyers can help out in this regard by buying EV. The step by the government became quite successful ll over the world, Electric Vehicles (EVs) fall under and stirred enormous interest in the hearts and minds of the luxury category of automobiles. This is a probthousands of car lovers. More than 1000 Electric Vehicles lem because their biggest selling point is that they were imported, and many Pakistanis experienced the are cheap in terms of fuel (electricity) costs and are future of driving for the first time. environmentally friendly, but for them to get wider The apprehensions associated with these vehicles patronage they need to be cheaper. Currently, EV are slowly melting away. People are finding out that it batteries are such that being cheaper makes little sense. is practically possible to travel without using a drop of Tesla, Audi, Mercedes, BMW and several Chinese contenders petrol or diesel. The future looks good. Companies are are trying to convince luxury SUV and luxury car buyers to switch thinking of investing millions into charging infrastructo the clean EV variant. However, this is once again focused on ture in Pakistan. Investors are waiting for more detailed regulations to come out before giving final shape to their feasibilities for the EV charging network. To invest millions and create hundreds of jobs. The biggest apprehension that there has been in this regard is a lack of charging Zubair Khaliq stations in the country for these cars. The government in this regard has proposed that CNG Stations (which stand abandoned as of now) can become ideal locations for EV is a US qualified Electrical Charging stations. It made sense since the infrastructure such as appropriate electrical Engineer with over 25 years connection, transformer and back-up generator are already available at CNG stations. of experience in the field of This idea has also started materializing. A private company has invested millions of Rupees and converted CNG stations into fast EV charging stations as a pilot project. Now, power. Current he serves most EVs can travel on the motorway from Lahore to Islamabad with a charge break of 30 as the CEO of Multiline to 45 minutes. The abandoned sites have come to life. Everyday several EVs are charging Engineering. there and attendants and the managers in the waiting area have all started thriving again. Several OMCs (PSO, Attock and GO) have installed fast EV chargers on their petrol pumps as well. Many petrol pumps on the new motorways will now be equipped with
This is not just for the rich, it is a future investment opportunity that we must take now
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