The experts at a webinar on Pakistan’s Electric Vehicles’ Market Potential said that shifting from existing fuel-based automobiles to EV or Electric Vehicles was elusive without an optimized funding stream and stakeholder collaboration at the government and private sector level.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) as part of its Monday webinar series organized an online discussion on “Pakistan’s Electric Vehicle Market: Challenges, Opportunities, and the 2030 Agenda” here at the SDPI.
On the occasion, DrNaveedArshad said that battery technology is evolving and requires research and development along with enhanced capital and technical resources, where the latter could be chipped in through academia.
DrArshad, Associate Professor, LUMS highlighted that internationally, massive funding is available for EVs and the country would not need the IMF or World Bank to get funding, as the global community wants EVs for offsetting carbon emissions and not economic development. “Pakistan can tap that money by linking its EV transition ambition with GHG emissions aligning it with GHG reduction perspective,” he said. He mentioned that global climate finance in this regard could be managed through a competitive process that would favor only well-planned and better projects, adding, “The faster we go the faster we will get our goal.”
Ahmed Sajeel from Deewan Motors BMW said the Japanese automobile companies are resisting EVs which is unsustainable in the prevailing milieu as the international automobile industry has decided to shift towards EVs.
He noted that the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination is very cooperative and welcoming in terms of EVs, but the country needs a sustainable policy framework to work in a meaningful way to avoid further delay.
