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THE Middle East war has reshaped conditions in Pakistan's automotive market. With petrol and diesel both at over Rs400 per litre — up from Rs 258.17 and Rs 275.70 before the conflict — consumers have been forced to consider shifting to electrified vehicles.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for a 30 per cent shift to electric vehicles within five years, a target his government says would reduce the fuel import bill by $4.5 billion annually. But questions about how that target is to be achieved, and at whose expense, are still to be answered in their entirety.
Stakeholders across the automotive and energy sectors hold differing views on which technologies to prioritise, how to protect the domestic industry, and what role the state should play in building charging infrastructure.
For electric vehicle manufacturers already operating in Pakistan, the most frequently cited concern is not physical infrastructure but policy continuity.
