Executive Summary
Energy is at the heart of development. Energy poverty can directly be linked to economic and social development and vice versa. Despite a decent-enough power generation capacity, Pakistan currently remains an energy deficient and energy insecure country. While the thrust of all major energy policies in the country up till 2019 has been in the industrial and consumer sectors, the fact remains that transport is a large, untargeted sector, consuming almost one-third of all energy. The paucity of a unified approach towards the transport sector leads not only to poor availability of low-carbon, efficient public transport in all major cities of the countries, but also heavy reliance on expensive imported fuel, and constantly deteriorating air quality in urban centers. While numerous initiatives have been taken by the automakers and governments globally to reduce sectoral and country-specific carbon footprints, reducing unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels, Pakistan has only recently joined the conversation through its firstever national Electric Vehicles (EV) policy 2019. The policy targets 30% of its road vehicles to be EVs by 2030. This means that a window of opportunity has opened to allow global car manufacturers investing in EVs such as Tesla, Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, and Nissan among other large Chinese manufacturers, to see Pakistan as a viable market.
This transition spurred on by the 2019 policy will not only help the country in combating climate change in large urban centers but also provide useful avenue for improved utilization of excess electricity during winters. This benefit can be further enhanced by indigenously developing R&D and testing facilities of key EV components such as the EV Powertrain and Energy Storage System. As EVs take off in Pakistan, indigenization of key components will not only reduce reliance on imported technology and components but also make the transition economically viable. Local component supply chains will be developed leading to local capacity development and sectoral growth. With enough support, Pakistan could well become the regional hub of selected low-cost EV components (along with testing facilities).
This project takes a realistic approach in identifying the most pressing technological EV challenges in the Pakistani context and aims to carry out indigenous R&D and supply chain development of key EV components such as the EV Energy Storage System includes the Battery Management System (BMS) and battery pack designing, and the EV Powertrain designing including Motor Design with control and Power Converters. These indigenously developed state-of-art designed EV components will be sized for the existing locally developed EV which will be integrated into it at the end of the project. Secondly, the project will also identify partnerships within the vehicle manufacturing industry and across other sectors to make recommendations regarding sustainable supply chains for these components, such that the economic benefits from this switch to EV in Pakistan are maximized. Contrary to the internal combustion engine era, where Pakistan has remained dependent on imported technology, the vision is to make Pakistan selfreliant in critical EV sub-systems, and perhaps be able to export these same in the longer term.
The project leading role will be played by USPCAS-E NUST where the cross-disciplinary team will develop the EV Powertrain and EV Energy Storage System. The project will be supported by another crossdisciplinary team from the Centre for Business and Society at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) whose focus would be the development of indigenous supply chains, industry clusters, and partnerships for these components. The purpose is to ensure that the indigenous R&D has uptake that is leveraged for long-term economic and social benefits. Another outcome of the project is the establishment of EV testing facilities at USPCAS-E NUST that will provide services to the local EV industry and R&D platform for the academic and research institutes.
