The government unveiled Pakistan’s new Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2025-30, announcing a five-year subsidy of over Rs100 billion ($353 million) for electric bikes and rickshaws.

The move comes amid a steady rise in electric vehicle adoption in a market traditionally dominated by Japanese automakers.

Chinese and Korean EV brands are increasingly entering the local market, making these vehicles a more frequent sight in cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Total subsidy over five years will be over Rs100 billion and it will basically be focused on the two-and-three wheelers. This will have subsidized financing for 116,053 electric bikes, 3,171 rickshaws.

The initiative will help with the annual savings of Rs283 billion ($1 billion) in fuel costs and a reduction of 4.5 million tons of carbon emissions.

New EV policy was aimed at disincentivizing internal combustion engine vehicles and promoting electric mobility to help cut greenhouse gas emissions that damage the earth’s ozone layer.

The government aims for 30 percent of all new vehicles produced over the next five years to be electric.

The country previously approved an ambitious National Electric Vehicles Policy (NEVP) in 2019, aiming for electric vehicles to make up 30 percent of all passenger car and heavy-duty truck sales by 2030.

The policy set an even more ambitious target of making 90 percent of all vehicle sales electric by 2040.

Source: Arab news