Ahsan Munir<\/p>\n
The Engineering Development Board (EDB), under the Ministry of Industries & Production (MoIP), has been tasked with drafting the New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, create green jobs, and promote sustainable transportation. Currently, a draft of the NEV policy is available on the MoIP website. According to the draft, NEVs include battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVS)-which are also called hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has set an ambitious goal to bring NEV sales to 30% by 2030. Beyond the policy period, the GoP aims to reach NEV sales of 60% by 2040.
\nHowever, FCEV is only mentioned at the start of the draft; the rest of the policy is apparently dedicated to developing a national action plan for electric vehicles (EVs) adoption, based on the premise that the country has surplus electricity, which EVs could use. Further, ambitious goals of NEV adoption set by the GoP rest on various assumptions and ifs. The draft policy assumes that for two and three-wheelers NEVs, there is \u2018potential\u2019 to achieve a high level of \u2018localisation\u2019 within two years if the right policy interventions are applied. However, the localisation or indiginisation by the private sector depends upon economies of scale and scope. So the question is: will we have enough EVs over the next few years to interest the private sector to invest in technology which is evolving at a pace? Also, the NEV policy implementation assumes seamless, hiccup-free coordination and synergy between various federal and provincial entities to streamline NEV adoption.
\nNext, NEVs are to be exempted from toll, token and registration taxes. Thus, the government is planning to provide subsidies in a cash-strapped economy. Further, to set up charging stations along motorways and in cities, the government will provide subsidies and incentives. Thus, while people are being heavily taxed, the government is providing subsidies to a fledgling sector, with a bit of an uncertain future. Moreover, the charging stations will be provided with more affordable electricity tariffs, while the existing industrial and domestic users are charged tariffs which are affecting the industrial economy, resulting in deindustrialisation, and loss of revenues and jobs.
\nTo support NEVs, the draft policy outlines an infrastructure which includes charging stations, technical training of personnel to handle\/ repair NEVs, and training of rescue staff to handle NEV accidents. Also, a major part of any NEV is its batteries. Therefore, a whole framework is being developed to collect, recycle, and safely dispose of NEV batteries. The policy also envisages the establishment of a New Energy Vehicle Centre (NEVC) to inter alia promote research and innovation. Consequently, a plethora of support networks need to be developed and operationalised to support NEVs on roads. To implement the framework, the draft policy establishes a steering committee to oversee a National Action Plan to ensure coordination and implementation of the policy.
\nThus, the government is rolling out an ambitious NEV adoption (read EV adoption) policy underpinned by taxing an economy which is already crippled by taxes, inflation and high electricity, gas and oil prices. The government is fixated on EV adoption with the argument that it has a narrow window of two to three years to join the EV bandwagon or will miss the future. However, the policy is all sanguine about EV adoption; there are no risk assessments, such as what if another disruptive technology, such as hydrogen fuel cells, upends the EV technology, which would render all the investment in EVs obsolete.
\nIn any vibrant economy, the railway system carries the bulk of goods and cargoes across the country, while road transport is only used to transport goods from distribution points to retailers. On the contrary, in Pakistan, with failing and dilapidated railway infrastructure, most of the goods are transported across the country through roads. Again, in green economies, pipelines are used to transport oil across the country. In our country, oil is transported via trucks from Karachi to all over the country.
\nIn short, instead of relying on ambitious projects requiring money, time and potential risks, attention may be paid to feasible, cost-effective projects which would yield immediate results for a green, sustainable economy, and save the country billions of rupees in terms of oil consumed for transporting goods and oil across the country.<\/p>\n
The writer is a freelance columnist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahsan Munir The Engineering Development Board (EDB), under the Ministry of Industries & Production (MoIP), has been tasked with drafting the New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, create green jobs, and promote sustainable transportation. Currently, a draft of the NEV policy is available on the MoIP website. According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13113],"class_list":{"0":"post-491153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-ahsan-munir"},"yoast_head":"\n