The government has taken a first step in removing the barriers to eclectic vehicles by obliging all petrol pumps to have a charging station, thus making it possible to have an electric vehicle in Islamabad. However, this may be a matter of trying to seem ‘woke’ and showing political correctness. EV manufacturers have said there was a low offtake, a low demand. The charging stations might alleviate that, but one problem shows the kind of difficulty that EVs will face, and that is the charging time. If there are enough EVs, there is a prospect of long lines. Drivers are used to quick turnover times when filling up on petrol, and may be irked by the relatively longer time it takes for charge. Also, Islamabad is a city of outsiders, and thus EVs will be used only by those who can manage on a single-charge round-trip, which may not reach to Lahore. It should be remembered that Islamabad residents returning to their villages will probably not find a charging station there.
The charging station is not a necessity. One can use a domestic connection. The concept is that one charges the EV at home at night and then drives round discharging it. One important issue is resale. One of the phenomena associated with EVs is that their batteries have limited life, but cannot be simply replaced, as that is so expensive that one might as well buy a new EV. That is the reason that the first EV made, the Tesla, are coming to the end of their battery lives, and are becoming piles of junk.
Another issue is that it may not lead to as much of a saving of foreign exchange as thought. Fuel will still have to be imported to generate the electricity to be sent to the charging station. Can the distribution system support so much EV-charging? It had been thought that this power would be used to absorb IPP capacity, but now that IPPs are switching over to the take-and-pay model, it does not seem the capacity charge issue remains as big a problem as before. However, there is a revolution coming in the transport sector, and the government is doing well to take steps that show it will do its duty and try to remain ahead of the curve.
