Pakistan is the world’s fourth-most polluted country, and in November 2024, its capital, Lahore, recorded an Air Quality Index of nearly 1,600 making it the world’s most polluted city.
The rise of motorbikes on Pakistan’s streets (it is the world’s fifth-largest motorbike market, with 27 million registered motorbikes and only 5 million registered cars) has also given rise to hazardous levels of air pollution. Because of their sheer numbers, two- and three-wheeled vehicles are a major source of vehicular pollution in the country—and they pollute more than cars.
A motorbike in Pakistan emits 13% more CO2 and 335% more hydrocarbons than a car. 69% of the air pollution in Lahore—the second-largest city of Pakistan and one of the most polluted cities in the world—comes from motorcycles. Smog released from these vehicles has become so intense in certain areas of the Punjab province that it has prompted the closure of schools and offices.
Though the country adopted its National Electric Vehicle Policy in 2019 with the ambitious goal of electric vehicles making up 30% of all the new vehicle sales by 2030—and 90% by 2040, its progress has been slow. In 2024, manufacturing licenses for electric vehicles were issued to 34 companies enabling local companies to manufacture and sell at a commercial scale.
Tackling affordability
Syed Raza Mohsin left New York for Karachi to address a glaring gap in affordable electric two-wheeler vehicle options in the country, founding electric motorbike company Vlektra in 2020. He says affordability—especially in a country where the average annual wage is $1,035—remains a key hurdle for EV makers to overcome.
“After 2019, we saw all these European and Japanese companies—basically traditional legacy companies making oil-based cars—begin investing in EV technology,” Mohsin says, adding that these electric vehicles remained too expensive, limiting their accessibility to the wider population. “If the price tag is [too high], the majority of the world won’t be able to [afford it].”
With Vlektra, Mohsin has targeted affordability and the brand has expanded to 28 Pakistani cities. Vlektra’s bikes range from 379,000 to 619,000 Pakistani rupees (PKR), which is roughly $1,370 to $2,240. But even with increasing numbers of more accessibly priced vehicles, experts say riders still see it as an imposition when a combustion-engine bike costs less than half the price of his least expensive product.
“The math is very simple. If you buy an electric motorcycle, it’s probably going to cost you double or triple [what a combustion-engine bike would],” says Mekaeel Malik, founder of Climate Finance Pakistan, an impact investment fund that helps scale climate ventures in Pakistan. “But the additional cost of that investment is remunerated within the same year. That’s a mind-boggling figure.”
A key part of the long-term savings from EVs is the money that riders don’t spend on fuel. In Pakistan, fuel costs have more than doubled in Pakistan in the last three years, increasing from 106 PKR (38 cents) per liter in early 2021 to 253 PKR (91 cents) per liter in early 2025.
Hasan Zaidi, a 30-year-old professional based in Karachi bought his electric bike in October 2021 when petrol prices were slowly increasing. “Having an electric vehicle, I was not exposed to that inflationary impact at all,” he says. Zaidi used to pay around 5,600 PKR ($20) every month when using his gas-powered bike, a cost that has been eliminated after he switched to an electric bike.
Huzaifa bin Saeed, a 23-year-old university student, commutes daily to his university on his electric bike. He describes his EV experience as “immaculate, stress-free and really smooth,” adding, “I’ve driven my electric bike around 5 to 6,000 kilometers, and I haven’t spent a single penny on it.”
Can Pakistan’s infrastructure support an EV revolution?
Even as companies like Vlektra address the cost of switching to electric vehicles, scaling adoption in a developing country like Pakistan will come up against its lagging electric grid. Urban cities in Pakistan face hours-long power cuts (up to 14 hours a day during the summer), with rural areas facing longer electricity outages than cities. Mohammad Hadi, the founder of electric mobility startup EZ Bikes, says that long and frequent outages put certain restrictions on the mass adoption of EVs. “You have to make your operations as viable as possible,” he says. “And if those are not sufficient because you’re talking about a rural area where on average they get four hours of electricity a day, then you don’t do business there,” he says.
The installation of rooftop solar panels to generate electricity in Pakistan is becoming more common to navigate electricity outages. The country has huge solar potential, but broader utilization has been slow. In 2020, renewable energy accounted for only 3% of total power generation in the country.
The second biggest impediment to the adoption of EVs in Pakistan is the nonexistent charging ecosystem. According to Electromaps, there were only eight EV stations in Pakistan in late 2023. “If we have (charging) infrastructure in place, I see no reason for people to not go for this technology,” says Hasan. Huzaifa adds that lack of EV charging stations in Karachi restrict him from riding his electric bike for longer distances for fear that it might run out of battery midway. In November 2024, the Pakistani government unveiled an ambitious plan to install 10,000 EV charging stations across Pakistan by 2030. However, only time will tell how effectively this plan is implemented.
“In the entire world, the (charging) ecosystem is created by the government, but our government is a little behind in this regard,” Raza says. EV startups in Pakistan, however, are taking matters into their own hands. Battery swapping stations are being built which allow battery electric vehicles to quickly exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one. This charging network allows EV owners to quickly replace batteries without waiting for their vehicle’s battery to charge. EZ Bikes has built battery swap stations across 40 locations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Hadi is confident that Pakistani cities can get inspired and replicate India’s push to nearly double EV penetration among two- and three-wheel vehicles by 2030 to achieve cleaner air. In Bengaluru—the most populous city in South India—the number of vehicles will increase by 1.5 times by 2030, but the addition of 2.3 million electric vehicles will prevent more than 3.3 million tons of CO2 emissions.
“I think we can absolutely do this. It’s viable and we could really make a very big difference on air pollution in Pakistan,” Hadi says. Despite the challenges, he says the problem solving required is “part of the beauty of doing business in an emerging market.”
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