IMC CEO: Electric Vehicles Are Not Suitable for Pakistan

On Monday, Indus Motor Company CEO Ali Asghar Jamali said that hybrid electric vehicles provide a midterm answer because Pakistan lacks the infrastructure required for electric vehicles, especially given the country’s reliance on fossil fuels for power generation.

Hybrids are Better than Electric Vehicles for Pakistan

“With the existing power generating mix, we can safely assert that HEVs can serve all of the purposes of EVs, including carbon emission reduction, oil import bill reduction, localization, and GDP increase,” Jamali stated in the Auto Industry Media Workshop 2022.

Indus Motor Company organized the event. It compared hybrid and electric vehicle technology to see which is the better option for Pakistan right now. The local auto sector’s level of localization and the impact of consecutive car policies on the industry were also discussed.

“Pakistan buys 9.7 billion dollars worth of crude oil for refineries to manufacture petrol and diesel, and petroleum commodities are the greatest import category,” Jamali said, adding that the country’s import bill could be cut in half if it had 100 percent hybrid electric vehicles.

On the other side, he noted, battery-powered electric vehicles rely on electricity, and Pakistan generates 62 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, with up to 30 percent coming through transmission lines.

“EVs will raise local LNG, coal, and crude oil imports and investment in expanding distribution and developing a charging infrastructure,” Jamali added, citing a market analysis undertaken by his company.

Hybrids Bring Variety to Emission Control Methods

“As a result, based on present infrastructure and forex conditions, HEV is Pakistan’s best solution,” he added. Toyota was a pioneer in current HEV car technology, according to the CEO, as evidenced by the fact that 16 million Toyota HEVs were sold out globally. It uses “excellent and best-in-class” series-parallel hybrid technology.

A source believes that a higher share of HEVs than BEVs will persist until 2030 because HEVs were more accepted than BEVs globally for the reasons outlined above. All major automakers were working on HEVs, and the efficiency of HEVs would continue to improve in the future when new generation HEVs or other cars gained safety features.

Experts at the event said that hybrid vehicles bring variety to emission control methods and that Pakistan should consider market dynamics when deciding between hybrids and electric vehicles.

Diversifying these alternatives requires a diverse energy mix. Pakistan’s energy balance is similar to Poland, rather than France or Norway, where renewable energy plays a larger role, necessitating various options to reduce emissions.

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