Pakistan Wants e-bikes Everywhere, But Has No Regulator, No Battery Policy, and a Grey Market Problem

Pakistan wants to replace petrol motorcycles with e-bikes, but a National Assembly sub-committee heard on Monday that the country has no dedicated regulator for e-motorcycles, no lithium battery policy, and a thriving grey market in refurbished scrap batteries that could cost riders Rs90,000 to replace when they fail.

The government’s push to electrify Pakistan’s motorcycle fleet is one of its most visible clean energy commitments. Motorcycles are everywhere in Pakistan; they are the primary mode of transport for millions of middle- and lower-income families, a critical delivery infrastructure for the growing e-commerce economy, and a significant source of urban air pollution and fuel import expenditure. Replacing petrol-powered two-wheelers with electric alternatives makes economic and environmental sense on paper.

On the ground, it is running into a wall of fragmented regulation, absent policy, and a battery market operating largely outside any formal oversight framework. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries’ sub-committee heard all of it on Monday, and the picture that emerged was of a government pushing a major industrial transition without having built the regulatory foundation it requires.

Too Many Ministries, No Single Authority

Sub-committee convener Dr Mehreen Bhutto opened the session by flagging what she described as a fragmented regulatory framework, with too many ministries and departments involved in overseeing different aspects of the e-motorcycle sector, with no single body coordinating the whole.

The committee’s briefing confirmed her concern in granular detail. Manufacturing licences for e-motorcycles are issued by the Engineering Development Board under the Ministry of Industries and Production. Quality standards for e-motorcycles and their batteries are certified by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, which falls under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Charging infrastructure will be developed by the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority under the Ministry of Energy. Battery imports classified as scrap are handled by the Customs Department and the Ministry of Commerce. And vehicles on roads are regulated by provincial authorities.

That is five separate regulatory jurisdictions, federal ministries, provincial governments, and specialised bodies, each covering one piece of a sector that functions as a single integrated system. A manufacturer, an importer, a battery supplier, and a consumer all interact with different authorities who have no formal coordination mechanism between them.

The consequence is exactly what Dr Bhutto identified: Pakistan has no dedicated regulatory authority for electric two-wheelers. A sector the government is actively promoting as the future of personal transportation in Pakistan has no single watchdog responsible for ensuring it develops safely, fairly, and with adequate consumer protection.

The Battery Problem Is Severe and Getting Worse

The most alarming testimony at the sub-committee concerned batteries, the most critical, most expensive, and most safety-sensitive component of any electric vehicle.

Nearly all lithium-ion batteries used in Pakistan’s e-motorcycles are imported. That alone creates supply chain vulnerability and price exposure that domestic manufacturing could eventually address. But the more immediate problem is what is happening in the import channel itself.

Used lithium-ion batteries are entering Pakistan classified as scrap, a customs categorisation that carries lower duties than new battery imports and falls under a different regulatory oversight chain. Once inside the country, unlicensed and unregistered operators refurbish these scrap cells and sell them as functional battery packs for e-motorcycles. The grey market for refurbished scrap batteries is operating openly, according to manufacturer representative Dr Muhammad Amjad, because high import duties on genuine lithium-ion batteries have made the economics of the grey market attractive and the absence of enforcement has made it risk-free.

The consequences for consumers are already materialising. Dr Bhutto noted that some manufacturers are installing low-quality batteries that become unusable within two to three years. When they fail, replacement batteries cost as much as Rs90,000, a figure that would represent a devastating financial shock for the lower-income households that electric motorcycles are specifically supposed to benefit.

An e-motorcycle marketed as a cost-saving alternative to a petrol bike but equipped with a substandard battery that fails in two years and costs Rs90,000 to replace is not a clean energy solution. It is a consumer trap, and the regulatory vacuum that allows it to exist is a policy failure, not a market problem.

Lead-Acid Batteries: The Loophole Nobody Closed

The battery crisis has a secondary dimension that compounds the primary one. Dr Amjad told the committee that manufacturing licences issued by the EDB do not specifically require the use of lithium-ion batteries. This has allowed some manufacturers to install cheaper lead-acid dry batteries in vehicles sold as e-motorcycles, a substitution that significantly degrades performance, shortens battery life further, and removes the environmental benefits that make electric vehicles worth promoting.

Lead-acid batteries are heavier, less energy-dense, charge more slowly, and degrade faster than lithium-ion alternatives. A motorcycle fitted with a lead-acid battery is not meaningfully comparable to one with a lithium-ion pack, but under Pakistan’s current licensing framework, both can be sold as e-motorcycles without distinction. Consumers have no reliable way to know which battery technology is in the vehicle they are buying, and no regulatory standard requires manufacturers to be transparent about it.

No Mechanism to Report Illegal Operators

Manufacturer Shahid Bajwa raised a question during the sub-committee session that captured the regulatory vacuum in its most practical form. The industry faces illegal battery manufacturers operating without licences and selling unsafe products into the market. If a legitimate manufacturer wants to report them, Bajwa asked, where do they go? Is there any forum for such complaints?

The question went unanswered in a meaningful sense. Because the answer, in the current framework, is that no clear, dedicated mechanism exists. Multiple regulators have partial jurisdiction. None has clear primary responsibility. A complaint about an illegal battery manufacturer would need to navigate EDB, PSQCA, Customs, and potentially provincial authorities to find the right door and would likely fall through the gaps between them.

What Needs to Happen

There was broad agreement at the sub-committee level on the immediate priorities. PSQCA needs to strengthen its technical capacity and establish dedicated lithium battery testing laboratories, facilities capable of actually verifying whether a battery meets safety and performance standards before it enters the market or is installed in a vehicle. The localisation of component manufacturing needs a specific support mechanism, given that the sector currently imports nearly everything at cost levels that make grey market alternatives economically rational.

EDB Chief Executive Officer Hammad Mansoor offered some reassurance, informing the committee that a new battery policy is being finalised and that many of the issues raised will be addressed once it is approved. The policy’s existence is a positive signal. Its timeline and the specifics of what it will cover have not been publicly detailed.

Dr Bhutto stressed a point that is worth emphasising beyond the committee room: electric two-wheelers pose unique safety risks compared to conventional petrol motorcycles if batteries and components fail. A petrol motorcycle with a mechanical failure stops. An e-motorcycle with a battery failure can cause fires, explosions, and injuries whose severity depends entirely on the quality of the battery chemistry, battery management system, and safety certifications, none of which are currently being consistently enforced in Pakistan’s market.

The Bigger Picture: A Transition the Government Has Not Prepared For

Pakistan’s electric motorcycle sector is growing because the economic case for switching from petrol is real; fuel costs, import dependence, urban air quality, and the total cost of ownership calculation all point toward electrification. The market is responding to those signals even in the absence of adequate regulation.

But a market transition happening faster than its regulatory framework can accommodate is a recipe for the outcomes the sub-committee heard about on Monday: substandard batteries, grey market imports, lead-acid substitutions, and consumer harm that will ultimately discredit the very transition the government is trying to promote.

The government cannot credibly push Pakistanis to switch to electric motorcycles while the regulatory environment allows scrap batteries to be sold as new, permits lead-acid packs to be installed in vehicles marketed as lithium-powered, provides no mechanism to report illegal operators, and divides oversight between five jurisdictions with no coordinating authority.

The Bottom Line

Pakistan’s e-motorcycle ambition is running ahead of the policy infrastructure required to make it safe, fair, and sustainable. The NA sub-committee’s session on Monday did not reveal anything that industry participants did not already know; it simply put it on the parliamentary record for the first time. The battery policy being finalised by EDB is a necessary step. A dedicated regulatory authority for electric two-wheelers is another. Closing the scrap battery import loophole is a third. Until these foundations are in place, Pakistan is not building an electric motorcycle sector; it is building a market for cheap batteries and consumer disappointment, dressed up as a clean energy transition.