ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said on Monday that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government was working on a plan to convert public transport into electric vehicles in metropolitan cities.

Speaking at a ceremony held to sign a memorandum of understanding with British company EGV to build electric buses locally, he said that after introducing an electric vehicle charging station in Islamabad, the government had decided to install EV charging stations on motorways across the country.

The minister said EGV, which is Europe’s largest bus manufacturing company, would be assembling electric vehicles in Pakistan. This is the second agreement the government has signed with a foreign company for manufacturing electric buses, he added.

Mr Chaudhry said that in the first phase, buses would be run in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. He said 40 per cent of public transport buses would be shifted to electricity in 10 years.

Criticising Shehbaz Sharif for launching the Orange Line Metro Train project, the minister said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had spent Rs60 billion and the present government would have to give an annual subsidy of Rs12bn for the project.

He said that over the next two to three years, the entire motorway network would shift to electric vehicle charging.

Mr Chaudhry had announced last month that battery-powered electric buses would operate in Pakistan from this year.

Meanwhile, Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Limited and Skywell Automobile (Chinese firm) signed a strategic alliance agreement to set up an electric vehicles value chain in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2020