Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has that 30 percent of the vehicle system in the country will be converted to electric cars by the year 2030.
Addressing a news conference, he said that an Electrical Vehicle Policy will be devised within fifteen days under the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Advisor said this step will prove to be helpful in bringing a significant reduction in the import of oil and will also improve the environment and help deal with the challenge of smog in winters.
He said the government is focused on making Pakistan an exporter of electric vehicles within a period of five years. A vehicle examination system is also being introduced in the transport sector to check the condition of vehicles, he said.
To a question, Malik Amin Aslam said that the 10 billion tree tsunami is a project for Pakistan’s bright future. He said the project is also receiving appreciation by the several international institutions.
Aslam said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given the green signal for adopting electric cars and green economy initiatives.
The prime minister, while chairing the first meeting of the Committee on Climate Change, was presented a comprehensive and detailed briefing on researches made on environment-friendly impacts and economic benefits of electric cars.
The Prime Minister has directed to form a policy and mechanism for adopting electric-cars within 15 days, he added.
The Advisor explains,
There has been a trend that around 60 percent of the world countries started shifting automobiles to modern electric cars which release around 70 % fewer emissions. However, countries like China and India among others have set targets for 2030. Therefore, the prime minister has been apprised to devise a mechanism for setting up targets and policy-making to adopt electric cars. There are four major benefits of electric cars: the import of oil will be reduced and the country will be able to save US$2 billion in terms of oil expenses, eco-friendly technology to reduce vehicular emissions to a reasonable level, opportunity to become electric car exporter like China which is a leader in this market, it can help generate green economy.
Lithium Ion batteries are another potential component in green energy solutions which is getting cheaper day by day and has become a useful technology applied in electric cars.
“We are working to introduce Lithium Ion batteries in the market and will start manufacturing them where the existing battery producers could easily chip in this technology. The CNG stations will be transformed into E-car charging stations,” he added.
The committee meeting was a high profile session where chief ministers of all the provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir, commerce, planning ministers and other stakeholders participated.