Energy costs are on a steep rise, threatening the fate of electric vehicles (EVs) across the globe.
Industry aficionados have told Guardian that the soaring energy cost, raw material costs, a severe value chain crisis, and a widespread decline in disposable income have dealt a heavy blow to EV production and sales.
They believe that this trend will dissuade stakeholders from facilitating the construction of charging infrastructure, making electric vehicles less desirable. Several European countries have reported a decline in EV sales as of late due to a rise in electricity prices.
An automobile analyst Stefan Bratzel states that the electricity rate hike requires urgent attention on the part of automakers. He further added:
The electricity price explosion could end up being an acute danger for vehicle transition, and we need to be careful about it. If electric cars become more expensive to use, the surge in electric mobility is in danger of collapsing, because hardly anyone is going to buy an electric car.
Although the government is incentivizing car companies and customers to opt for electric vehicles, the rising energy costs completely nullify those benefits.
EV Normalization Efforts in Pakistan
The government of Pakistan has recently become a huge proponent of electric mobility, especially due to the ongoing climate change crisis. It has formed policies that incentivize EV normalization on the part of the people and the automakers.
However, skepticism prevails among the people regarding EV adoption due to a few reasons:
- EVs are expensive
- The charging infrastructure is almost nonexistent
- The driving range is not ideal
- The country is already running short on electricity
Even commercial EVs are currently only confined to big cities due to limited practicality. These concerns are a constant impediment to EV adoption on a massive scale.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are an important part of meeting global goals on climate change. They feature prominently in mitigation pathways that limit warming to well-below 2C or 1.5C, which would be inline with the Paris Agreement’s targets.
Pakistan is the only sovereign country (there are 195 of them) in the world which has applied an RD of 100% on the imports of EV, while just witnessing climate change at its best.
How that makes any sense, remains questionable while maybe having alternate motives!