Can Electric Cars Save Pakistan’s Hazardous Air Quality?
By: M. Ghazir Freeman
Tags: Fossil Fuels, Pakistan, Renewable Energy, Electric Car, Climate Change

It’s no secret that every country is concerned about climate change. High carbon pollution has become a posing crisis that humanity has yet to overcome through some advancements in its technology.

Photo by Ernest Ojeh on Unsplash

According to WHO, air pollution kills approximately 7 million people every year. This risk is, however, increased in most developing countries suffering from the highest exposures of carbon dioxide.

Unfortunately, this is where Pakistan comes in. In 2019 Pakistan was listed to be the second most polluted country after Bangladesh.



According to IQAir, Lahore suffers from high levels of air pollution emanated by both vehicle and industrial emissions.

Moreover, farmers dwelling in rural areas annually burn crop stubbles that further contribute to blinding smog in the urban cities.



This burning crop sequence usually occurs in October to November and by the time winter begins these pollutants gets trapped in the cold atmosphere; unable to escape, then the emitting carbon emissions by vehicles and factories are further stuck in the cities forming a giant deadly smog that sneaks into households and people’s lungs.

Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash

This smog crisis began in 2017 when IQAir monitored Pakistan’s air quality, they were shocked to see the results and when they published it on social media outlets, this quickly becomes a concerning topic among the people and the government.



However, the government, at that time, criticised this statement and brushed it off by saying that these pollutants may merely cause “coughing” for some sensitive groups.



Not only these pollutants are dangerous for the old and infirm, but long exposures to carbon dioxide and pollutants without a mask pose an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infection.



The air pollution in Lahore is constantly ranked as hazardous to breathe by people and animals. According to the World Health Organisation, this poses an increased risk of premature death among people and reduced life expectancy.



Unappealing Transport Options Contribute to Carbon Emissions:

From Pixabay

Lack of comfortable and timely transportation leads people to purchase their own rides. Everyone in Pakistan possesses some kinds of transport, be it in form of bikes or cars, both runs on petrol and diesel.



Not only this creates unnecessary traffic on the highway but further contributes to carbon emissions to scatter in the environment.

To mitigate this drastic carbon dioxide pollution, Pakistan needs to look for other greener options.

Excessive traffic on the road can be discouraged when there are clean options like metros (or subways) that are powered by electricity made available to people to get to their work or school with comfort and security.

Countries to “Phase out” Cars powered by Fossil Fuels and Initiatives to be taken by Pakistan:

Image by Taken from Pixabay

Most countries have endorsed the notion to completely phase out transportation powered by fossil fuel technology, such as petrol, liquefied petroleum gas, and diesel in the future.



To take things further, most countries have plans to ban petrol and diesel-powered cars in the next two decades. Whereas some are to introduce partial bans depending on the fuel the vehicle takes.



High air pollution and aggravating human health leave us no excuse to not follow the same initiatives. As the transportation segment in Pakistan, accounts for 43% of the total carbon emissions. These emissions claim over 135,000 lives every year.



To counteract this persisting problem, Prime Minister Imran Khan has had taken an ambitious step towards a sustainable future for Pakistan by announcing his Reforestation Project to plant 10 billion trees across the country. This project took effect in 2018 and will finish in 2023.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

However, planting trees will not be enough to tackle this problem alone. As deforestation is happening just as quickly and the only way to mitigate this problem is by encouraging electric vehicles (EV) to fill in the gap of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.



Fortunately, one of the ambitious goals of the PTI government was to introduce EVs to the Pakistani market. To encourage this, the Electric Vehicle Policy was announced and improved further on 22 December 2020.

From Tweeter

As per Geo News, the long-hated Federal Excise Duty (FED) is lifted from the taxation list. This is a green flag for the intrigued customers of this segment as the price of the upcoming EVs will be reduced.



This new EV policy can be alluring for those anticipating EV auto giants that are searching the market to establish their plants and inaugurate their sales.



Pakistan is already in talks with several auto giants, and now with these new incentives set earlier in the EV policy, we can expect the possible production of electric cars, vans, buses, rickshaws, and bikes.

The arrival of electric vehicles in the country will have a significant impact on the economy.

As per Dawn News, the Ministry of Climate Change believes to achieve a whopping $2 billion reduction in oil imports annually.



Moreover, the Ministry believes that the introduction of EVs can create hundreds of thousands of jobs among the people across the country.



The Minister in this regard also aims to transform the 3,000 gas stations that are shut closed due to scarcity of gas into Electric Charging Stations.



The government is already negotiating with the leading oil companies in Pakistan to set up charging stations to further facilitate the soaring demands of EVs.



After the first charging station was set up at one of the PSO stations in Islamabad, the Federal Ministry of Energy aims to install 24 more charging stations across the country.



Challenges Being Faced:

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As every new product is rather looked doubtfully, this doesn’t exempt the very necessitated electric cars either. Most masses tend to underestimate the capabilities an electric vehicle has over its internal combustion engine counterpart.



For a long time, EVs were criticised and most automakers believed the technology to produce a functional electric car is yet to be discovered in the future.



However, this changed when Tesla, an electric car company, established its brand name and started rolling out its models, this forced other automakers to innovate or be left behind.



As of today, many automakers are working religiously to produce their own type of EVs before internal combustion engine vehicles are banned by most countries.



Advantages of Electric cars over Internal Combustion Engine cars:

Photo by Ye Massa on Unsplash

Electric cars have many advantages. They are fast, smooth, fun to drive, noiseless, secure, efficient and practically maintenance-free (no oil change, transmission fluid, spark plugs, fuel filters, or drive belts).



For instance, the running cost of an EV is set to be about Rs. 5–6 per kilometres as compared to Rs. 20–30 per kilometres of a petrol-based car.

Furthermore, research indicates that a typical electric car of today emits 50% fewer gas emissions than an average combustion engine car.

Similarly, an electric car also triumphs over to even the most efficient internal combustion engine cars in the market today, by being 30% more efficient throughout its lifecycle.



As electric cars don’t have exhaust, which means they emit no carbon dioxide footprints behind them, this is in favour of people, running outdoor activities such as errands, cycling, jogging, or just going on to their daily lives.

No engine means no sound. This gives an electric car an advantageous position as you can silently crawl up behind a pedestrian in your car!



Just kidding. On a positive standpoint, electric cars don’t contribute to noise pollution. This can create a considerably peaceful environment for everyone.



Making an Electric Vehicle Takes A Lot of Energy:

Image by Urs Widmer from Pixabay

As electric cars are relatively newer than their internal combustion engine counterpart, the emissions emanated to manufacture an electric car is higher than of an internal combustion engine car.



This is because of the lithium-ion batteries that are used to power the electric motor(s). As of now, the researchers are trying to find efficient ways to produce these batteries.



Every year, new advancements in electric vehicles are introduced, this could one day bring down the price of the batteries, making them more affordable for everyone.



Despite the emissions produced to manufacture these cars, an electric car is still a greener option as it will produce reduced emissions through its lifecycle.



A Step Towards the Renewable Source of Energy:

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

When we think of retrieving the lost environment, we must not neglect the elephant in the room; the electric power plant, which is also a big contributor to this air pollution, but we can’t simply shut it down.



When talking about electric cars being greener options for the environment, we must not forget that they charge on the same electricity that is produced by burning fossil fuels.



If Pakistan is certain about this transition to electric cars then it should look towards a renewable source of energy, at least for the sake of electric vehicles.

As for now, we also need to take electric producing companies into consideration. As the transition to electric cars is huge, this begs the question of whether the electric generating companies in Pakistan be able to cater to the soaring demands of the electric vehicles. As EVs require uninterrupted charging at homes or at the charging station.



For the time being, all we can say is that Pakistan is indeed headed towards an ambitious plan for the future. The arrival of the electric vehicles will be a huge leap forward for the country.



But Pakistan has to hurry as humans lives are on the line.