Pakistan is set to join the league of Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing countries in the world. According to sources the Board of Investment (BOI) has decided to facilitate the entry of China’s largest automobile manufacturer in Pakistan for setting up a state of the art EV manufacturing facility in the country.
According to the details released by the BOI MG JW Automobile Pakistan Private Limited will establish an electric car manufacturing plan with an estimated foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs663 million and local investment worth Rs637 million. MG JW Automobile (MG Pakistan) is a joint venture between JW-SEZ (Private) Limited and SMIL, which is a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corporation Limited. SAIC is a Chinese state-owned automotive design and manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai with multinational operations. It is the largest auto manufacturer in China and the seventh-largest in the world.
The government plans that 30pc of all new cars, trucks, buses, vans and jeeps, and 50pc of all two-, three- and four-wheelers will be electric vehicles by 2030. By 2040, 90pc of vehicles on the road are envisioned as electric. A local EV manufacturing plant would be a significantly important step towards realising this goal.
While Chinese carmakers are in favour of a direct shift to a complete EV future, Japanese automobile companies want the government to follow a route where both electric vehicles and hybrid (including plugged-in hybrid) electric vehicles are allowed to compete.
