This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
Pakistan hurtled toward its electric future in 2024. In August, Chinese EV giant BYD said it would set up its first South Asian production plant in the country. Three months later, the Pakistani government unveiled a policy that aims to transition a third of all new vehicles to electric by 2030.
Meanwhile, several local companies hastened plans to launch and produce EVs in a market flooded with imported electric cars from international brands such as Audi, BMW and Hyundai.
A front-runner among the local EV makers was Sazgar Engineering Works, a Lahore-based automotive manufacturer best known as Pakistan’s largest rickshaw maker.
In January 2024, Sazgar, which has made conventional rickshaws since 2005, became the first company to receive a license to produce e-rickshaws in Pakistan. The company is betting on e-rickshaws to boost mass adoption of EVs in the country. Given its legacy in the sector, Sazgar is poised to lead Pakistan’s EV revolution, automobile experts told Rest of World.
“The company has the infrastructure and resources to introduce e-rickshaws in the local market on a large scale,” said Sulman Ali, editor at PakWheels, a digital automobile publication and marketplace. “Sazgar will set the ground for other companies in making e-rickshaws as a primary public transport choice.”
Through the last decade, Sazgar has held sway over 30% of Pakistan’s rickshaw market, which currently comprises over a million rickshaws and 40 competitors. The company produces up to 2,500 rickshaws every month — most of which run on traditional fuels. It also exports its rickshaws to 30 countries including Sri Lanka, Liberia, Qatar, the US, and Japan, Syed Hasnain Mehdi, Sazgar’s EV project manager, told Rest of World.
After Sazgar launched in 1991, it made home appliances and automobile rims. The company started manufacturing rickshaws in 2005, and quickly dominated the segment – by 2020, it had expanded into car production. Sazgar ventured into the EV sector in 2022, when it collaborated with Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor to launch Pakistan’s first locally assembled hybrid EV car. It has since led the market for hybrid EVs in the country.
Hybrid cars have helped Sazgar generate lucrative returns. The company registered a profit of 7.94 billion Pakistani rupees ($28.4 million) in 2024, a nearly 700% increase from the same period last year. In September 2024, it outlined a $21.6 million investment to expand operations, which included additional EV assembly units. The company did not specify whether these assembly units would be used for its cars or rickshaws.
Since Sazgar received its e-rickshaw production license in 2024, it has manufactured a monthly average of 30 e-rickshaws, Mian Muhammad Ali Hameed, the company’s executive director, told Rest of World.
These numbers reflect the nascent stage of Pakistan’s EV transformation. There are currently an estimated 45,000 two- and three-wheeler EVs in the country, constituting only 0.16% of the total vehicles in Pakistan.
But the industry is on the cusp of an explosion. Pakistan’s recent EV policy aims to transition 90% of all new vehicles to electric by 2040. By 2030, EVs would constitute 50% of all auto sales in the country, Kamran Kamal, a spokesperson for BYD Pakistan, told Reuters. Last week, the government reportedly granted EV production licenses to 57 manufacturers – 55 of which were for two- and three-wheelers.
“Rickshaws are the common man’s mode of transportation and EVs are the future,” Rana Arsalan Sarwar, national marketing manager of Siwa Industries, a rickshaw manufacturing company, told Rest of World. Siwa launched its own e-rickshaw last year.
Pakistan’s neighbours bear testament to the success of e-rickshaws. Last year, Bangladesh’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, reversed an earlier ban on e-rickshaws and announced laws to regulate the 2-4 million e-rickshaws that operate in the country. In India, little-known e-rickshaw companies are driving the EV revolution with sales that far exceed those of electric cars.
Sazgar’s pivot to e-rickshaws has been about a decade in the making. The company finalised its prototype in late 2016, hoping to capitalise on the Pakistani government’s push toward greener technologies, Hameed told Rest of World.
But soon after, during the EV registration process, government officials struggled to discern the differences between conventional and electric vehicles, he said.
For the next few years, Sazgar’s e-rickshaw plans slowed to a crawl because of economic crises and inconsistent policy implementation, said Hameed. Once the company received its e-rickshaw license in 2024, it focused on customising its offerings to local needs.
Sazgar uses lithium iron phosphate batteries that are imported from China, along with motors, controllers, and chargers, Mehdi told Rest of World. The batteries last for more than 100 kilometres, and take under five hours to charge – crucial factors given Pakistan’s energy crisis, he said. Sazgar manufactures all other components for its rickshaws.
Priced at over 1 million Pakistani rupees ($3,600), Sazgar’s e-rickshaws cost more than twice as much as conventional ones. Rickshaw drivers in Pakistan interviewed by Rest of World said they are nonetheless keen to make the switch. One such driver, Sami Ullah, travelled over 1,000 kilometres from Pakistan’s Hyderabad city to Sazgar’s factory in Lahore to purchase an e-rickshaw with his savings.
“I tried it in 2022 and loved how smooth the ride was,” Ullah said. “There is no smoke, it doesn’t cause pollution.” His family was relieved when he bought the e-rickshaw because “engine rickshaws damage our clothes, our bodies, and our health”, he said. The investment has paid off: Ullah now saves money on fuel.
For others, the price remains prohibitive. “I will definitely buy the e-rickshaw when I have the available cash for the down payment,” Aqeel Ahmad, a 32-year-old rickshaw driver from Hyderabad, told Rest of World.
“The sales are currently low, because the average rickshaw driver can’t afford” the Sazgar e-rickshaw, Hameed said. While government EV policies offer some financial incentives, they are insufficient for rickshaw drivers, he added. “So it’s the rich people who are buying luxurious electric cars on the cheap, while the masses still cannot afford the smaller electric vehicles.”
In December 2024, a provincial government announced a scheme that extends interest-free loans for the purchase of e-rickshaws. But for change at scale, Hameed said, both the public and private sectors would have to be involved, such as banks that offer payment plans for e-rickshaws.
Financial support for rickshaw drivers switching to EVs would also help mitigate Pakistan’s dangerously high pollution levels. “Electric rickshaws are a common and affordable mode of transportation. They can be quickly deployed in urban and peri-urban areas, and they can help to reduce air pollution in densely populated areas,” Saima Baig, an environmental economist and climate change researcher, told Rest of World.
Public policy experts are concerned about whether Pakistan’s EV push can survive political instability. “Pakistan continues to face a governance crisis and most of the country’s policies are formed through a global push, including its climate and EV policies,” Syed Abu Ahmad Akif, the country’s former climate change secretary, told Rest of World.
The industry’s momentum is dependent on political will, according to Hameed. “We can increase the number of rickshaws, increase the share of e-rickshaws, and put in more shifts,” he said. “But it’s the government that needs to take the lead.”
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid is the Pakistan correspondent for The Diplomat, and a former digital editor for the Pakistan edition of the MIT Technology Review.
This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
