Scooty for the beti and EV for the biwi

Esha named her scooty Riri, after herself. It cost Rs420,000 and she hasn’t spent a rupee more since on transport. Every time the scooty hums to life—when the 22-year-old leaves for classes at the College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering—heads turn. “My friends think it’s cool,” she says. “Young women light up in public. They say it looks easy to handle.” Their reaction means everything to her. In a country where a woman’s movement is still being negotiated, the sight of a young woman riding an electric bike is its own argument. Esha has thought carefully about why that argument meets resistance. “One, the upfront cost. But honestly, why would a family invest in a scooty for their daughter when bhai is around as a free drop service?” she says. The second resistance comes from the feeble ‘ log kya kahenge ’ and ‘ kuch ho jayega road pe ’ fear. And lastly, Esha believes that women’s independence makes men uncomfortable. “The control only works when we’re dependent,” she adds. The economics of freedom are hard to argue with, though. Pakistanis have, in the last year or so, been floored by soaring petrol prices that electric two-wheelers are beginning to find their riders. A monthly fuel bill of Rs12,000 has doubled now. For Esha’s family, the math resolved itself: a steep upfront cost, undeniable long-term savings, a lighter machine that felt safer on the road. She charges the bike every night for a fraction of what petrol would cost, riding more than 60 kilometres without stopping at a pump or asking for a lift. “My family is supportive because they know I’m safe,” she says. Sana, 24, a NUST student from DHA Rawalpindi, came to the same conclusion but through a different door. She didn’t choose her electric scooty because it was trendy. Petrol bikes frightened her: the weight, the kick-start, the quiet dread of breaking down alone. But the scooty felt like something she could manage on her own, without depending on anyone. There’s also a physical safety consideration. “My engineers who wear abayas have suggested designing scooters because they are easier to ride in modest clothing and are socially perceived as more appropriate,” says Dr Azir of the Institute of Energy, Climate and Equity at the University of Lahore. The market was listening. Whether policy has caught up is another matter. Policy: promise and gap The federal government’s PAVE initiative has set an ambitious target: 116,000 electric bikes and 3,000-plus rickshaws for the current fiscal year, a 30 per cent EV sales target by 2030, and a Rs2.5 per litre levy on petrol to fund subsidies. Minister of State Dr Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharal says the government is encouraging the provinces to launch women-specific mobility schemes, including subsidised scooters and concessional loans. The on-ground reality has been considerably more modest. As of the last reported period, only 5,409 units had been distributed—roughly 4.5pc of the annual target. Commercial banks approved only around 9pc of EV loan applications, rejecting the rest. Evee showroom in Islamabad In a painful irony, the levy funding EV subsidies falls disproportionately on petrol and diesel consumers—who tend to be middle and lower-income—to subsidise a technology that benefits higher-income buyers more. Structural fixes are underway, including a model according to which people pay the subsidised price directly, and a Rs10,000 upfront scheme for lower-band government employees. But these options assume a person is formally employed and have institutional legibility that many workers do not. The recently announced federal budget offered a modest boost to Pakistan’s electric two-wheeler market by extending existing incentives on completely knocked-down (CKD) kits for electric bikes, three-wheelers and other EVs until June 30, 2027. This means local assemblers can continue importing EV components at concessional duty rates, helping keep prices lower for consumers. The budget introduced no new taxes on electric bikes. While these measures provide stability for the sector, the distributional impact of the budget remains largely unaddressed, raising the question of who actually benefits from it. Every year, the budget is presented, yet little attention is paid to its distributional consequences. For those who already cannot afford an electric bike, the budget does not reduce the upfront costs that keep electric mobility out of reach for many low-income consumers. The extension may ease costs for manufacturers, but its benefits are not guaranteed to reach consumers. On the other hand, Pakistan has nearly 30 million petrol motorcycles which eat up about 40pc of national petrol supplies, draining roughly $6 billion annually in imported fuel, according to Federal Energy Minister Awais Ahmed Leghari. Class, charging, and the limits of revolution Forty kilometres from where Esha rides, Nazia, 30, a