Sazgar bets on e-rickshaws for Pakistan’s EV future - Rest of World

https://restofworld.org/2025/sazgar-e-rickshaws-pakistan-ev-future/

Sazgar will set the ground for other companies in making e-rickshaws as a primary public transport choice.

By KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID
12 FEBRUARY 2025 • LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Since last year, Pakistan has accelerated its shift to electric vehicles, with BYD planning to set up a production plant and the government targeting 30% EV adoption for all new vehicles by 2030.
As Pakistan’s top rickshaw maker, Sazgar pioneered e-rickshaws and hopes to make them a mainstream transport option.
Scaling up for companies like Sazgar will require stronger government policies, financial support for drivers, and political stability.

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 importedelectric 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 U.S., and Japan, Syed Hasnain Mehdi, Sazgar’s EV project manager, told Rest of World.

Pakistan’s 22 GW Solar Shock: How a Fragile State Went Full Clean Energy - CleanTechnica

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/04/pakistans-22-gw-solar-shock-ho...


It’s more solar than Canada has installed in total. It’s more than the UK added in the past five years. And yet it didn’t make a blip in most Western media. While the U.S. continued its decade-long existential crisis about grid interconnection queues and Europe squabbled over permitting reforms, Pakistan skipped the drama and just bought the panels.

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How does a country once considered a textbook fragile state leapfrog into solar hyperscale? You can’t make sense of it without going back two decades. In the early 2000s, Pakistan was better known for insurgencies and instability than infrastructure upgrades. Terror attacks were frequent, electricity shortages were the norm, and governance was, to put it kindly, patchy. Political cycles flipped with the military’s mood, floods battered the countryside, and inflation hollowed out public services. Not exactly the backdrop for a clean tech success story.

But something changed. Slowly, unevenly, Pakistan started building institutional muscle. The terrorism that plagued the country for over a decade was brought under control through a combination of military operations and negotiated truces. Civilian governments, for all their dysfunction, managed peaceful handovers of power. The technocratic class—policy analysts, engineers, civil servants—began steering the country toward energy pragmatism. It wasn’t a revolution. It was governance on hard mode, with better outcomes.

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This isn’t just a solar story, though. Wind has been building quietly in the south for years, especially in the Gharo-Jhimpir corridor. Hydropower continues to play a big role, and bagasse from the sugar industry chips in some renewable electrons too. Battery storage is the next act, mostly in the form of hybrid inverters and lithium-ion packs tucked into homes and businesses. They aren’t grid-scale yet, but they’re everywhere you’d want resilience—factories avoiding outages, households tired of flickering bulbs. The pieces are in place for a distributed energy system that doesn’t wait for the grid to catch up. Which is good, because Pakistan’s grid is not remotely ready for this volume of variable generation. Utilities are already reeling from the revenue shock as high-value customers opt out of dependence. No one likes selling electrons when your best clients are making their own. That looming utility death spiral? It’s not theoretical in Lahore or Karachi.

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Pakistan’s electric vehicle transition is picking up momentum too, driven by a mix of foreign investment and homegrown innovation. Chinese companies have taken the lead in setting up large-scale operations, with firms like BYD announcing plans to open a production facility in Karachi and the ADM Group committing $350 million to build EV manufacturing capacity and install thousands of charging stations nationwide. These moves dovetail with Pakistan’s goal to convert 30% of all vehicles to electric by 2030.

But the real action is happening closer to the ground, where indigenous startups are rolling out electric two- and three-wheelers at a pace that could reshape urban mobility. Companies like Jolta Electric and Vlektra are assembling locally made e-motorcycles that target the country’s massive base of two-wheeler users—millions of whom rely on scooters and bikes for daily transport. With soaring petrol prices and worsening air quality in cities like Lahore and Karachi, these electric alternatives are fast becoming the obvious choice. The economics are simple: lower fuel costs, less maintenance, and in many cases, the ability to charge with rooftop solar. While car-scale EV adoption remains limited, the grassroots uptake of electric bikes and rickshaws—many of them assembled in Pakistan—is proving that the EV revolution here will likely be led from the bottom up.

HBL-PSL X: BYD becomes official mobility partner - Sports - Business Recorder

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40357828


KARACHI: BYD Pakistan has joined HBL-PSL X as the official mobility partner.

The partnership was dramatically unveiled when BYD’s Shark 6 vehicle carried the tournament trophy into the stadium, capturing the attention of the packed crowd.

Later in the evening, popular artist Ali Zafar heightened the excitement by boarding the BYD Shark 6 for a celebratory lap around the venue, creating a memorable moment for millions watching live.

BYD Pakistan revealed that the Player of the Tournament will receive a BYD Seal vehicle - a premium gesture highlighting the brand’s appreciation for sporting excellence.

Throughout the tournament, BYD’s innovative vehicles, including the Seal, Shark 6, and ATTO 3 models, are being prominently displayed across all four host cities: Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, and Multan.

“We are thrilled to partner with HBL-PSL X for this remarkable season,” said Lei Jian, Country Head of BYD Pakistan.

“This collaboration not only strengthens BYD’s presence in Pakistan but also reiterates our commitment to leading the shift towards sustainable mobility solutions.”

Syed Haider Mujtaba, GM Marketing at Mega Motor Company, added, “Our collaboration with HBL-PSL X marks a major milestone as we continue to drive BYD’s mission of promoting innovative and sustainable transportation. We are excited to bring a new dimension to the fan experience by showcasing our futuristic vehicles.”

The partnership represents a strategic alignment between Pakistan’s premier cricket league and BYD’s vision for environmental sustainability in transportation, creating memorable experiences both on and off the cricket field as the tournament progresses through its tenth season.