South Korean battery-maker eyes to set up charging infrastructure in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Songuo, a South Korean battery manufacturer, has offered to set up a (battery) charging infrastructure across Pakistan in the wake of an ambitious electric vehicle (EV) policy being introduced by the Ministry of Climate Change, a statement said on Wednesday.

A delegation of Songuo expressed the company’s interest in building a charging network during a meeting with Federal Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam at his office.

Commending the offer, the minister said the EV policy was ready and would be presented to the federal cabinet in a week’s time.

“After approval from the competent forum, the policy will open new horizons of opportunities in the fields of transportation and environment on top of creating scores of green jobs,” the minister said. He said initially Pakistan would need a swappable solution for such vehicles until proper charging infrastructure was developed.

“Pakistan welcomes all companies and offers equal opportunities for everyone to invest in EV market of Pakistan,” the climate minister said. Making it clear the policy would only benefit the local players, the minister said the country’s market was ripe for investment in EV and time was high for the leading companies to bring in their manufacturing facilities.

Songuo officials briefed the minister regarding their product line and business model. They also informed him that their company was in negotiations with local companies for joint ventures in order to manufacture sophisticated batteries locally and then export them after meeting local demand.

They also apprised the minister the company was in partnership with some of the leading global automakers and was manufacturing finest quality batteries.

The federal minister said the swappable batteries were the suitable option for Pakistani market especially for three-wheelers and slow-moving vehicles until charging infrastructure was established.

The company officials also offered to help Pakistani government in establishing standards for this newly developed technology. In another meeting, ambassador of Qatar, who called the climate minister, appreciated government of Pakistan’s policy of banning single-use plastic bags in Islamabad.

He said one-time-use plastic bags were the major threat to global environment especially for the aquatic ecosystem. He also pledged to support the government’s green initiatives at international for a, particularly at United Nations next month.

The minister apprised the ambassador about Pakistan’s initiative of Ecosystem Restoration Fund. The Qatar envoy appreciated all the green initiatives of the government and pledged support on the behalf of his government.