EV School Buses in Pakistan: A Good Idea or Another Shortcut?

Smog doesn’t only get you sick, it also gets politicians attention. Perhaps this is the only silver lining here.

In a recently convened meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, it was proposed that school buses be converted into electric vehicles (EVs).

The Committee was told that there are three main causes of smog in the country –

Industrial units
Brick kilns, and
Vehicular emissions

Vehicular emissions alone contribute about 43% of total air pollution. It was therefore unanimously decided that school buses need to be converted into EVs. How and when this will be done was not discussed or at least not reported.

To know more about how smog affects your health and what to do about it – Read Here: Smog Kills: Why Selling Air Purifiers in Pakistan Shouldn’t be Preaching to the Converted

Right to Life Vs. Right to Live

While the Senate Committee stressed upon the need for creating an environment conducive for converting existing vehicles into EVs and incentivising people who use EVs, some very important questions were either not raised or were not answered. For example:

Only a few days ago, the government had proposed to impose import duty on EVs, hence discouraging people from importing them. In this regard, a “mini-budget” will soon be tabled in the National Assembly.
How does the government propose to pay for such conversion? Converting regular buses into EVs will take resources. How much will it take to convert all school buses into EV’s? How does the government propose to pay this amount given that it is cash strapped and seeking foreign loans to make ends meet?
Is this a long term goal or a short-term political gimmick to appease the public? The country is going through a dry spell right now but when it starts to rain, smog levels will begin to go down. Would the government still be interested in converting school buses into EVs then?

To summarize, while the government must be commended for forward thinking, it must do its homework first like calculating the cost of converting existing buses into EVs, before setting goals. Otherwise, it would once again look like the government is shooting from the hip and having its foot in the mouth.