The Government of Pakistan recently unveiled the New Energy Vehicle Policy 2025-30, underscoring its commitment to cleaner transportation that also saves precious foreign exchange with lower fuel import bills. Ensuring the national shift, however, will require convincing the public of its long-term benefits, both in terms of the environment and economics. A notch in the favor of the latter is regenerative braking.
Under the new policy, the government is incentivizing the adoption of electric vehicles by subsidizing charging stations and vehicles and imposing a carbon levy on fuel products. This is laudable but leaves out another sector that would help the country develop its nascent EV adoption: research and development aimed at boosting fuel efficiency. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by funding research aimed at improving regenerative braking systems, a decades-old technology that has found new life with EVs.
Regenerative braking utilizes the internal components of EVs to convert kinetic energy into electrical energy, which can be stored and reused later. Invented in the early 1900s, the technology was initially intended for trolleys and trains, but were inefficient at conserving energy. Decades of development have improved the system’s energy conversion and storage, especially with its adoption by the burgeoning EV sector.
Models equipped with regenerative braking systems, including leading BYD and Hyundai variants, have significant advantages. Not only does it boost the overall efficiency of a vehicle, reducing the time between recharges, but also significantly reduces emission rates.
Amidst a surge in climate change-induced natural disasters, countries globally are seeking means to reduce emissions—particularly those of vehicles. For a country like Pakistan, ranked as the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change by the Global Climate Risk Index, this is an especially pressing concern. The 2022 floods impacted more than 30 million people, inundating a third of the country, and causing nearly $40 billion in damages. Annually, the country’s major cities are blanketed by smog, endangering public health, with most experts blaming unchecked vehicular emissions. This is a key reason for the government’s push for electric vehicles, which can be bolstered by funding research to improve regenerative braking systems.
Improving the affordability of regenerative braking systems would help reduce the cost of electric vehicles, encouraging their uptake. At the same time, a boost in research can improve the overall braking system, which lags behind traditional methods commonly used in petrol and diesel vehicles.
A key barrier to the mass adoption of regenerative braking systems is its inability to match the pace of traditional brake discs in rapidly slowing down vehicles. Most modern vehicles overcome this by using a hybrid of both systems, which naturally reduces the desired fuel efficiency. If Pakistan wants its EV push to go the distance, it must first help regenerative braking catch up to speed—a potential not only for itself, but also the entire world.