Electric Transportation in Pakistan Under CPEC Project: Technical Framework and Policy Implications

Azhar Ul-Haq; Marium Jalal; Mohammad Shahmeer Hassan; Hatem F. Sindi; Attaullah Shah; Almas Anjum

doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3021308

IEEE Access (Jan 2020)

Electric Transportation in Pakistan Under CPEC Project: Technical Framework and Policy Implications

Azhar Ul-Haq,
Marium Jalal,
Mohammad Shahmeer Hassan,
Hatem F. Sindi,
Attaullah Shah,
Almas Anjum

Affiliations

Azhar Ul-Haq: ORCiD; Department of Electrical Engineering, College of EME, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan
Marium Jalal: ORCiD; Department of Electronic Engineering, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Mohammad Shahmeer Hassan: ORCiD; Department of Electrical Engineering, College of EME, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan
Hatem F. Sindi: ORCiD; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Attaullah Shah: ORCiD; Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan
Almas Anjum: National University of Technology (NUTECH), Islamabad, Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3021308
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 8
pp. 162394 – 162420

Abstract

Read online

Transportation sector in Pakistan has been rapidly growing, leading to an increase in diesel and petroleum consumption, heightened energy import bill, air pollution, and traffic congestion. The China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) is a cluster of different multi-billion-dollar projects with a significant emphasis on enhancing regional connectivity, and the transportation sector is considered its backbone. Electric road transportation appears to be a game-changer to tackle energy, economy, and environmental issues of a country. This research paper is focused on a scheme and valuation of deploying electric transportation (e-trans) for mass transit under the CPEC umbrella in Pakistan. This paper identifies barriers and challenges and explores various technological options for adopting suitable electric vehicles (EVs) for mass transportation. The paper investigates technical infrastructural requirements, financial, and policy implications for the successful deployment of the proposed electric transportation. In particular, it proposes an EV charging infrastructure based on solar power generation to avoid any electricity burden to recharge EVs from the national power grid. In order to be comprehensive, it presents a case study to develop an EV charging station network with an estimation of the cost for accommodating charging requirements of one thousand electric trucks and hundred mobile charging trucks. Obtained results demonstrate that merely 0.29% of the CPEC's energy sector approved budget will be incurred for deploying the proposed charging station network to support e-trans over the studies road segment, which appears to be a feasible initiative. Important factors which may influence the proposed scheme for implementation of e-trans under the CPEC is analyzed using SWOT analysis. The recommended set of policies for deploying electric transportation and its quantitative financial analysis will help the concerned stakeholders to discover and execute the necessary steps to ensure sustainable electric transportation under the CPEC in Pakistan.

Published in IEEE Access

ISSN: 2169-3536 (Online)
Publisher: IEEE
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
Website: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6287639

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords