Meet PakNEV, the Lahore Startup Building Pakistan’s First NEV Adoption Ecosystem

Pakistan has never had more electric choice. Showrooms now carry battery-electric hatchbacks, plug-in hybrid SUVs and range-extenders from almost 40 brands, and the country’s policy has set its sights firmly on new energy vehicles. Yet most buyers still walk in with the same worries they had years ago. What will this car really cost? Will it make it to Islamabad? And will the charger be working when I get there?

Lahore startup PakNEV was built to answer all of it in one place. It is Pakistan’s first NEV adoption ecosystem: a single platform, website and app that takes a person from their first question about electric cars to their first long-distance trip, and keeps supporting them after that.

Why Pakistan Needed an Ecosystem, Not Another Listing Site

Most EV resources in Pakistan solve one piece of the puzzle: a dealer site shows its own cars, a charging operator lists its own stations. The buyer is left to stitch it all together.

PakNEV’s founders learned this the hard way. Choosing their first electric car took far longer than it should have, because nowhere put prices, specs and running costs side by side. After buying it, they spent a whole day in Lahore chasing chargers that were down, out of power during load shedding, or open only to one brand’s owners. What they needed, before buying and after, simply did not exist in one place. So they built it.

PakNEV was co-founded in Lahore by Muhammad Umer Saeed, Co-Founder and Director Product and Technology; Karim Yousaf Kamal, Co-Founder and Director Sales; and Mustafa Sohail, Co-Founder and Director Finance. The NEV in the name stands for New Energy Vehicle, the term Pakistan’s own policy uses for electric and plug-in cars.

“Going electric is not one decision, it is a journey: you learn, you choose, you charge and then you travel. Every platform in Pakistan was helping with one step. PakNEV is built to walk with you through all of them,” says Karim Yousaf Kamal.

Learn: A Broadcasting Arm That Explains the Switch

Adoption starts with understanding, and that is where PakNEV’s broadcasting arm comes in. Across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, PakNEV publishes car reviews, first looks, launch news and explainers in plain, everyday language. Technical terms like LFP and NMC batteries are explained simply, and every claim is checked against credible sources.

Regular formats such as Petrol Math Monday, which compares the real cost of running an EV against petrol, and Myth or Fact Thursday, which tackles the doubts people hear at family dinners, help audiences make an informed decision rather than an emotional one. On the website, the PakNEV news and guides section goes deeper, from launch coverage to practical guides on what home charging really costs, while the EV FAQs answer the questions every first-time buyer asks, from load shedding to battery life in Pakistan’s heat.

PakNEV backs its content with data: every car is measured against the same prices, specs and running costs, and anything that is an estimate is marked as one. That is why audiences trust what they watch.

Choose: Every NEV in Pakistan, Side by Side

At the heart of PakNEV is its car catalogue, covering every electric car price in Pakistan alongside plug-in hybrids, range-extender cars and hybrids from 39 brands. For each car, buyers see what matters before a test drive:

• Prices, ex-factory and on-road, kept current as brands change them.
• The specs that decide daily life, such as real-world range, charging speed and connector type.
• What it saves, with a calculator that compares running costs against petrol on the buyer’s own mileage.

Not sure where to start? Car Match asks a few questions about budget, daily driving and home charging, then ranks the cars that fit. Once there is a shortlist, Compare puts two cars side by side on range, battery and running cost.

Charge: A Map Drivers Can Trust

The worry PakNEV hears most is not range. It is arriving at a charger and finding it closed, broken or not there at all. PakNEV’s answer is a charging map built on verification.

The map covers 127 charging stations across 50 cities. A charger earns its blue verified tick only after the PakNEV team confirms it by phone or in person, and it loses the tick if it cannot be confirmed again. Drivers standing at the charger report whether it is Working, has a Queue, or is Not Working, and every public charger with a phone number has a Call button so drivers can check during load shedding before setting off. For anyone searching for EV charging stations in Pakistan, there is a dedicated page for every city on the map, from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad.

The ecosystem also covers charging at home. Owners can find a vetted EV charger installer for wallboxes, wiring and solar, and those with a charger of their own can list it as a home host, so nearby drivers can reach them on WhatsApp.

Travel: The PakNEV App

The PakNEV app puts the whole ecosystem in your pocket, free on Google Play and the App Store, with no account or subscription needed.

• A route planner made for Pakistan’s roads. The EV route planner plans every charging stop on the car’s real range, counting the Kallar Kahar climb, the outside temperature and speed on every leg, and it will not send drivers to a charger that is shut on Eid or a public holiday.
• Live trip mode. The next charging stop stays on screen with its price per kWh, power and distance to go, the trip is replanned if the driver leaves the route, and one tap opens directions in Google Maps.
• Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Nearby chargers and planned stops appear on the car’s own screen, and drivers can report a charger without touching their phone.
• App-only extras. Alerts when a new car arrives, a price drops or a charger is listed; reports that save without signal and send later; and My Garage, which shows chargers within 25 km of your car.

The app is rated 4.8 on Google Play and 5.0 on the App Store, and drivers have already planned more than 4,700 trips with PakNEV.

Growing the Ecosystem With Partners

An ecosystem grows with its partners. PakNEV recently signed a strategic partnership with Electrify, an EV charging company and an initiative of Icon Engineering Solutions, which becomes its Platinum Partner for charging infrastructure, from home wallboxes to DC fast chargers for fuel stations, highways and fleets. PakNEV labels the partnership clearly, and its map stays open to every charging network, whoever runs it.

Pakistan’s EV Shift, With Better Information

Every EV that sells in Pakistan depends on a buyer who trusts what they have been told and a charger that is there when it is needed. PakNEV works on both, together with a growing community of drivers who report chargers, add missing stations and share their own chargers at home.

PakNEV is available at paknev.com and as a free app on the App Store and Google Play.