Clean and sustainable transportation through electric vehicles - a user survey of three-wheeler vehicles in Pakistan.

Transportation sector is one of the major contributors to GHG emissions, and it is essential to investigate the role of electric vehicles in economic and environmental performance of developing countries. In this research work, the authors seek to investigate the usage pattern of three-wheeler vehicle by taking a Pakistan-based survey approach and analyzing the responses from various three-wheeler drivers across the country. The survey results indicate that the adoption of hybrid and electric three-wheelers in Pakistan would be welcomed by the users due to increased economic benefits, despite having a high initial capital cost. On an average basis, the regular three-wheeler is run for more than 5 days a week, 101-150 km daily across more than 10 h, and enables the owner to make around PKR 20,000-25,000 (~ US $119-US $149) after approximately PKR 15,000 (~ USD $89) is spent every month on fuel and maintenance. The adoption of hybrid or electric three-wheelers can easily improve the monthly earnings by 50%. In addition to this, the GHG emissions from the transportation sector will be considerably lowered around 3-6 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year per three-wheeler. At an investment return period of 13-16 months, the electric three-wheeler is a highly lucrative opportunity.