EV Charging on the M-5 Motorway (Multan–Sukkur)

By Fahad Hassan · 7 July 2026 · 7 min read · ChargePK Blog

The M-5 is Pakistan's southern EV corridor, linking Multan to Sukkur across roughly 390 km of motorway. It's a very drivable route in an electric car — but the charging gaps are longer than up north, so it rewards a more careful plan than a quick Lahore–Islamabad hop.

The route in brief

The M-5 runs south from Multan through Punjab's cotton belt and into upper Sindh before reaching Sukkur, covering around 390 kilometres. It's a fast, well-surfaced motorway — the driving itself is easy. What's different from the M-2 up north is the charging infrastructure: DC fast chargers exist at motorway service areas along the way, but they're spaced further apart and there are fewer of them overall.

Why the gaps are longer here

On the Lahore–Islamabad stretch of the M-2, chargers cluster conveniently around the midpoint and demand is high enough that operators have installed multiple stations. The M-5 sees less EV traffic today, so service areas are further apart and some may only have a single DC unit. That's not a reason to avoid the route — it just means the margin for error is smaller. A charger that's offline or occupied matters more when the next one might be another hour down the road.

A careful buffer strategy

For a route like this, treat your battery percentage more conservatively than you would on a busier corridor:

• Leave Multan at 100% after charging overnight or at a station the night before.
• Check ChargePK's journey planner before you leave, not the day before — station status can change, and you want the freshest picture of what's working along the M-5.
• Keep a 20–25% buffer when planning your next stop, rather than the 15% that's often fine on the M-2. That extra margin covers a charger being busy, offline, or slower than expected.
• Note your second-nearest charger at every stop, not just the nearest one, so you have a fallback if plan A doesn't work out.
• Top up to 80%, not 100%, at each DC stop — charging slows dramatically past 80%, and on a longer trip that time adds up.

How long does it take?

Driving time for the ~390 km is roughly 4.5 hours at motorway speeds. Depending on your car's range and how many stops you need, plan for one to two DC charging stops of 30–45 minutes each, bringing the total trip to somewhere around 5.5–6.5 hours. Building in an extra buffer stop rather than skipping straight through is the safer call on this corridor.

Tips for the M-5

• Summer heat is a real factor — upper Sindh gets very hot, and heavy air-conditioning use can noticeably cut range, so pad your estimates in summer months.
• Call ahead where you can — ChargePK lists station phone numbers, and a quick call can confirm a charger is actually working before you commit to a stop.
• Fuel and food breaks double as charging breaks — plan them together so the extra charging time doesn't feel like wasted time.
• Don't rely on memory — new stations open and old ones go offline, so always check the live map rather than what worked last time.

Planning it in ChargePK

Enter Multan and Sukkur into ChargePK's journey planner to see every charger within 25 km of the M-5, along with distance, connectors and live status, so you can build stops around what's actually available rather than guessing. If you're starting or ending in Multan, our Multan charging guide covers the city's stations in detail.

Frequently asked questions

← All articles