Auto Policy 2026-31 Announced: 1% EV Tax, Rs 1 Crore EV Loans

By ChargePK · 7 November 2026 · 7 min read · ChargePK Blog

The federal government announced Pakistan’s new auto policy on Saturday, 7 November 2026: a 1 percent sales tax on battery electric cars, 6 percent on range extenders and 9 percent on plug-in hybrids, EV car loans of up to Rs 1 crore, and no customs duty on charging station equipment. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Haroon Akhtar Khan, the Prime Minister’s adviser on industries and production, presented it at a press conference in Islamabad.

Two caveats first. Akhtar said the EV tax rates are still subject to approval by the IMF, and the government has not yet published the full tariff and tax schedule. Nothing changes at a showroom today. Here is what was announced, how it differs from the draft we covered in October, and what it means if you are buying an EV or building a charger.

Auto Policy 2026-31: what was announced

Sources: reports of the press conference by Dawn, The Express Tribune, TechJuice, Daily Qudrat and PakWheels, all on 7 November 2026. The USD 50,000 line and the loan figures are from Dawn; the booking cap is from TechJuice.

Akhtar: every car except luxury cars will get cheaper

The policy rests on six pillars, Akhtar said: cheaper vehicles for the middle and lower middle class, exports, local manufacturing, safety, electric vehicles and transparency. Everything except luxury cars should get cheaper, he said, though slowly: duties on fully built imports, assembly kits and parts fall a step each year for five years. There is no price list yet, and petrol cars up to 1,000cc are left as they are.

Carmakers get a carrot and a stick. Local manufacturing targets become mandatory, and the export rebate is paid only to makers that meet both their export and their localisation targets; those that miss are penalised. Tarar was blunt about why: decades of protection through high import duties, he said, had not given Pakistani buyers the quality or features they paid for.

The full press conference, as posted by PML-N:

اسلام آباد: وفاقی وزیر اطلاعات عطاء اللہ تارڑ اور وزیر اعظم کے مشیر ہارون اختر کی پر یس کا نفرنس https://t.co/mmrf1iOt6X

PMLN (@pmln_org) 7 November 2026

EV, PHEV and REEV tax in Pakistan: what changes for buyers

For battery electric cars the tax does not move. The 1 percent sales tax already applies, and the government turned down the IMF’s push to raise it to 18 percent in October. The gains for EV buyers are elsewhere:

• Bigger, longer loans. The State Bank’s car financing cap is Rs 30 lakh over three years. For EVs it would rise to Rs 1 crore over five. 31 of the 53 priced electric cars in our catalogue start at Rs 1 crore or less; see the EVs under Rs 1 crore.
• No extra taxes up to USD 50,000. EVs priced up to USD 50,000, about Rs 1.38 crore at today’s rate, would pay no capital value tax, withholding tax or federal excise duty, Dawn reports. Above that line they count as luxury cars.
• A cap on bookings. No more than 20 percent of the price can be taken as an advance, which ends the practice of paying in full and waiting months for delivery.

Plug-in hybrids get the biggest cut, to 9 percent from the 18 to 25 percent they pay now, and range extenders the only rise, to 6 percent from about 1. The rates match the draft, so the car by car arithmetic in our October analysis of the draft policy still holds. Every model is on the plug-in hybrid and electric car lists, and the EV vs petrol calculator shows what each saves you in fuel.

What it means for EV charging

Tarar said customs duty on charging station equipment has been abolished and the sales tax cut, and Akhtar put the sales tax on charging machinery at 1 percent. That lowers the cost of the hardware itself, the largest outlay in opening a station. The power price was already cut to about Rs 39.70 a unit in 2025, so both halves of a station’s cost have now come down. Every public rate is on our DC fast charger price list.

It lands on a thin network. The ChargePK map lists 131 public charging stations today, 104 of them DC, against a government target of 3,000 by 2030; we ran the numbers on that target last month. If you are planning a station, our guide to the NEECA process covers the paperwork, and listing it on ChargePK puts it in front of drivers from day one.

What changed since the October draft

“Not mentioned” means it did not come up at the press conference, not that it was dropped. The full schedule will settle it.

What still has to happen

• The IMF has to approve the EV tax rates.
• The government has to publish the full tariff and tax schedule, and the rates need a finance bill or notification before they apply.
• The State Bank has to issue rules for the new EV loan limit.

Until then, today’s taxes apply. A battery EV costs the same either way. A plug-in hybrid stands to get cheaper once the 9 percent rate is notified, and a range extender dearer, so if you are choosing between them, the timing now matters. We will update every car page the day the rates take effect.

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