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Road to a Green Bangladesh is an initiative to support Bangladesh’s commitment to climate action, SDG 13. Envisioning low carbon and inclusive transportation, Bangladesh is collaborating with UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) to facilitate green finance and business-led sustainable transportation. The initiative focuses on developing and piloting tests, undertaking techno-economic-commercial viability and providing support services, raising awareness, sensitizing and incentivizing gender and socially inclusive guidelines and engagement.
This project was led by Ricardo PLC with its consortium members LightCastle Partners, Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), Policy Exchange Bangladesh, and Hivos Energia, and has been working to create awareness and promote EV adaptation in Bangladesh.
The project elicited three core objectives which focused on business models, financial models, and gender and social inclusion. The first objective was to support business enterprises in Bangladesh and identify suitable EV-based and EV-enabled business models, followed by working with financial institutions and investors to support these business models. Finally, the project looked forward to enabling gender and socially inclusive business models and supporting women entrepreneurs.
LightCastle Partners consulted with 30 enterprises, which included mobility startups, EV garage owners, and women entrepreneurs, to explore the potential of EV businesses in Bangladesh. The consultations aimed to identify the challenges, prospects, and risks in implementing EVs or EV-based technologies in Bangladesh.
Partnering with Ricardo, LightCastle Partners conducted three workshops to bolster the growth of the EV ecosystem. The workshops enabled an unparalleled platform to allow engagement between enterprises who are working towards increasing EV uptake in Bangladesh.
The EV scaling workshop was organized by LightCastle Partners and Ricardo Plc on November 25, 2021. The main topics of discussion in the workshop were:
The workshop also presented the findings of the survey by Ricardo and the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) team which focused on the knowledge and needs of the financial institutions to finance EV-based business through formal financial instruments. The attendees that joined this event represented companies such as Shuttle, Lily, Loop Freight, REDx, Goods in Motion, and Jatri.
Fig: Representatives of local mobility service providers attending the workshop
LightCastle Partners and Ricardo organized the second workshop on February 10, 2022, to create awareness and promote the pioneering EV business cases in Bangladesh.
The session showcased potential startups to investors and representatives of the financial institutions and asked for their feedback to make these projects more investable. Startups presented in the workshop were SOLshare, Lily, Jobike, Dhaka Cast, and Advanced Dynamics.
These startups have also been showcased as EV case studies in the public report titled “UK Pact Bangladesh EV Report” published as part of the Road to a Green Bangladesh program.
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The final workshop held on 23rd February 2022, was a capacity development workshop for the mobility service providers. Dr. Romeo Pacudan, Associate Director of Ricardo, conducted an interactive workshop that covered major aspects of building a green Bangladesh by incorporating EVs. Romeo’s presentation covered six distinct points: EV taxonomy, EV Batteries, EV Charging Infrastructures, Standards and Codes, EV Supply Equipment (EVSE) business models, and Battery Swapping.
Figure: The different types of EVs discussed by Romeo
The EV ecosystem in Bangladesh is still in its rudimentary stage, with huge potential to grow over the next decade. It is gradually evolving to meet the deadline of 15% EV adoption by 2030, as set by the Government of Bangladesh.
The Government of Bangladesh drafted an automobile policy in 2020. This policy should be quickly materialized to keep pace with the growing EV ecosystem of the country. Besides this, necessary infrastructural developments encompassing setting up charging stations are also required to be ensured. Through the uptake of EVs and EV-based business models, the country will be able to move towards a greener, more sustainable economy.
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