Doubling down on lithium

Huma Khattak, CEO of Atom Power and EV Technologies. The future of energy is closely tied to efficient batteries, not only for e-bikes and electric vehicles (EVs) but also for domestic and commercial power banks for solar energy. The current game-changer is the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, set to replace wet and dry lead-acid batteries. Pakistan’s battery demand is low, but if EVs, solar storage, and grid applications take off, total demand across sectors could grow to tens of GWh over the next decade. However, currently, Pakistan’s Lithium-ion ecosystem is structurally shallow, with less than 20 per cent domestic value addition and heavy reliance on imports — most of the batteries used in e-bikes and EVs are imported, though there are a number of battery assemblers in the country. Meanwhile, one group — ‘Wavetec’, through its subsidiaries, EV Technologies and Atom Power — is set to start assembling Li-ion battery cells in Karachi within six months. “EV adoption cannot scale sustainably without a strong battery ecosystem,” said Huma Khattak, CEO of Atom Power and EV Technologies. ‘If we do not localise, we risk replacing our dependence on oil imports with dependence on battery imports’ She added that Atom Power is also working to support Pakistan’s broader battery and energy storage needs. “If we do not localise, we risk replacing our dependence on oil imports with dependence on battery imports. After the implementation of lithium-ion cell manufacturing, the next phase will be gradual localisation of battery raw materials and upstream processing.” According to Khattak, Pakistan needs to focus on battery energy storage systems to support growing demand from solar, grid and industrial applications. Li-ion battery imports in Pakistan have increased from approximately 1.25 GWh in 2024 to 2.5-3.0 GWh in 2025. Looking ahead, total demand is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decade. This growth is driven by electric mobility, solar-linked storage, and the need for r