Fahad Hassan

Early life and background

Hassan has lived in Karachi for 22 years. He has been interested in computers since he was young. [1]

Career

In 2015 Hassan created a work account on a freelancing platform. He has worked with clients around the world, mostly in the US and Singapore. He says his roughly 15 years of experience made it possible for him to use AI. [1]

ChargePK

Hassan says he bought his first EV in November of last year. He noticed a big gap in the market for EV charging. He says Pakistan's EV charging infrastructure lagged behind other countries. The idea for ChargePK came to him in December 2025. [1]

He started building the iOS app first, using his own experience. He spoke to EV owners in a group and asked what they needed. He took a list of Pakistani charging stations from Google Maps and put it in a database. He says charging station owners are not very tech-savvy and do not let the app connect to their chargers. He decided to make ChargePK a community-based app. [1]

Hassan describes a feature where a user within 300 metres of a station can set a charger's status. Users can check in at charging stations in the app. He says the app has a rewards programme. ChargePK has an in-app wallet that users top up from a bank account or card. [1]

ChargePK launched on iOS first, then on Android about a month later. He says it is on iOS and Android, and also on CarPlay, Android Auto and Apple Watch. He wanted ChargePK to run on Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Apple Watch. He wanted it to become a whole ecosystem. He also wanted the app to give users a premium experience. [1]

Hassan chose Apple Maps, which is native to iOS, over Google Maps, which he says would have cost more. He designed the app himself on Figma. He has done all of the development and design himself. He has a small social media design team that handles marketing. It took him about five months to develop the app. [1]

He says he replicated the app for Android within one month. He says AI helped him a lot in building the app. He says the app works in Urdu as well, when a user types a request. [1]

Hassan made the app ad-free and completely free to use. He does not want to monetize the app through ads. He says he simply dislikes ad networks such as Google Ads and will never add them to the app. He has paid for the database out of his own pocket. He says ChargePK has not generated any revenue yet. [1]

Hassan says ChargePK is close to 6,000 users, reached in close to three months. He says at least a thousand users actively use the app daily. He says the app has about 60% week-by-week retention. He says ChargePK has around 300 reviews of the different charging stations. [1]

He says only three of the 170 chargers listed on ChargePK have agreed to connect to the app. ChargePK shows live feeds from three chargers, refreshed every minute. [1]

Hassan says ChargePK has almost signed an MoU with a large multinational working on charging stations in Pakistan. He says the multinational has almost 10 stations with which ChargePK plans to run a pilot. He says partner stations will be branded on the ChargePK app. He gives the example of a discount for charging through the ChargePK app. [1]

Views

Hassan says partnerships matter more than customers at this stage. He says the only way to build things is through collaborations and partnerships. He says talking about problems is easy, and he has seen the same in Dubai. [1]

He thinks Pakistan has more than 50,000 EVs. He says every second car is now an EV or a PHEV. He says Pakistan has perhaps around 100 chargers. He says charging infrastructure between Lahore and Islamabad is good, with about five or six DC fast chargers. He says a trip from Lahore to Karachi is very difficult for EV drivers. [1]

He thinks there are three chargers from Sukkur to Hyderabad. He says about 80% of Pakistani app users are on Android. He says rush at charging stations in metro cities has grown very high. He says the goal is to make life easier for EV drivers and for charging station owners. [1]

Timeline

2012

Started learning to code.[1]

2015

Created a work account on a freelancing platform.[1]

2025

The idea for ChargePK came to him in December.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. How a self-taught developer built Pakistan's EV charging app . Thought Behind Things , 2026-10-13.