Saad Farrukh

Early life and background

Farrukh was born in Karachi in 1989. His parents lived in Lahore before he was born. He grew up mainly in Lahore and spent most summer holidays in Karachi. His schooling and university took place in Lahore. [2]

His family has run a shop on McLeod Road. His father has worked in the two- and three-wheeler spare parts segment since Farrukh was a child, and the family business sold both retail and wholesale. Farrukh grew up watching his father, uncles and cousins work in the same market. His father has been one of his role models. [2]

Career

Farrukh says he has worked hard for about 13 years, since 2012. Around 2013 to 2014 he explored a solar business with a friend. [2]

In April 2017, Farrukh was about to travel to China. He had made a list of parts to buy from China as a new product. He changed the trip to buy complete loaders instead of spare parts. [2]

Farrukh says work on the factory started on September 17, in a small space he took. The factory was designed to make cargo loaders. He says its licences and machinery were complete around the third quarter of 2020, and that the brand launched its cargo loaders in 2021. [2]

Farrukh says many players had already settled into the cargo loader market by 2021, and that it had become tough to enter. His team worked on cargo loaders for about a year and a half. He says a saturated market forced the business to give credit and discounts. By the third quarter of 2022, he says, too much credit had disturbed the business's cash flow, and the spare parts business was also hurt at that time. [2]

In 2020, Farrukh had 10 to 15 electric scooters and bikes brought from China as samples, and he says none of them sold. He says the EV idea started when the business decided to add a new product. He moved into the EV space after years of importing parts from China and setting up local assembly. He says his place was 17th in the licence order for becoming a two-wheeler assembler or manufacturer. [2]

EVEE

Farrukh says EVEE sold 800 units in its first year and 8,000 in its second. He says the company has delivered about 25,000 units on the road, and that it has held the top position in the market for six to eight months. He says 74 two-wheeler licences have been issued so far, and that he does not see other EV companies as competitors. [2]

Farrukh says he was the first to bring electric scooters to Pakistan, but not electric bikes, and that 16 companies had already experimented with electric bikes before him. He says bikes were built as fuel vehicles rather than as electric ones, and that bikes in Pakistan have run on fuel for the past 20 to 30 years. He concluded that electric bikes were not the right product for Pakistan. [2]

Farrukh says he has always wanted to do something a little different. He felt Pakistan's roads needed something different, which motivated him to bring scooters. He says government policy and China's EV advantage were part of why he brought electric scooters. [2]

Farrukh says the company's growth comes from solving a consumer problem. He says many buyers depended on ride-hailing apps, friends, rickshaws or buses before. He says customers have become ambassadors who recommend the scooters to friends, and that sales are strong in both rural and urban areas. He now believes the scooter is for each individual, not each household. [2]

Giga factory

Farrukh says the company is opening its giga factory to upscale capacity. He says the company is looking at 300,000 scooters built and sold in Pakistan. He says it has invited component manufacturers, including battery makers, and that it wants to build an electric scooter ecosystem inside Pakistan. He says the only option is to build a plant and import CKD kits to assemble locally. [1]

Sales, products and service

From day one, Farrukh's company decided to sell directly to consumers. He says he was not comfortable depending on middlemen for sales, though dealers are also very important to the company. He says dealer dependence will remain part of the three-wheeler market. He says choosing the consumer market over B2B was an easy decision for him, and that the company's current products are not designed for B2B fleet use. [2]

Farrukh says the company has eight scooter variants. He says one of the company's scooter models is specifically designed for women, one series is marketed to office-going people, and one model targets young men going to college and university. About 20 percent of his customers are women. [2]

Farrukh says the mileage figures the company markets are fair, and that the scooters give a range of about 70 to 90 km. He says a full charge takes around 8 hours. He says his three-wheeler product is for elderly riders and people with special abilities, and that a light electric product for teenagers has a maximum speed of 20 km/h. [2]

Farrukh says the company gives a 20-month after-sales warranty. Its team responds within 24 hours and visits customers at home, and the service is valid across Pakistan. He says the company is not bound to give free service to older scooters, but keeps it free until the end of the year. He also says he offers a three-year battery warranty. [1][2]

Batteries and running costs

Farrukh says the scooters use graphene batteries from a Chinese company. He says the batteries last about 600 to 700 charging cycles, and that a battery used daily could degrade in about two years. He says each battery costs about one to 1.25 lakh rupees. [2]

Farrukh says he is not a firm believer that swappable batteries will work as a long-term business model. He says the capital cost of a swappable battery network is very high, and he estimated the minimum capex for one swappable charging station at 1 million rupees. [2]

Farrukh says a full charge costs about 150 rupees and gives about 60 to 70 km, and that the scooter's running cost is about 2 rupees per km. In other remarks he says charging one scooter takes about two units of electricity, roughly 80 rupees, and that charging every day would cost about 6,000 to 7,000 rupees a month. He says charging from solar power would cost nothing. [1][2]

Farrukh says the average consumer charges the scooter three times a week, at a monthly electricity cost of about 3,000 to 4,000 rupees. He says savings remain after adding electricity, battery changes and maintenance. He expects his scooters to depreciate about 40 percent after two years. [1][2]

Views

Farrukh says Pakistan has almost 30 million vehicles on the road, around 25 million of them bikes, and that about two million new motorcycles are made in Pakistan each year. He says the motorcycle market in Pakistan is about 20 million vehicles, and that the two-wheeler industry reached about 2 million sales at its peak. He expects fuel two-wheeler sales to stay around 1.5 to 1.6 million next year. He estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 of about 1.5 million vehicles were electric, and expects electric two-wheeler sales to reach 100,000 in the calendar year 2025. He says the market numbers his company gathers from its own research are about 90 to 95 percent accurate. [1][2]

Farrukh says the company's target market has doubled, and that it has seen a huge rise in demand over the past couple of months. He says the company now also reaches buyers motivated by savings. He says the aim is not to compete with a gasoline bike but to create a new market, and that the company does not want to sell its product on the savings argument. He says an EV always saves money, but the buyer must find the right product. He says fuel savings alone are not a good enough reason for consumers to buy, and that his aim is to bring independence to riders. [1][2]

Farrukh says a buyer's commute should be about half of the range a company claims. He says a good comparison is an electric bike or scooter used for commutes under 50 kilometers, and that no electric bike in Pakistan yet suitably covers 100 kilometers of range. He says an EV is easier to ride because there are no gears to change. [1]

Farrukh says the two-wheeler EV policy is part of the 2021 auto policy. He says CKD imports have carried a 50% customs duty from the start of the policy, that two-wheeler EVs carry 1% sales tax, against 18% on other vehicles, and that customs duties on electrical components are close to zero. [1][2]

Farrukh says the industry needs the current policy to continue unchanged, and that frequent policy changes can put a whole industry in trouble. He says he does not expect major changes in the coming budget. He says the top government leadership wants to incentivise the industry, that he is very positive about the government's approach, and that the government cannot be more supportive of the EV industry. He says electrifying rickshaws is a much bigger challenge than two-wheelers. [1][2]

Farrukh compares buying a scooter to buying a phone, judged by the value it adds to a person's life. He advises not to fix the industry but to fix oneself. He says Pakistan has a population of about 250 million, that the figure may have doubled by 2050, and that there will always be economic opportunity in Pakistan. [2]

Timeline

1989

Born in Karachi.[2]

2013

Around 2013 to 2014, explores a solar business with a friend.[2]

2017

In April, is about to travel to China and changes the trip to buy complete loaders instead of spare parts.[2]

2020

Has 10 to 15 electric scooters and bikes brought from China as samples; factory licences and machinery are complete around the third quarter.[2]

2021

The brand launches its cargo loaders.[2]

2022

By the third quarter, too much credit has disturbed the business's cash flow.[2]

2023

Says he started the company on his own.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Pakistan's first giga factory bets on a new kind of rider . Thought Behind Things , 2026-05-16.
2. Pakistan's electric scooter winner isn't selling to bike owners . Thought Behind Things , 2025-09-22.