Punjab starts handing out 100,000 electric bikes on 5 November, with the state paying about half the price
More than 607,000 students completed applications, so about one in six will get a bike. The portal's terms put the state's share of the Rs199,000 price at roughly 45 percent, before it pays interest, insurance and tax.
Punjab will start handing over electric bikes to students on 5 November, and the portal's terms show the state is paying about 45 percent of each bike's price. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz announced the distribution date for the second phase of her student scheme on Facebook on 28 October. The government's bike portal lists 100,000 bikes at Rs199,000 each, with applications having closed on 4 October. By 12 October more than 1.3 million students had registered on the portal and over 607,000 had completed an application.
The terms are specific. The Punjab government pays a capital subsidy of Rs90,000 per bike. The student pays no down payment and about Rs3,000 a month for three years at 0 percent markup, and the government covers the interest, insurance, registration and token tax. A guarantor, who can be a parent or legal guardian, needs a verifiable income of at least Rs40,000 a month. Applicants must be at least 16, hold a driving licence, learner's permit or juvenile permit, and study at a public or private institution registered in Punjab. Students at federally chartered institutes are excluded.
The arithmetic of the offer
Thirty six payments of Rs3,000 come to Rs108,000. Add the Rs90,000 subsidy and the total is Rs198,000, within Rs1,000 of the Rs199,000 price. The subsidy is therefore about 45 percent of the price and the student's loan about 54 percent. Across 100,000 bikes the capital subsidy alone comes to Rs9 billion, before the cost of the interest, insurance, registration and tax the government has also taken on. That Rs9 billion is our calculation, not a government figure.
The odds are about one in six: 100,000 bikes against 607,000 completed applications is 16 percent, and against 1.3 million registrations it is under 8 percent. The first phase, balloted in May 2024, offered 1,000 electric bikes alongside 19,000 petrol bikes and drew 72,640 applications, so phase two multiplies electric supply a hundredfold.
Our analysis: what could go wrong
The bikes are listed with a 72 volt, 30 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery and a 1,000 watt motor. Multiplying volts by amp hours gives about 2.2 kilowatt hours of storage, enough for roughly two hours at full motor power; real range depends on speed and load. Lithium iron phosphate cells are generally rated for well over 1,000 full cycles, so a battery charged daily should last close to the length of the three year loan but not far beyond it. The portal does not say who pays for a replacement.
The portal also does not say who carries the loss if a family stops paying, so the guarantor's income is the only safeguard it names. The Chief Minister directed in September that bikes be provided within six weeks of the application process ending, which points to mid November, so the first deliveries from 5 November are the first real test of that schedule.
