Ricardo gears up to improve electric vehicle accessibility in Bangladesh

Ricardo, a world-class environmental, engineering and strategic consultancy which is committed to supporting the decarbonisation of the global transport, has received funding from the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This project will support businesses in Bangladesh to access finance to invest in new electric vehicles. It is funded by the UK PACT Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which sits within the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) programme. This programme is part of the UK’s commitment to tackle climate change by supporting eligible partner countries to move towards a low-carbon sustainable future.

Programme Manager, Ricardo, Arbaaz Nayeem said: “A lot of businesses in Bangladesh would like to make the move to more sustainable transport, but the cost of financing, awareness of products and confidence in the business models have proved to be major barriers.

“We want to help make it easier for them so they can take advantage of the different transport options available.”

Experts from Ricardo and Bangladeshi partner organisation such as IDCOL, LightCastle Partners and Policy Exchange will carry out surveys to understand the needs of small enterprises and evaluate the current finance options before developing a financing product. It is hoped that this will encourage more drivers to opt for low carbon transport.

The team will work with the organisations’ owners to help them develop business cases and make funding applications to banks. Small enterprises, many run by women entrepreneurs, will be given the tools and advice required to enable them to apply for financing for sustainable and electric transport.

Arbaaz said: “We have the knowledge and the expertise to make a genuine difference in a country where electric vehicles are not as financially accessible as they could be. We are delighted to have been awarded this work and look forward to helping improve the uptake of EVs.”