EV charging stations in Karachi, from Shell forecourts to the M-9

Karachi's first public charger depends on who you ask, and three EV owners could easily give you three different answers. A BMW dealer put one in at Dolmen Mall in 2017. Shell and K-Electric opened a rapid charger on Rashid Minhas Road in 2021. And a family-run CNG station in Saddar relaunched in 2022 as what Dawn called Pakistan's first and only ultra-rapid DC charging station.

All three are true in their way, and it says something about the city. EV charging stations in Karachi arrived early, from a handful of determined companies, and then grew slowly. As of November 2026 we could trace ten public sites to operators, reputable news or the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's EV charging registration list (NEECA EVCI list). We go through them operator by operator, then cost, paperwork and how to live with a network this thin. For the national players and how Karachi compares, see our Pakistan-wide charging station guide.

How Karachi's chargers arrived

The dates matter for a practical reason. Several of these chargers are four or five years old, and news coverage stops at the ribbon-cutting. What follows is what each operator or regulator has said, not a promise that every unit is working today.

Shell Recharge on Rashid Minhas Road, DHA Phase 5 and the M-9

Shell's Karachi chargers were built with K-Electric, which undertook to strengthen the power supply to the sites. Since January 2025 the company behind Shell's Pakistani forecourts is Wafi Energy Pakistan, which keeps using the Shell brand under licence (Profit, January 2025). On NEECA's list you'll see Wafi Energy, not Shell.

Askari-4, Rashid Minhas Road

This was the first one, inaugurated in July 2021 at the Shell Askari-4 forecourt (ProPakistani, July 2021). Shell's Shell Recharge page still describes its first chargers as "Rapid Chargers" with a capacity of 50 KWH (Shell Pakistan), which probably means 50 kW. NEECA now lists two Wafi Energy registrations at the Askari filling station on Rashid Minhas Road, one at 50 kW and a newer one at 120 kW, both valid into March 2027. That looks like a second, faster unit, though Shell hasn't announced it.

SPL Defence Service Station, DHA Phase 5

When Shell reopened this Khayaban-e-Bahria forecourt, it said the site had Shell Recharge, its third charging facility with K-Electric (Shell Pakistan, 2022). Don't confuse the 45 kW figure in that release with charging power; it refers to the solar panels on the roof. NEECA registers the site at 180 kW, valid to 26 January 2027. For anyone in DHA or Clifton it's the obvious first call.

SPL Oasis on the M-9

Out at Gadap Town, near the start of the motorway to Hyderabad, Shell's SPL Oasis retail outlet got Shell Recharge in 2022. ProPakistani described it as the first publicly available charging service on the motorways in Sindh (ProPakistani, March 2022). NEECA has two Wafi Energy entries on the Super Highway, valid into 2027, which probably cover Oasis, though neither names it. No source says which carriageway the charger serves, so check before you count on it for the return leg.

We haven't verified any other public charger further up the M-9 yet. If you're driving to Hyderabad or beyond, leave Karachi near full and use Oasis as a top-up on the way out. Our EV charging time guide explains why stopping at around 80 percent is quicker than waiting for 100.

HUBCO Green at Ocean Mall and Korangi Road

HUBCO Green, part of the Hub Power group, opened its first station at Ocean Mall in Clifton on 21 January 2025 (Business Recorder, January 2025; PakWheels, January 2025). Neither report gave its power, plug or price, and we found no NEECA row for Ocean Mall. A month later HUBCO Green agreed with PSO to install chargers at PSO stations (Business Recorder, February 2025). By December 2025 it reported eight DC fast-charging stations across Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, without a city-by-city breakdown (Profit, December 2025).

The one Karachi PSO site we can tie to that partnership is the Q-Star service station on Main Korangi Road, opposite CSD, registered on NEECA as "PSO & Hubco" with 60 kW of site capacity. That registration lapsed in October 2025.

Saddar, Shahrah-e-Faisal and the north

Libra Charging Hub in Saddar is the one with the story. The owner's family had run a CNG station there since the 1990s, and in June 2022 they turned it into a charging hub with Siemens SICHARGE D chargers rated up to 160 kW, with Audi and Siemens at the launch (Dawn, June 2022). At launch ProPakistani reported a price of Rs 65 per kWh (ProPakistani, June 2022). Treat that as history. NEECA's original Libra registration lapsed in September 2025, while a smaller 30 kW registration at a neighbouring plot, under the owner's name, runs to March 2027.

On Shahrah-e-Faisal, Inverex has a site in Bangalore Town registered at 180 kW. That registration lapsed in April 2026, and Inverex publishes nothing about the charger online, so check its hours and whether it's open to non-customers before you go.

North Karachi is thin. NEECA lists a privately registered 120 kW site in Sector 12-D of the North Karachi Industrial Area, valid to February 2027, and a smaller 60 kW one in North Nazimabad Block A under the same registrant that expires on 29 November 2026. Neither has an operator website, and we couldn't confirm the North Nazimabad site is operating.

As for Dolmen Mall, Dewan Motors installed a BMW ChargeNow point in 2017 for BMW plug-in owners (Profit, January 2017). The report didn't say which branch, and we found nothing since. Assume it's gone unless the mall tells you otherwise.

Where EV charging stations in Karachi stand with NEECA

Under NEECA's 2024 rules, charging stations have to register, and the list shows each site's registered capacity and how long its registration lasts. It isn't a live status feed. Its capacity figure covers the whole site, not each plug.

The list also carries plenty of other Karachi registrations, from fuel retailers and newer charging networks, that we haven't checked yet. So treat this guide as a floor, not a full count.

What Karachi drivers pay per kWh

Libra's 2022 launch price is the only published price we found for a Karachi site. Directory listings across Pakistan in 2026 put public DC charging at about Rs 115 per kWh typical, within a range of roughly Rs 70 to Rs 200. If you'd like to rerun the sums for your own car, our step-by-step cost method shows how.

At Rs 115, 100 km costs about Rs 2,070 on a public charger, against about Rs 1,100 charged at home at Rs 55 a unit. Petrol is Rs 374.51 a litre from 3 November 2026 (Investify, November 2026), though it moves almost daily. At that price a petrol car would need to average about 18 km a litre just to match a public fast charge per kilometre. Payment is the other unknown. None of the operator pages we read says how the charger takes money, so ask on the phone whether it's cash, card or an app.

Living with a thin network

Karachi is big, and the public chargers we could trace lean south, towards DHA, Clifton, Saddar and Shahrah-e-Faisal. If you live in the north or east of the city, the nearest confirmed fast charger can be a long, slow drive in traffic, which is exactly when you don't want to arrive at a dead unit.

• Call first, every time. Ask whether the charger is working today, which plug it has, the price per kWh and whether it runs the same hours as the forecourt or mall.
• We'd keep fast charging for when you need it. Karachi's long hot summers are hard on batteries, and our guide to battery care in Pakistan's heat explains why repeated fast charging adds to that.
• Fix home or building charging first. In a city of flats, that's often the real job, and our apartment charging guide covers the committee conversation.

There's also the charger that's already parked near you. EVDost is a marketplace where people share home and business chargers. Pick your car model, sort by best price or nearest, and you'll see a cost estimate for each one. Billing runs in 10-minute blocks, and when you finish the money goes straight to the host, to the Raast ID, JazzCash, Easypaisa or bank account they've set up. See who's sharing a charger near you.

For most Karachi drivers we'd treat the public network as a backstop rather than a routine. Keep the Shell sites at Rashid Minhas Road and DHA Phase 5 in your phone, know where Ocean Mall and Libra are, and fill up at Oasis before the M-9.

Sources

• NEECA, EV charging infrastructure registration list (opened November 2026): neeca.pk
• Profit, Shell Pakistan renamed Wafi Energy Pakistan (January 2025): profit.pakistantoday.com.pk
• ProPakistani, first Shell and K-Electric rapid charger (July 2021): propakistani.pk
• Shell Pakistan, Shell Recharge page: shell.com.pk
• Shell Pakistan, SPL Defence Service Station release (2022): shell.com.pk
• ProPakistani, SPL Oasis on the M-9 (March 2022): propakistani.pk
• Business Recorder, HUBCO Green at Ocean Mall (January 2025): brecorder.com
• PakWheels, HUBCO Green at Ocean Mall (January 2025): pakwheels.com
• Business Recorder, HUBCO Green and PSO agreement (February 2025): brecorder.com
• Profit, HUBCO Green's eight fast chargers (December 2025): profit.pakistantoday.com.pk
• Dawn, Libra Charging Hub launch (June 2022): dawn.com
• ProPakistani, Libra Charging Hub price at launch (June 2022): propakistani.pk
• Profit, BMW ChargeNow at Dolmen Mall (January 2017): profit.pakistantoday.com.pk
• Investify, petrol price from 3 November 2026: investify.pk