Idcol to support investment in electric vehicles

Infrastructure Development Company (Idcol) is going to support Ricardo-AEA, an UK-based international energy and environmental consulting firm, in a project that will enable businesses in Bangladesh to access finance to invest in new electric vehicles.

Ricardo has received funding for the project from the UK government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy under a UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF), according to a statement.

The UK PACT is a capacity building programme under the UK's International Climate Finance portfolio.

The GRCF programme was set up in January 2020 under which projects in countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia will be supported to accelerate their low-carbon transition.

In this project, experts from Ricardo, Idcol and other Bangladeshi organisations such as LightCastle Partners and Policy Exchange will look for scalable inclusive business models and an enabling financing ecosystem for individual transport providers, SMEs and cooperatives with an aim for electric vehicle uptake in Bangladesh.

Idcol, a non-bank financial institution under the finance ministry, will support Ricardo in conducting the demands and need assessment surveys among the micro, small and medium enterprises and evaluate the current finance options before developing a financing product for banks and financial institutions in Bangladesh.

The project will also support organisations in developing business cases and make funding applications to banks.