Nepal imported more than 1,000 units of electric vehicles (EVs) in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

The records with the Department of Customs (DoC) show that around 300 units of EVs were imported just in the past one month. Most of the imported EVs were of less than 100 kW capacity.

Through the budget announcement, the government has reduced the customs duty on imports of EVs of less than 100 kW, while increasing taxes on the high-end EVs. The imports of the green energy-based vehicles has surged mainly due to the government’s soft corner for these vehicles, ban on import of luxury vehicles, increased awareness among the people towards environment depletion, hike in prices of petroleum products and rise in living standards of the people, according to Dhruba Thapa, president of Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association.

During the review period, Nepal spent Rs 2.86 billion for the import of the aforementioned number of EVs. Similarly, the government collected revenue of Rs 826.20 million from the imported EVs.

The government has removed customs duty on import of EVs of up to 100 kW capacity. However, excise duty of 15 percent is levied on such vehicles. For the EVs between 100-200 kW, both the customs duty and excise duty are slapped at the rate of 30 percent each.

For the EVs of 200-300 kW, the government has imposed customs duty and excise duty of 45 percent each. Likewise, the rate of these taxes are each 60 percent for EVs of more than 300 kW.

The landlocked Nepal imported 1,805 electric four-wheelers in the fiscal year 2021/22.