Recently, Nepal government released Rs 3 billion support to Sajha Yatayat to buy and operate electric buses. With the money, Sajha Yatayat is planning to purchase 300 electric buses. Nepal is currently facing trade deficit amounting to around NPR 127.34 Billion per annum. Import of motor vehicles and petroleum products to power these vehicles have been one of the biggest contributors for the deficit. One can explore the statistics on number of registered vehicles in Nepal to get the perspective. As of December 2018, (Mangsir 2075), the number of total registered vehicles in the country was 35,39,519.
There were a total of 32,21,042 registered vehicles by the end of Fiscal Year 2074/75 (2017, mid-July). Motor vehicle ownership has been increasing at an average of 20% per annum, thus increasing the demand for petroleum products. Refined petroleum products amounting to $1.04 Billion were imported in 2017, making for around 11% of the total imports. The increase in emissions owing to excessive burning of fossil fuels has exacerbated the air pollution problem, particularly in the urban areas with higher concentration of registered vehicles. Against this backdrop, promotion of electric vehicle technology can be a suitable strategy to improve air condition and to tackle the widening trade deficit.
Electric vehicles being currently—both at the private and government levels. But the number is negligible. The Federal and State governments have announced plans to accord priority for the purchase and use of electric vehicles. Province no. 3 and the Sudur-Paschim province have also tabled the plans to operate electric buses. The import such vehicles might mean more stress on our foreign exchange reserves. However, the reduction in fuel imports in the long-term will cover up for this temporary burden.
There are numerous advantages of driving an electric vehicle (EV). EVs reduce CO2 emission into the atmosphere and reduces noise pollution. Battery prices are going down because of the increasing demands of EVs. Therefore, the price of EVs will go down in due time. Governments around the world are incentivizing the use of EVs, Nepal is also following the suit. The major concerns about EVs are the proper management and disposal of used batteries, and the development of charging stations. Batteries are typically replaced every seven to eight years for smaller vehicles and three to five years for larger vehicles. Batteries contain toxic chemicals that cannot be dumped into a landfill. Almost all the countries in the world have mandatory provision to recycle the used batteries.
Challenges
Lack of required infrastructure including charging stations and battery recycling facilities are major challenges to operate electric vehicles in Nepal. EVs are new to the roads of Nepal and Nepal does not produce EVs and batteries. Therefore, it would not be feasible to establish recycling plant immediately. In most of the countries like China, USA and European Countries, the responsibility of managing the used batteries lies on the producers. For instance, Malaysia purchases EVs from China and it returns the used batteries to the producers. Likewise, Nepal should adopt the similar strategy.
Way Forward
The government should immediately identify and decide the network within Nepal to operate EVs. The development of such networks should be phase wise (short term, medium term and long term). Based on the phase-wise plan, the road condition and charging stations should be developed. Electric buses are normally low floor, therefore, condition of road should be well maintained at all times. In case of the management of used batteries, the used batteries should be sent back to the producers for recycling process as a short term solution. Whereas Nepal should aim at producing EVs, batteries and recycling plant as a long term solution. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) should also be coordinated in this context to provide required electricity to the charging stations. Operation of electric vehicles is not a problem for Nepal but the required planning and proper execution of the plans are essential to smoothly run electric vehicles in Nepal.
The writer can be reached at gajurelashish@gmail.com
