NEA holds rally to encourage and promote use of electric vehicles

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has staged a rally of electric vehicles to encourage and promote the use of electric vehicles in order to increase the consumption of clean green energy generated within the country.

On the occasion of its 38th anniversary, the NEA held a public awareness rally for the use and promotion of electric vehicles on Saturday.

The rally of electric vehicles started from Ratnapark, head office of the NEA, and concluded at Ratnapark again via Maitighar, New Baneshwar, Tinkune, Sinamangal, Airport, Gaushala, Chabahil, Maharajgunj, Lazimpat, Lainchaur and Durbarmarg, according to the NEA.

Inaugurating the rally, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that the government has a policy to increase the consumption of domestically produced electricity and encourage and promote the use of electrical equipment and vehicles for a clean environment. He emphasised on the need to increase the use of electric vehicles and equipment to reduce the import of petroleum products.

Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Kul Man Ghising, Managing Director of the Authority, officials of NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal, users of electric vehicles and others were present in the programme.

The Authority has adopted a policy of buying only electric vehicles for urban areas. The NEA has forwarded the programme to convert even petrol and diesel vehicles into electric ones. The Authority has constructed 51 charging stations in various places across the country to further increase electricity consumption and encourage electric vehicles. The construction process of 13 more charging stations has been forwarded, said the NEA.

Similarly, according to the policy of promoting the private sector, more than 100 charging stations have been installed in different places of the country.

The special concessions on tariff have been provided for charging stations. The NEA said that arrangements have been made to build the electricity transmission line to the charging station free of cost and to provide electricity up to 200 KVA from the Authority’s transformer.

The use of electric vehicles is also increasing over the years. In the fiscal year 2020/21, 249 four-wheel vehicles (cars, jeeps) were imported, while 4,570 were imported in the last fiscal year 2022/23.

The number of electric vehicles imported in three years is estimated to be 6,626. Similarly, 60 electric buses have also been imported so far. Around 9,790 two wheelers have been imported in the last three years.