Source: AFP
Taxi driver Surendra Parajuli’s decision to buy an electric cab would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when chronic power outages left Nepalis unable to light their homes at night.
But a dam-building spree has led to low energy prices in a landlocked Himalayan republic that is otherwise entirely dependent on fossil fuel imports, meaning the switch has put more money in its pocket.
“It was a huge saving for me,” Parajuli, the proud new owner of a Chinese-made battery-powered BYD Atto 3, told AFP in the capital Kathmandu.
“It gives 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single charge and costs me a tenth of what petrol does. And it’s environmentally friendly.”
Kathmandu is ground zero of an incipient transport revolution that is set to see the clapped-out cars clogging its traffic-choked roads make way for zero-emissions alternatives.
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More than 40,000 electric vehicles are on the roads around the mountainous country, according to official estimates — a tiny fraction of the 6.2 million motor vehicles currently on the road.
But demand is insatiable: more than a quarter of these vehicles were imported in the 12 months to July, almost tripling from the previous year.
Neighboring China, now the dominant player in electric vehicles worldwide, supplies nearly 70 percent of the market.
“EVs are really suitable for Nepalis,” Yajya Raj Bhatt, a prospective buyer at an electric vehicle expo, told AFP.
“We used to have to rely on gas cars, but now we can drive independently.”
“Great potential”
More than four out of five Nepalese had no access to electricity at the turn of the century, according to the International Energy Agency.
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But rapid investment in dams, which generate 99 percent of Nepal’s baseload power, has transformed the energy grid since then.
Hydropower generation has quadrupled in the past eight years, according to government figures, while 95 percent of the population now has access to electricity.
The country has already signed deals to export surplus power to coal-dependent India and is eyeing future revenue by increasing its current installed power generation capacity of 3,200 megawatts to 30,000 megawatts over the next decade.
Source: AFP
Universal and universally cheap electricity has the potential to jump-start an economy that has historically depended on remittances from Nepalis working abroad.
Kulman Ghising of the Nepal Electricity Authority told AFP that the benefits have already been felt by setting the right conditions for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
Nepal is entirely dependent on imports from India to meet its fossil fuel needs, imposing additional costs on motorists, but Ghising said the curbs on demand had saved the country about $224 million.
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“EVs have great potential for us,” he added. “Electric vehicles in India and Bangladesh have to depend on coal, but in Nepal, it’s all green energy,” he said.
Road transport is responsible for just over five percent of greenhouse gas emissions and has fueled a worsening air pollution crisis.
Kathmandu was this year listed as one of the most polluted cities in the world for several days in April.
Experts say getting more gas-powered vehicles off the road will be an important step toward mitigating this problem.
Electric vehicles are subject to much lower import duties and the government expects them to help Nepal achieve its ambitious goal of becoming zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
Its plan aims to have electric vehicles account for 90 percent of all private vehicle purchases by the end of the decade.
“Immediate Problems”
But not everyone is convinced that the advent of the electric vehicle boom in Nepal heralds an eco-friendly future.
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Nepal’s ambitious hydropower plans are controversial, with activists warning that building new dams risks damaging sensitive ecological areas.
The government this year approved a new policy that allows the construction of dams that could affect previously protected areas, including forests, nature reserves and tiger habitats
Source: AFP
Hydropower projects also face the risk of damage from floods and landslides common in the country, which are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change.
Campaigners also say the government, in its rush to embrace electric vehicles, has neglected to make proper plans to manage the heavy burden of e-waste.
EV lithium-ion batteries contain materials that are hazardous to humans and the environment, and their disposal is costly.
“The government does not seem far-sighted on this issue, it is only concerned with solving the immediate problems,” Nabin Bikas Maharjan of the recycling business Blue Waste to Value told AFP.
“It’s time for the government to prioritize it. Otherwise it will create additional pollution.”
Source: AFP
