In October 2018, PM KP Oli inaugurated the first five electric buses inducted by Sajha Yatayat. While he was at it, he announced a new action plan for electric vehicles that proposed to turn at least 20% of public vehicles into EVs by 2020. Well, it’s 2020 and the plan hasn’t really gone anywhere.

That’s fine. We get it. We are used to delays.

But nope, that was not enough. The new budget presented to Parliament last week on Thursday made it clear that the government isn’t really interested in promoting the EVS as steep hike in excise and customs duties were announced on those. From 10%, the excise tax on battery cars has been raised to 40-60%, with another 60% customs duty on top of that. It simply means you will have to pay almost double the price to own an EV in Nepal now.

Yeah, Jimmy. You read that right.

No wonder people are pissed.

The run of EV market in Nepal was short, but sweet. Thanks Nepal Government for ruining a promising market.

— Abhishek Shrestha (@abhishek_sresta) May 30, 2020

Death of EV in Nepal. 05/29/2020 #RIP #Budget

— dmanose (@dmanose) May 29, 2020

Nepal could become one of the few countries to have a fleet of only electric cars. That way, import of fossil fuels could have been reduced to fraction, hence saving foreign currency reserve. With updated taxation policy on EVs, future appears doomed. Shortsighted Minister!

— Amit Jha (@amitjha086) May 29, 2020

Nepal Government´s decision to hike tax sharply on electric vehicles is seriously flawed. It is a huge blow environmentally. We are soon going to have surplus electricity and this is when we should be using EVs and electric stoves. Even for self dependence and stronger economy.

— Hem Chaulagai (@Hem_Chaulagai) May 30, 2020

TheeGo recently put out a sarcastic ad for its most economical model ‘e8’, announcing how the e-car that you could buy for 18,95,000 will cost you 30,90,000 after the ‘government discount’, and I am not sure how to react.

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A post shared by TheeGo.NP (@theego.np) on May 29, 2020 at 11:44pm PDT

Smh!