Kathmandu is making taxi drivers switch to EVs. Not all drivers can afford one

Bishnu Bahadur Karki has been a taxi driver for more than 20 years. Every day, he ferries about a dozen passengers in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, which has over a million visitors a year.

To make ends meet, Karki earns additional income by renting a car to another driver in the city. But the government’s efforts to preserve the environment in the Himalayan nation have threatened his livelihood.

In 2018, the Nepal government mandated that all gas and diesel cars older than 20 years be scrapped. Karki’s cars are 2003 and 2004 models.

Buying a new car is not an easy option for him. In 2022 , the provincial government in Bagmati, which governs Kathmandu Valley, mandated that all new taxis be electric. But so far, there’s only one car for sale in Kathmandu Valley that meets the regional government’s guidelines for EV taxis: the Tata Xpres-T sedan, which costs 3.7 million Nepali rupees ($27,695) — equivalent to what Karki makes in seven years.

“The state is killing us,” Karki, who bought both of his current cars secondhand in 2021 for less than $18,000 combined, told Rest of World .

Thousands of taxi drivers in and around Kathmandu Valley face the same problem: They have to scrap their old vehicles and upgrade to the pricey Tata Xpres-T sedan. Twenty-four taxi drivers who use gas-powered cars in Kathmandu Valley told Rest of World they cannot afford the sedan. Several drivers who have bought the Xpres-T said they are struggling to make ends meet after paying the monthly installments on the new vehicle.

“Indeed, there is a burden on drivers,” Gaurab Raj Pandey, the research and development manager at sustainable mobility conglomerate Thee Go, told Rest of World . “Drivers have no other options and are forced to purchase the Tata Xpres-T at a high price. This situation creates a monopoly in the market.”

Laxman Lamsal, Bagmati’s minister for labor, employment, and transport, told Rest of World the government is “aiming to introduce cheaper options if their price is less for the same power … People should get an alternative.”

Tata, the Indian carmaker that manufactures the Xpres-T, directed Rest of World ’s queries to its Nepal dealer, Sipradi.

Shawant Jung Sijapati, general manager of the passenger vehicle business at Sipradi, told Rest of World the upfront cost of the EV is lower than that of many cars with internal combustion engines, because of lower import tariffs. The fuel cost for the vehicle is also cheaper, helping drivers save money in the long run, he said.

“The Xpres-T is very competitively priced and offers a significantly lower total cost of ownership than ICE [internal combustion engine] cars with a strong payback in the taxi segment,” Sijapati said. He added that the company surveyed over 260 Xpres-T customers in March and April, and found they were “extremely satisfied.”

Lama, a taxi driver, bought the Tata Xpres-T over a year ago. Since then, he has had to live hand to mouth. “I pay my loan, I pay my taxes, and have no money left after … There should be savings, no?” Lama told Rest of World , requesting to be identified by his last name to protect his privacy .

Taxi driver Tamang, 45, who bought the Xpres-T last year, said he has never missed a loan installment, “but sometimes I have to borrow money to complete it … There are times when I have to take out personal loans.” Tamang did not wish to disclose his full name to protect his privacy.

There are roughly 16,500 taxis registered in the Bagmati province, of which only 606 are EVs, Ashok Kafle, an official at Nepal’s Department of Transportation, told Rest of World , adding that there is no way to estimate how many of these taxis are currently active. Kathmandu is part of Bagmati province.

Since January, taxi drivers and the different groups that represent them have held protests over the lack of government support, Arjun Gautam, chairperson of the Nepal Meter Taxi Entrepreneurs’ Association, told Rest of World. “When criteria and regulation is made, it should be suitable to drivers and the customers,” he said. “It’s good to bring EVs, it’s good for the environment, but it needs to be convenient for us, too … We just wish the government had provided us some breaks on customs and [given] us subsidies.”

Buying an Xpres-T for commercial use costs more because the price includes annual maintenance, repairs, and insurance, among other things, Sijapati said.

While the government’s policy on scrapping old cars is clear, its implementation has been sporadic, several drivers told Rest of World . Many taxi drivers with old vehicles continue to drive in Kathmandu Valley but run the risk of being pulled over by the traffic police. If they are caught, they have to pay a fine.

Saroj, 45, has been caught twice and had to pay a fine of 500 Nepali rupees ($4) once.

Drivers who have switched to the Xpres-T said it wasn’t the ideal vehicle for Kathmandu Valley’s narrow streets and steep terrain, and wondered why the government was not approving other car brands and models to operate as taxis.

At least 10 drivers told Rest of World they find the car’s size a challenge: It is too big to drive in the narrow lanes of Kathmandu, the historic city of temples. Users of ride-hailing apps expect the cars to pick them up at their exact locations, and drivers struggle to navigate the small alleyways.

Minister Lamsal said the government has formed a committee to address taxi drivers’ concerns regarding the sedan’s size. “We’re in the final stages of allowing hatchbacks to be made available for taxis here,” he said.

“The range is too little,” said B. Moktan, a taxi driver who has been driving the Tata car since last year . The charge on Moktan’s car was at 57% when he met Rest of World in Kathmandu. “If I get a request for Pokhara [a popular tourist destination about 200 kilometers from Kathmandu], I won’t know whether to go or not — it’s a risk,” he said. “There’s no guarantee I’ll find an empty charging station on the way … Even the ones that are there will have queues … There’s not enough charging stations.”

Nepal currently has around 400 charging stations . Sipradi has installed 23 direct-current EV charging stations, and is in the process of setting up more, Sijapati said. Of these, only five are in Kathmandu Valley.

Sipradi conducted a study with over 1,000 taxi drivers from December 2022 to March 2023. It found that the average daily driving distance for taxis in Kathmandu is 120 kilometers, which makes the Xpres-T “fit right in,” according to Sijapati. “In our long-standing partnership with Tata Motors, we have worked hard and surveyed the market in detail to understand the requirement of the [Nepali] customers,” Sijapati said in a statement to Rest of World . The Xpres-T “is designed for intra-city driving, with a range and price point reflecting this purpose,” he said. ▰

Pragyan Thapa Ghimire is a writer and researcher based in Kathmandu Valley.

Ananya Bhattacharya is a Rest of World reporter based in Mumbai, India.