Nepal imported more than 1,200 electric vehicles (EVs) through the Tatopani customs point in the month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May) alone, which is almost one third of the total vehicles imported in the last ten months of the current fiscal year. According to Tatopani customs, a total of 1,218 EV units entered the country during the review month.

The government collected revenue worth Rs 1.66 billion from the import of EVs within a month. The total value of EVs, including cars, jeeps, vans, minibuses, and microbuses imported in mid-April to mid-May stood at Rs 3 billion.

Officials believe that rumors of a hike in EV taxes in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget prompted importers to bring in more vehicles in the review month. According to Tatopani Customs, importers rushed EV shipments fearing a possible hike in customs duty through the budget.

Currently, about 1,000 EVs are parked at the Tatopani customs yard waiting for customs clearance. Around 100 to 150 vehicles are getting customs clearance daily, and about 1,000 more are in the pipeline.

EV brands like Deepal, Seres, Naami, Omoda, Leapmotor, Zeekr, MG, and Foton vans are among the popular imports via Tatopani.

Most of the imported vehicles fall under the 51–100 kW category. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, Tatopani Customs recorded the import of 3,946 units of EVs.

Among them, 2,226 EVs were between 51–100 kW, 608 EVs were up to 50 kW and 370 EVs were over 101 kW.

From mid-July 2024 to mid-May 2025, Nepal imported EVs worth Rs 10 billion via Tatopani, contributing Rs 5.4 billion in revenue.

Due to high demand and the bulk of EV imports from China, pressure on customs processing has increased at both Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi entry points.