Others

Electric Vehicle (EV) Advocacy Project

The EV advocacy program has been an integral part of the MC activities since late 1998. After initial background research on EVs, the MC team has since been actively involved in advocating for alternative fuel vehicles (read electric) and cleaner air, and lobbying against polluting vehicles. The EV advocacy team played important roles in the eviction of smoke-belching diesel three-wheelers from Kathmandu, and in the implementation of Euro I equivalent Nepal Vehicle Mass Emission Standard, 2056BS. Likewise, it was the EV advocacy team's active role that made the government revoke two of its decisions related to the EV sector. The first of these decisions was to import 500 petrol-engine three-wheelers; the other decision was to ban the registration of electric three-wheelers. After MC's involvement in the EV sector, the number of EVs has grown impressively. Lately, the government has set emission standard for gas-powered vehicles, a step the MC team has long demanded. However, the emission standard is not been implemented properly at the moment.