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From 1993 to 1996 at the request of the Municipality of Kathmandu, Nepal, GRI initiated a very successful electric vehicle program to help alleviate the severe air pollution in that city. This program, supported by US-AEP/NASDA, USAID/Nepal, and US-AEP designed and introduced the SAFA Tempo, a battery operated three wheeler which operates as a mini-bus carrying 10 passengers on fixed routes in the city. GRI built a demonstration fleet of eight SAFA Tempos and operated them as a transportation company for six months. The vehicles carried over 200,000 passengers and travelled over 175,000 km. during the demonstration period.
In an equally significant component of the
program, GRI worked with the government of Nepal to reduce duties on
electric vehicles and components and to establish other incentives
for electric transportation, with the private sector to develop
business plans, and with the public to raise awareness of the
benefits of electric vehicles. For a report on the program in Nepal, Promoting Electric Vehicles in the Developing World, presented at the International Electric Vehicle Conference, November 1998, San Jose, Costa Rica, click here.
Since December 1997 significant strides have been made regarding
electric vehicles in Nepal: In 1997 at the conclusion of its electric vehicle program in Kathmandu, Global Resources Institute received support form SNV, the Dutch NGO, for further work on electric transportation in Nepal. Since then GRI's activities in electric transportation have continued in Nepal and have expanded to other countries in Asia and Central America and to the Pacific Northwest. A report by Anil Baral, "The Electric Vehicle Industry in Nepal" can be found in Home Power Magazine, #79, October/November 2000, pages 74 - 78. |
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last modified January 2006 |