Myanmar was implementing a one-year electric vehicle (EV) pilot project starting from Jan 1 until Dec 31 this year after importing 40 Chinese-made electric cars last month. Under the pilot project, 10 of the imported Chinese BYD e2 cars will run as electric taxis in the commercial city of Yangon and another 10 vehicles will run as taxis in the capital city of Nay Pyi Daw, Sai Kyaw Naing Oo, chairman of a working committee on electric vehicle development, said on Saturday.

To encourage its EV sector, Myanmar established the National-level Leading Committee on Development of Electric Vehicles and Related Business, which includes five working committees, in June last year. The South-East Asian country then granted zero-tariff treatment on imported electric cars effective from Nov 2 last year until March 31 this year.

The national-level leading committee was working on importing EVs, manufacturing EVs in the country and building charging stations to grow the EV sector, Sai Kyaw Naing Oo said. As part of the pilot project, a knowledge sharing programme on electric vehicles was organised by the committee and related EV organisations in the commercial city of Yangon on Saturday, attracting more than 200 participants. (SAT)