When Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani closed, the obvious question was where all the Chinese EVs sitting on the other side would go. The answer has been a single high-altitude crossing in Mustang, and it has been busy.
The Mustang Customs Office cleared 641 electric vehicles and 434 containers through the Korala border point over a 15-day stretch. Importers have been pushing volume through the route to get vehicles to buyers who placed orders at the NAIMA Mobility Expo and the NADA Auto Show, where the delivery promises were made before the northern crossings went offline.
Still moving in volume
This is not a backlog that has been cleared and settled. Customs Office Chief Bidur Chudal said vehicles and containers are still arriving in large numbers, and Friday alone saw 106 EVs and 71 containers processed and sent on toward their destinations.
To keep pace, the office has brought in extra staff specifically to move clearance along faster. At a crossing that spent years handling a fraction of this traffic, that is a meaningful operational shift.
A China-specific problem
The squeeze is not hitting the whole market evenly. Importers bringing vehicles in from India, Thailand and elsewhere have carried on largely unaffected, because their routes never depended on the northern points.
It is the Chinese-origin brands that have had to reroute, and the list running through Korala right now reads like a roll call of everything new in Nepal's EV market: BYD, Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo, Nammi, Arcfox, Leapmotor, MG, ORA, Haval and Skywell.
Korala by the numbers
641 EVs and 434 containers cleared in 15 days
106 EVs and 71 containers processed on a single day
Rs 1.784 billion collected in the 15-day period
Daily revenue averaging around Rs 300 million since September 6
Rs 2.314 billion collected this fiscal year to September 10
Roughly 3,000 EVs and Rs 6.92 billion in revenue last year
The revenue side
The state is doing well out of the detour. Customs collected Rs 1.784 billion during the 15-day window, and since September 6 the daily take has been averaging around Rs 300 million. From the start of the current fiscal year through September 10, the office has pulled in Rs 2.314 billion from vehicles and other goods crossing at Korala.
Set that against last year for perspective. Roughly 3,000 EVs came through Korala across the whole of the previous cycle, generating Rs 6.92 billion in customs revenue. The current pace is compressing a large share of that into weeks.
From backup route to backbone
Korala only became a regular customs point on September 16, 2025, brought into full operation after floods and landslides knocked out both Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi. It was set up as an alternative. A year later, it is doing the work of a primary crossing.
For buyers waiting on a vehicle booked at one of the expos, the practical takeaway is that deliveries are still moving, just by a longer and higher road than anyone planned for.
For more on EV imports, prices and launches in Nepal, Autoncell covers it as it happens.
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