🚕 Why Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 Gov Fleet Should Go Electric

The gov plans to import 2,000 new cabs for official use. They are probably planning to import regular ICE vehicles. But data shows that switching to electric is a no-brainer:

⭕ Govt petrol cabs avg ~5-6 km/litre → Fuel cost ~Rs.50/km.

⭕ EVs of the same class run 6–8 km/kWh → Rs.2.5–5/km. That’s 10–20x cheaper (at Rs.20 per kWh unit cost).

⭕ Installing solar PV at dept premises can cut costs further, making running costs close to zero.

⭕ EVs eliminate fuel skimming by drivers, a major hidden cost in govt fleets & With lower maintenance costs, the govt can save extra billions.

⭕ With 2,000 cabs, annual savings could run into several billions of Rs.

Govt fleets with short daily commutes are the perfect use case for EVs. Going electric is not just cheaper and cleaner it’s financially criminal not to.

21 Aug 2025, 18:03

Sources

Original post on X — Numbers.lk (@numberslka)

Comments15

Reply on Facebook

Some vehicles will need to run long distance regularly where charging infrastructure as not as good as in the city. Wholeheartedly agree for vehicles run predominantly in urban environments.
about 1 year ago
Reading through the comments I realize that Sri Lanka will miss this bus too… as usual. “Emerging markets are quietly surging ahead in EV adoption: Vietnam and Costa Rica are outpacing Europe on EV sales shares, Thailand and Uruguay are outperforming the US, and Brazil surpassed Japan.” https://rmi.org/record-global-ev-growth-five-takeaways-from-recent-electric-vehicle-outlooks/
about 1 year ago
Anura Kumara Dissanayake ??
about 1 year ago
EV සෑහෙන්න ගානක් පාරට ආපු දවසට තමයි විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය ඉනට අත්දෙක තියාගන්නේ. ඒක නිසා රූල් එකක් ගේන්න ඕනි EV එකක් ගන්න ගෙදර solar system එකක් තියෙන්න ඕනි කියලා.
about 1 year ago
1. Numbers are incorrect. If that's due to skimming of fuel, then it's a direct problem that needs solving 2. Not all the fleet can be practically converted into EVs. There is a small fraction of the fleet we can convert into EVs. Mainly the vehicles designated to do city runs and less than 150-200 kms a day ( accounting for losses of range over time ) 3. Also, capex is massive for this transformation as infrastructure needs to be built for charging, which is impractical to do at scale, given the financial state government in Conclusion - yes, we can use EVs, but the process should be a slow rollout and aiming long-term requirements and benefits rather than quick savings
about 1 year agoLikes:12
1. Akila Darshana Panditha my electric vehicle can do 300 miles, that’s about 482 kms. Like other ICE vehicles there are appropriate make and models for long distance travel. Of course no one is saying this transformation should happen by tomorrow. But a slow rollout is better than nothing. Let private sector invest in EV charging and infrastructure upgrades and take the market risk. A small but growing mix of EVs in the government fleet can ensure those businesses stay afloat in the early days.
  about 1 year ago
2. Akila Darshana Panditha It's not impractical nor cost prohibitive. All recent governments including this one have wasted hundreds of millions (totalling tens of billions) of dollars on worthless Indian trains which offer zero benefit to this country (we had better trains in 1955 than today). Electrifying everything will de-Indianise this country and the infrastructure will have long term value. It's been done in multiple East Asian countries. It's a simple case of re-diverting pre-existing expenditure on utter crap onto things of quality (A.K.A. not Indian). Trains being the priority. And buses. Mind you, if ANY political prat calls India their brother, they should be given a three wheeler and practise the crappy lifestyle that they preach!
  about 1 year ago
Kaumadee Bamunusinghe
about 1 year agoLikes:1
Good analysis 👌🏼
about 1 year ago
EVs are yet to be proven over the long run right? why would you want the gov to take risk? To add on top, proper battery disposal is still a concurrent issue.
about 1 year agoLikes:4
What kinda cabs do ~5-6 km/litre? typical mid size pickups used by govt do around 8-12km/litre, adds up to around 30Rs/km not 50. EVs are still cheaper but at this point I'm growing more and more skeptical about your numbers.
about 1 year agoLikes:8
1. Numbers.lk
  Supun Tharindu Hettiarachchi Skimming of fuel is a major issue in the government. It is extremely hard to find a vehicle in the government fleet that has a mileage higher than 7 km per liter on the books. The real mileage and what goes in the books are entirely different. Government vehicles are running at a cost of Rs. 300 per kilometer. Rs. 50 per kilometer (fuel alone) is an ultra-conservative assessment. https://beta.parliament.lk/en/home/parliament-news/view/3976
  about 1 year agoLikes:4
2. Numbers.lk that makes me even more skeptical about the numbers
  about 1 year ago
Will not happen 😂
about 1 year agoLikes:1
👍
about 1 year ago

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Numbers.lk

@numberslka

🚕 Why Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 Gov Fleet Should Go Electric

The gov plans to import 2,000 new cabs for official use. They are probably planning to import regular ICE vehicles. But data shows that switching to electric is a no-brainer:

⭕ Govt petrol cabs avg ~5-6 km/litre → Fuel cost ~Rs.50/km.

⭕ EVs of the same class run 6–8 km/kWh → Rs.2.5–5/km. That’s 10–20x cheaper (at Rs.20 per kWh unit cost).

⭕ Installing solar PV at dept premises can cut costs further, making running costs close to zero.

⭕ EVs eliminate fuel skimming by drivers, a major hidden cost in govt fleets & With lower maintenance costs, the govt can save extra billions.

⭕ With 2,000 cabs, annual savings could run into several billions of Rs.

Govt fleets with short daily commutes are the perfect use case for EVs. Going electric is not just cheaper and cleaner it’s financially criminal not to.

21 Aug 2025, 18:03

Sources

Original post on X — Numbers.lk (@numberslka)

Comments15

Reply on Facebook

Some vehicles will need to run long distance regularly where charging infrastructure as not as good as in the city. Wholeheartedly agree for vehicles run predominantly in urban environments.
about 1 year ago
Reading through the comments I realize that Sri Lanka will miss this bus too… as usual. “Emerging markets are quietly surging ahead in EV adoption: Vietnam and Costa Rica are outpacing Europe on EV sales shares, Thailand and Uruguay are outperforming the US, and Brazil surpassed Japan.” https://rmi.org/record-global-ev-growth-five-takeaways-from-recent-electric-vehicle-outlooks/
about 1 year ago
Anura Kumara Dissanayake ??
about 1 year ago
EV සෑහෙන්න ගානක් පාරට ආපු දවසට තමයි විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය ඉනට අත්දෙක තියාගන්නේ. ඒක නිසා රූල් එකක් ගේන්න ඕනි EV එකක් ගන්න ගෙදර solar system එකක් තියෙන්න ඕනි කියලා.
about 1 year ago
1. Numbers are incorrect. If that's due to skimming of fuel, then it's a direct problem that needs solving 2. Not all the fleet can be practically converted into EVs. There is a small fraction of the fleet we can convert into EVs. Mainly the vehicles designated to do city runs and less than 150-200 kms a day ( accounting for losses of range over time ) 3. Also, capex is massive for this transformation as infrastructure needs to be built for charging, which is impractical to do at scale, given the financial state government in Conclusion - yes, we can use EVs, but the process should be a slow rollout and aiming long-term requirements and benefits rather than quick savings
about 1 year agoLikes:12
1. Akila Darshana Panditha my electric vehicle can do 300 miles, that’s about 482 kms. Like other ICE vehicles there are appropriate make and models for long distance travel. Of course no one is saying this transformation should happen by tomorrow. But a slow rollout is better than nothing. Let private sector invest in EV charging and infrastructure upgrades and take the market risk. A small but growing mix of EVs in the government fleet can ensure those businesses stay afloat in the early days.
  about 1 year ago
2. Akila Darshana Panditha It's not impractical nor cost prohibitive. All recent governments including this one have wasted hundreds of millions (totalling tens of billions) of dollars on worthless Indian trains which offer zero benefit to this country (we had better trains in 1955 than today). Electrifying everything will de-Indianise this country and the infrastructure will have long term value. It's been done in multiple East Asian countries. It's a simple case of re-diverting pre-existing expenditure on utter crap onto things of quality (A.K.A. not Indian). Trains being the priority. And buses. Mind you, if ANY political prat calls India their brother, they should be given a three wheeler and practise the crappy lifestyle that they preach!
  about 1 year ago
Kaumadee Bamunusinghe
about 1 year agoLikes:1
Good analysis 👌🏼
about 1 year ago
EVs are yet to be proven over the long run right? why would you want the gov to take risk? To add on top, proper battery disposal is still a concurrent issue.
about 1 year agoLikes:4
What kinda cabs do ~5-6 km/litre? typical mid size pickups used by govt do around 8-12km/litre, adds up to around 30Rs/km not 50. EVs are still cheaper but at this point I'm growing more and more skeptical about your numbers.
about 1 year agoLikes:8
1. Numbers.lk
  Supun Tharindu Hettiarachchi Skimming of fuel is a major issue in the government. It is extremely hard to find a vehicle in the government fleet that has a mileage higher than 7 km per liter on the books. The real mileage and what goes in the books are entirely different. Government vehicles are running at a cost of Rs. 300 per kilometer. Rs. 50 per kilometer (fuel alone) is an ultra-conservative assessment. https://beta.parliament.lk/en/home/parliament-news/view/3976
  about 1 year agoLikes:4
2. Numbers.lk that makes me even more skeptical about the numbers
  about 1 year ago
Will not happen 😂
about 1 year agoLikes:1
👍
about 1 year ago

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All writeups

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