Study of solar powered electric vehicles charging station in Kathmandu valley-A case study of sundar yatayat Bikash Kumar Pal a , Surya Prasad Adhikari a,∗ a Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur, Nepal ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 11 Sep 2021 Received in revised form 19 Sep 2021 Accepted 12 Dec 2022 Keywords: Electric Vehicle IRR Levelized Cost of ElectricityShock- induced Combustion Optimal Route Payback Period Abstract In this paper, a feasibility study is done about the techno-economical aspect of installing the solar PV system for charging electric vehicles. Public electric vehicles operated by company, Sundar Yatayat Pvt. Ltd. are taken into consideration for data collection and feasibility test. The company operates four vehicles currently, two buses of length 10.5m and 8.5m and two vans of length 6m which runs in ring-road of Kathmandu valley. A survey is conducted regarding the types of vehicles operated, charging pattern of the vehicles, number of units consumed to charge the vehicles, charging location, annual income as well as its operation and maintenance costs, internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period are used for the feasibility of the use of solar PV energy for charging the vehicles. There are four vehicles in operation at present, so the comparison is done between charging the vehicles through various percentage share of solar PV system to the current charging units i.e., 100%, 80% and 50% share of solar PV system. In all three cases, the Levelized Cost of electricity is calculated and the vehicle operating routes are studied inside Kathmandu valley. Finally, the optimal and feasible solution for solar-based charging and the optimal route for profit maximization is proposed in this paper. Best feasible solution is found if the vehicles are charged through 80% share of solar PV and other through grid with discounted payback period of 5.03 years and LCOE of Rs. 5.72 per kWh. ©JIEE Thapathali Campus, IOE, TU. All rights reserved 1. Introduction Environmental issues have become the point of major concern in the past few decades. The main reason for this environmental issue is the change in climatic condi- tions due to global warming. Nearly one-fourth of the total greenhouse emission is contributed by the trans- portation sector. Conventional transportation is majorly powered by internal combustion engines using fossil fuels. As we know the availability of fossil fuels is fi- nite, renewable energy is only the best solution for this. Nepal has greater potential for solar energy but we are heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels [1]. A ma- jor portion of the imported fossil fuel is utilized in the transportation sector. The number of vehicles has been reportedly increasing by 14% annually since 1990 resulted in urbanization and improvement in the living standard of people. Road ∗ Corresponding author: spadhikari@pcampus.edu.np (S.P.A. ) transport is dominant in Nepal and the major percent of the vehicles are private. The registered number of public vehicles has been decreasing to 3% from 11% within 25 years from 1990 but at the same time private vehicles are increasing [2]. This significant increase in private vehicles is the major source for the emission of greenhouse gases. The pollution level recorded is much greater than the standard limit set by the World Health Organization. The demand and supply are increasing every day. Since 1975 the supply in the petroleum prod- ucts had expanded by right around 70 folds. The period between 1987-1997 is viewed as the first time when there was more demand in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) [3]. It is because LPG was presented as another lamp fuel, power, and so forth in the metropolitan and semiurban region. Because of the weight of the high populace, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is being not able to supply appropriately. Even though it has a capac- ity limit of 70309 kiloliters (KL), experiencing the issue of deficiency. NOC keeps up an extremely low load of oil-based goods, uplifting dangers of lack whenever B.K. Pal et al. / JIEE 2022, Vol. 5, Issue 1. Page 113