Pic by Waruna Wanniarachchi

By Nishel Fernando 
In a bid to popularize eco-friendly vehicles in Sri Lanka, John Keells CG Auto, a joint venture between Sri Lanka’s JKH Group and Nepal’s Chaudhary Group, as the authourised distributor for BYD passenger vehicles in the country yesterday officially opened the first BYD showroom and the service centre in Colombo.
This was coinciding with the launch of the Plug-in Hybrid BYD SEALION 6 DM – I in Sri Lanka and three electric vehicles that are expected to be introduced in the near future. Over the next 6-12 month period, John Keells CG Auto plans to open a number of similar showrooms across the country while setting up 50 new charging points strategically across the Keells supermarket chain in the country. 
“It’s a matter of time before lot of people switch from traditional petrol and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles. The purchase price is very competitive. The operation cost is significantly less than operating a petrol or diesel vehicle, more than 80 percent cheaper, that’s our estimate. It’s not just the cost of refueling, maintenance, there’s no engine and so on. 
We have lot of potential in renewable energy, so the potential to save on import of oil on refueling vehicles is significant, it’s just such a compelling opportunity and seemingly a good fit for a large organization,”, John Keells Group Chairman Krishan Balendra told journalists in Colombo yesterday ahead of the official launch of the showroom. 
He shared that John Keells CG Auto expects the government to ‘fairly soon’ remove the vehicle import restrictions currently in force.

“We are very excited, we are waiting for import restrictions to be lifted, which we believe could be fairly soon, although, there’s no officially announced date for that,” he said.
Meanwhile, CG Corp Global Managing Director Nirvana Kumar Chaudhary highlighted that this venture would foster Sri Lanka to replicate Nepal’s success in its shift to electric vehicles.
“CG started its auto venture almost 40 years ago in Nepal by bringing in Suzki, even before it came to India. Since then we have demonstrated and paved the way for vehicles. 
In a country like Nepal in two years with right policies, right mindset and with the right narrative going into the community and the people, Nepal has become a high penetration market for new energy vehicles in the world. Eight out of the ten vehicles sold in the country are today electric vehicles,” he elaborated. 
In particular, he outlined that this partnership would be critical to meet zero emission targets and other key climate commitments while saving foreign exchange on fuel imports.
Speaking on charging facilities, John Keells CG Auto officials noted that there are 300 charging facilities available at present in addition to the proposed 50 charging points to be setup within the Keells supermarket chain. In addition, JKH hotels and resorts are also to be equipped with charging facilities in the future.