Kathmandu, Aug. 4 -- long disruptions at Nepal's two main northern border crossings have slowed the country's fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) market, caused imports to fall sharply, and threatened the launch of new models ahead of this month's two biggest automobile exhibitions.

EV imports, which had expanded rapidly over the past five years and made Nepal one of the world's fastest adopters of electric mobility, dropped by 24.03 percent in the last fiscal year ended mid-July, according to the Department of Customs.

Overall imports of four-wheelers-including passenger buses, microbuses and private vehicles-declined by 19.07 percent during the review period.

Nepal imported 17,688 four-wheelers worth Rs40.44 billion in the last fiscal...