• 100,000 EVs on the road
• No tracking system or local recycling plant
• CEA’s battery guideline still not gazetted
• Only two charging operators certified 16 years after law took effect

Sri Lanka’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet has grown from about 30,000 in September 2025 to more than 100,000 by June 2026, but the country still has no system to track, collect or recycle used EV batteries, the Auditor General (AG) has found.

The findings are in the AG’s Environmental Audit Report on Electric Vehicle Usage, Post-Usage Management and Environmental Impact Assessment in Sri Lanka (Report No. ENV/2025/03). The report was released on 22 September 2026 and covers 2020 to 2025.

EV registrations rose from 340 in 2020 to 12,519 in 2024. Of the 30,426 EVs registered by September 2025, 84 per cent were motorcycles. EVs still make up only a small share of the country’s more than nine million vehicles.

The audit said this growth has outpaced the rules for dealing with used batteries. They are classed as scheduled waste and handled by 14 e-waste collectors licensed by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA). However, the CEA’s guideline on used lithium-ion batteries has not been gazetted, and there is no national tracking system.

There is also no separate Harmonized System (HS) code for EV batteries, making imports hard to trace. The Department of Motor Traffic does not record battery replacement or disposal. With no local recycling plant, used batteries are either stored informally or exported at high cost. Auditors found batteries stored in the open during a site visit.

For now, most owners keep their old batteries for solar or home power storage, so large volumes of waste have yet to appear. The National Environmental (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2026 provides for an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system that would make importers and producers responsible for used batteries. The regulations to implement it are not yet in place.

A USD 9.65 million project to promote EVs, funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has also not become operational, despite approval in September 2022. The audit blamed its transfer between ministries, delays in finalising the cooperation agreement and the lack of a monitoring framework.

Sri Lanka has no approved National Transport Policy, which the report said has fragmented EV initiatives. The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has had the power to regulate charge point operators since 2009 but began certifying them only in March 2025. Only two had been certified by that August. Inspections in Colombo found some charging stations not working and several lacking safety signs or certification labels.

On emissions, the report cited research showing that electric motorcycles cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 66 per cent and electric three-wheelers by about 64 per cent. But these gains are limited by the country’s reliance on thermal power. Renewables supplied 53.5 per cent of electricity in 2024, against a target of 70 per cent by 2030. There is also no national system to measure emission reductions from EVs.

In a survey of 190 EV users, 40 per cent found charging inconvenient, and only 27 per cent were aware of government EV policies or incentives.

The AG made 13 recommendations. These include:

• a national database to track every EV battery from import to disposal
• gazetting the CEA’s battery guideline
• a PUCSL register of charging stations and a tariff framework
• a programme to electrify motorcycles and three-wheelers
• a single system to measure EV emission reductions
• a national e-mobility framework with clear roles, targets and timelines

200 e-buses stuck after bond fraud

A Cabinet-approved plan to bring 200 electric buses into public transport has stalled after the only bid received was found to be backed by a fraudulent performance bond, the AG’s report said.

Under the plan, approved in 2023, the Ministry of Transport was to procure the buses for the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). They were to run mainly in the Colombo Metropolitan Region and the Gampaha District, cutting fuel imports and air pollution.

Ten bidders bought the tender documents, but only one submitted a proposal. It was disqualified over the bond, and the procurement was terminated on 20 July 2024. As of 27 October 2025, no action had been taken to restart it.

The audit blamed weak procurement governance, inadequate due diligence and the lack of a contingency plan. It also cited poor coordination between the ministry, the Treasury and the SLTB.