As per the government’s January 31 Additional measures to finance work on organizing infrastructure for recycling batteries of vehicles with electric motors Resolution the recycling tax for electric vehicles (HS code 8703 80) will be raised from May 1.

According to the document, for electric vehicles, that were manufactured not earlier than three years ago, the tax will stand at 120 basic charge units (BCU), 45 million soums, or about $ 3,462 at the current exchange rate of the Central Bank, meaning  4-time increase to the current rate of 30 BCUs.

For EVs, that were manufactured earlier than three years ago, the tax will be 210 BCUs, or 78.75 million soums - this is about $ 6,058. Now it stands at 90 BCUs (an increase of 2.3 times).

The Resolution added that the proposal to increase the recycling tax had been prepared by the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The goals of this move are "expanding the use of "green" technologies, ensuring the safe disposal of used batteries of electric vehicles without causing significant harm to the environment, and accelerating localization."

Waiver for domestic manufacturers

Earlier, by the presidential decree of December 19, 2022, domestic manufacturers have been waived from paying the recycling until January 1, 2030, for EVs manufactured in the country, and their components, devices, raw materials and spare parts for the provision of services have been waived from customs duties.

Investors are also allowed to import no more than 10,000 (no more than 50% of the production volume) Semi Knocked Downs (SKD) or Completed Knocked Downs (CBU) without paying customs duties and recycling taxes for the period of development of production processes (no more than 24 months).

In July last year, the CEO of ADM Jizzakh, a manufacturer of KIA and Chery cars, which is set to manufacture hybrid and electric vehicles, proposed to restore import duties for electric vehicles to Uzbekistan. He also asked to return the procedure for selling cars through official dealers.

Last summer, the BYD Uzbekistan plant began producing Chazor and Song Plus cars in the Jizzakh province.

In 2024, the import of electric and hybrid vehicles to Uzbekistan overtook the import of conventional engine cars for the first time.