Huge capital needed, policy removal for electric cars and charging stations

Promoting emission reduction in the automobile industry - Photo: BĐT

On August 29, at the workshop "Reducing emissions in the automobile industry: Many paths, one destination" organized by Dau Tu newspaper, Mr. Vo Minh Luc, CEO of BYD Vietnam, said that although there are policies to support the development of electric vehicles, the conversion and development of green transportation still face many difficulties. That is, the planning of charging stations in urban areas is not reasonable, making it difficult for investors; the traffic infrastructure is not yet responsive.

Green car conversion support policy is unclear

In particular, the policy to support the conversion from traditional engine vehicles to new energy vehicles does not have a clear roadmap. Therefore, in order for green transportation to develop, there needs to be a program to convert to using electricity and green energy.

As at BYD, Mr. Luc said that investing in charging stations faces many challenges, especially related to land funds and legal issues. Electric vehicles are widely used in cities, but land funds in these areas are currently very limited. Finding land to invest in charging stations is extremely difficult.

The procedures and processes related to investing in charging stations are still unclear and complicated. Regulations on charging stations are not yet specified, causing difficulties for investors.

For example, issues of fire prevention and fighting or electrical connections are often very complicated, so there needs to be a clear and simple procedure to make investing in charging stations faster.

From a financial perspective, economist Dr. Le Xuan Nghia said that the challenge to develop electric cars is capital. It is necessary to have a credit volume of up to hundreds of millions, even billions of USD with low interest rates and long loan terms for a single investment.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese banking system is based on real estate lending or real estate mortgages. Interest rates are pushed up, making it difficult for industries, especially the mechanical engineering industry, to develop in both breadth and depth.

Need support mechanisms, especially capital and tax fees

Mr. Nghia analyzed that some countries in the early stages of developing the automobile industry often maintain a large banking system with enough financial capacity to finance the industry, or the Government guarantees loans for businesses.

At the same time, governments of countries also introduce support policies but do not affect the competitive environment. For example, funding through land prices, public procurement must be domestic electric vehicles or encouraging consumers to use domestic electric vehicles...

Therefore, he said that along with capital support, it is necessary to develop infrastructure, open the market, and other policies such as special consumption tax, VAT, road tolls, and infrastructure for electric charging stations to ensure that businesses can develop charging stations in many places with convenient locations and low costs.

To promote the automobile industry in general and electric cars in particular, Mr. Dao Cong Quyet - Head of the Communications Subcommittee, Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) - said that policies are needed to increase market capacity.

With the development of electric vehicles, there needs to be a suitable roadmap with incentives for each electric vehicle line to support and encourage consumers. For example, tax and fee policies, investment in charging stations, especially special consumption tax, need to consider amending incentives for environmentally friendly vehicles including HEV (self-charging hybrid vehicles) and PHEV (hybrid vehicles with separate charging systems).

Mr. Phan Duc Hieu - standing member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee - said that the green car industry has the opportunity to develop, but the problem is to build clear and unified policies.

These are incentive and incentive mechanisms that need to be specific, long-term and stable. There needs to be sustainability between investment in electric car production and charging stations, providing localization rates and implementation roadmaps; promoting consumption associated with tax reductions and incentives for both investors and consumers depending on the design purpose of the policy and the development orientation of the automobile industry.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/can-nguon-von-khong-lo-thao-go-chinh-sach-cho-o-to-dien-va-tram-sac-20240829152018017.htm