Businesses hesitate to make electric cars because they are waiting for policies.

Electric vehicle manufacturing businesses await policy

Three years ago, Son Ha Group launched a "made in Vietnam" electric motorbike model, gradually shifting its production orientation towards green products and clean energy. At that time, this enterprise was planning to produce another, higher-end electric motorbike product, but could not do so due to "waiting for policy".

Speaking to Lao Dong, Mr. Hoang Manh Tan - Deputy General Director of Son Ha Group - said that more than 20 years ago, the country's industrial development was low. At that time, Vietnamese people preferred gasoline motorbikes from Japan and Europe.

Seeing this opportunity, Japanese businesses have entered Vietnam to develop the market, turning Vietnam into an extremely large market for gasoline motorbikes (more than 50 million gasoline motorbikes in circulation are entirely produced by foreign manufacturers).

Hyundai electric cars assembled at Hyundai Thanh Cong Factory, Ninh Binh province. Photo: TC Motor

According to Mr. Tan, gasoline cars will not be popular now and in the future. However, in Vietnam, there are still no strong incentive policies for electric cars.

"Personally, I think we have almost no policies on electric vehicles, only supporting registration fees and special consumption tax on electric cars.

Meanwhile, other countries have many preferential policies, paying attention to all 3 areas: Manufacturers; applying public investment policies to serve electric vehicle development, building infrastructure, charging stations and supporting customers and consumers.

"For example, in Europe, each country will have different incentive policies for customers, but somewhere, electric car buyers will be supported from 5,000 - 15,000 Euros.

In Korea, each person who buys an electric car will receive support of about 8,000 USD. The preferential policy from the Government shows that environmental protection needs to be done right now, creating favorable conditions right now, why haven't we done it yet?" - Mr. Tan said.

The Transport sector also aims to gradually limit and eventually stop the production, assembly, and import of cars and motorbikes using fossil fuels by 2040. By 2050, 100% of road motor vehicles and construction motorbikes will switch to using electricity and green energy.

Currently, electric vehicles are considered the future of transportation, as people in big cities increasingly prefer this type of vehicle. According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport, in 2023, there were more than 20,000 electric cars in use across the country.

Need strong enough incentive policies

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Hien - Deputy Director of the Institute of Transport Strategy, Ministry of Transport - said that the Government's efforts on policies to support the conversion of electric vehicles should focus on supporting the construction of charging stations.

"In addition to policies to encourage electric vehicle manufacturers, especially domestic units, the Government needs to soon have a roadmap to stop the production and circulation of vehicles using fossil fuels. At that time, people also need to see the benefits of using electric vehicles, thereby deciding to use vehicles for the future," said Ms. Phuong Hien.

To encourage the production and use of electric cars, Mr. Pham Tuan Anh - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry, Ministry of Industry and Trade - proposed to develop preferential policies and outstanding investment support, aiming to attract investment in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the field of production and assembly of electric cars; focusing on car models not yet produced in countries in the region, targeting the export market...

At the same time, there is a policy of direct support from the State budget to reduce investment costs - especially costs of research and development; purchase and transfer of technology - for large-scale electric car production and assembly projects.

Source: https://laodong.vn/doanh-nghiep-doanh-nhan/doanh-nghiep-chan-chu-lam-xe-dien-vi-ngong-chinh-sach-1369966.ldo