From January 1, 2025, there will be separate driving licenses for electric vehicles.

From January 1, 2025, Vietnam's driver's license system will differentiate between electric cars and manual transmission cars.

In Circular No. 35/2024, issued by the Ministry of Transport ( effective from January 1, 2025), which regulates the training, examination, and issuance of driver's licenses; the issuance and use of international driver's licenses; and the training, examination, and issuance of certificates for legal knowledge enhancement in road traffic, the Ministry of Transport has added driver's licenses for electric vehicles.

Accordingly, for driver training in categories B and C1, the program volume and minimum training time allocation for electric vehicles share the same training program as for the category B driver's license for automatic cars.

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Accordingly, in terms of theoretical training, those learning to drive electric vehicles will have to study topics such as: Road traffic laws; vehicle structure and common repairs; traffic ethics and culture, and prevention of the harmful effects of alcohol and beer while driving; fire prevention, firefighting, and rescue skills; driving techniques; and learning about traffic simulation software.

For practical training, electric vehicle drivers will have the same amount of driving practice time on the training ground as manual transmission cars, which is 41 hours per student. The time spent practicing driving on public roads is 24 hours per student, compared to 40 hours for manual transmission cars. The number of hours spent practicing in the driving simulator cabin per student is 2 hours for both electric and manual transmission cars. The total distance covered during practical training for an electric vehicle is 1,000 km, while for a manual transmission car it is 1,100 km.

Mr. Luong Duy Thong, Head of the Vehicle and Driver Management Department of the Vietnam Road Administration, stated that the operation and use of electric cars are no different from automatic cars; the only difference is the name. Therefore, the Circular supplements regulations on automatic electric cars.

According to Circular 35, a person with a driver's license is only allowed to drive the type of vehicle specified on their license. Therefore, a person with a Class B automatic driver's license is not permitted to drive a manual transmission vehicle.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tu-1-1-2025-se-co-gplx-rieng-cho-xe-dien-192241209004452027.htm