For Việt Nam, green transportation was also an urgent requirement to build green and smart cities, experts have said.

The transport sector aims to gradually limit and stop the production, assembly and import of cars and motorbikes using fossil fuels by 2040.

By 2050, all motor vehicles and drivers will use electricity and green energy.

Therefore, developing charging stations is essential.

Electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are considered the transportation industry's future as people in big cities increasingly favour this type.

Ministry of Transport statistics show that more than 20,000 electric cars were used nationwide last year.

However, the number of charging stations on the road is not enough to meet the needs of electric vehicles.

The largest charging station system is VinFast, which has more than 150,000 ports for both motorbikes and cars. It is located in parking lots, bus stations, shopping centres, and gas stations.

Besides these stations, people mainly charge their vehicles at home.

At a workshop on promoting energy transition and building policies to invest in charging stations in Việt Nam organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Professor Wilmar Matinez, UNDP electric energy research expert, said that in Việt Nam, the concept of electric cars was still new.

The number of vehicles using green energy is still low compared to those using fossil fuels.

This is also why electric charging stations on roads, especially highways, are less common than in other countries.

He believed the need for charging stations was one of the main reasons consumers hesitate to buy and use electric vehicles.

The road traffic infrastructure development plan targets that by 2050, Việt Nam will build more than 9,000 km of highways, nearly eight times more than the current number.

Tô Nam Toàn, Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Technology and International Cooperation under the Department for Roads of Việt Nam, said that the Ministry of Transport was updating the highway network planning and would likely increase planned charging stations according to localities’ requests.

Each highway is designed to have rest stops and, experts said, these would be suitable places to put charging stations for electric vehicles.

Public-private cooperation

Wilmar Matinez said that with current electric technology, the battery usually allows the vehicle to travel about 180-300km per charge.

People who want to travel long distances need numerous charging stations to charge their vehicles while taking a break before continuing.

If the country cannot solve the problem of charging stations, it won't be easy to achieve the goal of completely replacing gas and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles in the future.

Therefore, the need for charging stations in Việt Nam is very high.

Through practical research on developing electric vehicle charging stations in Thailand, Germany, Norway and Korea, Wilmar said that building a network of charging stations required strong Government and private sector participation.

Germany has stepped up investment in research and expansion of charging stations through grants and research funds.

People who buy new electric cars can receive incentives of up to 80 per cent of the car price.

The above countries also have strict regulations in building charging infrastructure, standardising charging stations, sources, and speeds, and regulating public charging at home.

Research by UNDP experts shows that with 39 rest stations on the eastern North-South Expressway and assuming that by 2050, all vehicles in circulation will be electric, it is necessary to invest in about 7,800 charging ports.

Based on the investment rate this year, about US$2.2 billion will be needed for 2025-50.

With this investment cost, Việt Nam needs to encourage private organisations to contribute capital.

Incentive policies may include tax exemption for the first five years after the charging stations are operated and a 50 per cent tax reduction for the next five years.

The most important thing to attract private investment is accelerating the use of electric vehicles.

The private sector must be allowed to charge fees for charging services to recover capital.

Safety

From the perspective of power grid safety, Nguyễn Thế Vĩnh, an expert from the Việt Nam Electricity, said that the number of charging stations was not the only issue.

Increasing charging stations on highways requires calculating the number of vehicles and charging times at each station to avoid putting too much pressure on the electrical system nationwide, causing local power outages.

The public charging station system currently accounts for 10 per cent of the country's electric energy.

Regarding this concern of the electricity industry, Nguyễn Bảo Huy, from the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology, said that the country could apply a smart charging system.

This system uses remote monitoring technology to manage the car's charging time and charging method at each station; and provides data on available charging stations in the surrounding area.

With this method, Việt Nam can evenly distribute the number of vehicles at charging points, avoiding charging too many cars during peak hours, which could overload the system and cause power failure. — VNS