Vu Thang, director of VinFast’s charging station development center, said VinFast now faces difficulties because of the lack of regulations and standards for charging stations.

“The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has set regulations and standards for charging poles, but has not set rules and standards on building charging stations and equipment to protect stations so we have to apply international standards,” Thang said.

He cited other problems which hinder the expansion of charging stations, including legal issues, differences in local authorities’ requirements, and electricity sources. Unequal power supply levels are also a reason.

Pham Minh Thanh, Deputy Director of Vietnam Register, said that like other types of vehicles, electric vehicles have to satisfy technical requirements and observe regulations stipulated in the Law on Road Traffic but electric vehicles have different energy sources. 

“During the development process, new types of vehicles will appear, for example, self-driving cars, which don't have flywheels. How to manage the vehicle?” he said.

Thanh said the Ministry of Transport issued Regulation 09:2015/BGTVT which stipulates basic rules related to technical safety control applied to electric cars. 

However, as electric cars development proceeds quickly, some regulations, standards and policies have not caught up and need adjustment.

“We are going to propose the amendment of Regulation 09 by adding more regulations on technologies, vehicle classification principles, the technologies that support the self-driving feature, and vehicle classification in accordance with self-driving levels,” Thanh said.

According to MOST, the total number of Vietnamese standards applied to road motor vehicles is 260, including 140 standards for cars, 102 for motorbikes and 18 for bicycles. Of these, only 39 standards for electric vehicles exist.

As for the national regulation system, there are 21 regulations applied to electric vehicles, including 16 regulations applied to all the electric and internal combustion engine cars and motorbikes, and five regulations specifically applied to electric cars.

As such, many standards have not been set up, including for fast-charging systems, battery exchange stations, safety requirements during transport, replacement of batteries, battery recycling, and others.

Under the Prime Minister’s Decision 876 on green energy development, by 2040 Vietnam will restrict and stop the production and import of vehicles using fossil fuel, and by 2050, 100 percent of road transport vehicles will use electricity and green energy.

Hoang Hiep