“Our company signed a contract on buying gasoline-run cars, but we later canceled the contract, accepting the loss of deposit money, to shift to electric vehicles,” said Ho Chuong, CEO of Son Nam International Transport Co Ltd, who attended the meeting between VinFast – GSM and 50 passenger transport firms.

For Chuong, it was not an easy decision to make, but he did so after weighing the pros and cons. His company costs to run Toyota Vios cars in cities is VND1,750 per kilometer. With VinFast electric vehicle (EV), the average cost would be just VND600 per kilometer. If using EVs, he would be able to save up to 60 percent of expenses on fuel.

The other ‘pro’ is that using EVs is in line with the government’s strategy on developing green and clean public means of transport. He said that going green must be the long-term and sustainable development strategy for his business.

Nguyen Ngoc Dong, CEO of Dong Thuy Co Ltd, which runs Lado Taxi, said that it is much less costly to use EVs than gasoline-run cars.

In 2022, the company faced difficulties because of the Covid-19 pandemic. After a period of fumbling to find a way, he decided to use EVs to develop the taxi brand and retain his workers. And the first EVs he used were VF e34s.

The name of Lado, associated with EVs, has become well known among passengers.

“Passengers, after landing at Lien Khuong Airport, mostly seek EV taxis,” Dong said.

According to Dong, the company has replaced 800 cars with EVs. He plans to shift 100 percent of cars to about 1,100 EVs by the end of 2024.

Tran Ba Thang, chair and CEO of Nam Thang, said his company now has 800 electric vehicles and is expected to be 999 by year end.

He said green transport not only generates stable jobs, but also contributes to a green transition and increases collections to the state budget.

Nguyen Van Thanh, CEO of GSM Global, said there are three periods of Vietnam’s transport. The first was when foreign companies flocked to Vietnam (Grab and Uber). The second was a difficult period due to the pandemic. And the third, which is ongoing, is the ‘going green’ period.

Thanh estimated that about 10 transport firms would shift to EVs this year.

Tam An