Much activity in electric vehicle market

Vietnam’s electric vehicle (EV) segment is becoming quite vibrant this year with new faces emerging and creating fierce competition.

“Made in Vietnam” EVs are a new concept but by no means inferior to their foreign counterparts and are perhaps even dominant in terms of stability. Proof lies in VinFast’s VF e34, launched in early 2022, receiving a record 25,000 orders just three or so months after release. Its appearance on the market is believed to have opened up a new era of EVs in Vietnam, making the country one of only a few in the world to master EV production technology.

The market has seen aggressive competition from many famous car manufacturers over the last two years, which will directly rival VinFast. Porsche released the Porsche Taycan electric sports car in 2020, which received a warm reception, followed by Audi’s e-Tron GT, though no further updates on this model have been forthcoming. At an online event in November 2021, Mercedes-Benz announced its EQS EV, in the “electric S-class”. Hyundai and Kia from South Korea are also present, with the Ioniq5 and EV-6, respectively, both of which promise impressive performance and reasonable prices.

Due to a lack of general standards on manufacturing EVs, each manufacturer in Vietnam must develop independently, which leads to consumers having to think long and hard about which brand to choose. And with an electric charging network still some way off, recharging remains an issue for owners. The government has, however, been opening up opportunities to build charging stations, with cooperation from VinFast and international brands like Hyundai to provide solutions in the near future.