HANOI: A recent study has revealed that more than 30 percent of Vietnamese consumers are interested in purchasing electric vehicles (EVs), Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Friday.
The main drivers for their interest are reduced operating costs, climate change concerns, and personal health benefits, according to Deloitte’s global automotive consumer study. Driving experience is also an important factor.
About 49 percent of Vietnamese people still favour petrol and diesel vehicles, an increase of around one percent compared to last year.
Meanwhile, the number of users interested in battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) accounts for 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
Regarding hybrid vehicles (HEV), only about 9 percent of Vietnamese are interested in them, two or three times lower than other countries in the region such as Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia.
The majority (48 percent) of EV owners in Vietnam still rely primarily on ch
arging at home. However, a significant proportion (20 percent) now regularly charge at their workplace, which is the highest rate among the surveyed countries. Around a third (32 percent) of current Vietnamese EV owners use public charging stations or on-street charging.
Southeast Asian countries are now prioritising a roll-out of public charging stations, driven by concerns about ‘range anxiety’ – the fear of running out of battery power.
If EV owners cannot charge at home, they need reassurance that a public charge point is conveniently close by.
The study stressed that this issue requires strategic vision to maximise profits from investing in building a national public charging system.
The data on electric vehicle (EV) charging times shows how long drivers would be willing to wait at public charging stations to charge their vehicle from empty to 80 percent.
Approximately 37 percent of EV users are willing to wait between 21 and 40 minutes, 31 percent of users expect the charging process to take betwee
n 10-20 minutes and only 10 percent of users are willing to accept waiting up to 10 minutes.
The report concludes that, when it comes to pure electric vehicles (EVs), consumers in Southeast Asia are mainly concerned about insufficient charging station infrastructure, charging times and vehicles suddenly running out of charge, along with costs.
Only about four percent of Vietnamese consumers are concerned about the limitations of brands and models available in the domestic electric vehicle market. This indicates that while there may be fewer choices compared to more established markets, it is not a primary concern for most consumers.
Source: Emirates News Agency