Hanoi will introduce its first low emission zone within the Ring Road 1 area, restricting petrol motorbikes during certain hours or in designated zones from July 1. Petrol motorbikes, scooters and app based transport vehicles will face limits or bans, while cars failing to meet level four emission standards will be controlled and gradually removed from the area.
The city has also set out a green transition roadmap for fossil fuel powered commercial transport. Motorbikes must complete the transition before 2030, while from July 1 taxis can only be newly invested in or replaced with electric or other green energy vehicles.
As the pace of restrictions and the planned phase out of petrol vehicles accelerates, particularly in Hanoi and later Ho Chi Minh City, concerns have been raised over electricity supply capacity and the resilience of urban power grids.
The large scale shift of hundreds of thousands of motorbikes, taxis and other vehicles to electric power could place pressure on generation, transmission and charging infrastructure.
Responding to questions from Dantri/Dtinews at a recent press briefing, Bui Quoc Hung, deputy head of the Electricity Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the ministry had tasked the National System and Market Operator (NSMO), with developing load growth scenarios.
These scenarios include projected demand from electric transport and future charging stations. According to the calculations, by 2030 around one million electric cars are expected to be in operation nationwide.
However, NSMO estimates that additional annual electricity consumption from this group would be only about three to four billion kWh, equivalent to roughly 1 to 1.5 per cent of total national power output each year.
“This level of demand is considered modest, and the national power system is capable of meeting it without posing significant risks as electric vehicle numbers rise,” Hung said.
He cautioned, however, that localised overloads could occur in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City or in areas with high concentrations of vehicles. In the short term, Vietnam Electricity, along with the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City power corporations, has been instructed to add and install more substations to ensure adequate supply for charging stations.
In the longer term, Hung said balancing supply and demand would require coordinated planning, not only for substations but also across urban development, transport and construction.
The ministry plans to adjust national power development planning accordingly, providing a basis for electricity sector investors to expand grids and substations to support the future growth of charging and battery infrastructure for electric transport.