At the press conference on the afternoon of July 17, Mr. Le Thanh Hai - Director of the Economic Application Consulting Center (HCMC Institute for Research and Development) - provided more information on the plan to convert gasoline-powered vehicles to the technology driver team.
According to Mr. Hai, the old Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring areas such as Binh Duong and the old Ba Ria - Vung Tau, currently have about 400,000 technology drivers using gasoline motorbikes, of which Ho Chi Minh City alone accounts for more than 85%.
The Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Research and Development proposed a roadmap for transformation starting from 2026 and divided into two main phases.
In the first phase, from 2026 to 2027, it is expected that about 80% of drivers - equivalent to 320,000 vehicles - will complete the conversion to electric vehicles.
In the remaining period of 2028, continue to convert the remaining 20% of vehicles. By 2029, Ho Chi Minh City will completely ban two-wheeled gasoline motorbikes from participating in technology transportation in the area.
Regarding the handling of a large number of gasoline vehicles after conversion, Mr. Le Thanh Hai said that there needs to be a specific classification solution, based on the level of depreciation and the status of use.
For vehicles that are too old, when conducting emission inspection, it will encounter high costs due to frequent repairs and no longer being economically efficient. These vehicles should be considered for conversion to function or sold as scrap to avoid causing pollution and costly maintenance.
For vehicles that are still capable of operating well, although the regulations on emission inspection in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are being tightened, many other localities across the country have not yet strictly applied these standards. Therefore, there will be a trend for these vehicles to be "transferred" to other provinces and cities, where there are no strict regulations on emissions.
"The situation of pushing emissions from urban to rural areas is not desirable, but it is necessary to recognize the reality: in big cities, the density of vehicles is too high, causing emissions exceeding the threshold that can be absorbed by the human body, seriously affecting public health" - Mr. Hai emphasized.
According to Mr. Hai, when electric motorbikes are increasingly popular and supported with many incentive policies, the gasoline motorbike market will face a sharp decline in value. Vehicles that have been used for about 2-3 years may become more attractive in price, but new models are gradually losing their appeal as consumers start to change their habits.
This is the natural law of the market. Gasoline motorbike manufacturers are expected to proactively withdraw from this segment by cutting investment, narrowing advertising and shifting to developing electric vehicles.
