The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction has just sent a document to the Vietnam Register regarding the conversion of electric engines for gasoline-powered vehicles.
According to the Department of Construction, this unit chaired a meeting to listen to a business present the Project on the conversion of electric motor systems for gasoline-powered motorbikes, with the participation of representatives of the Vietnam Register, the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (VAMM), the Ho Chi Minh City Automobile and Dynamic Equipment Association, and the 50-03S Motor Vehicle Inspection Center.
At the meeting, participating units all highly appreciated the creativity of the project, saying that converting electric motors to old motorbikes not only helps save on new investment costs but also reduces emissions, contributing to the goal of green transformation in transportation. This model has the same principle as current hybrid cars.
However, the Vietnam Register said that there are currently no specific regulations on the renovation and exchange of electric motors for motorbikes and mopeds.
Current legal documents have not yet mentioned this content in detail, so the testing and evaluation of converted vehicle models still does not have a clear legal framework for official implementation.
From that reality, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction believes that studying the conversion of electric vehicles is a potential direction, in line with the orientation of developing green transport, contributing to reducing carbon and methane emissions.
However, to ensure technical safety, environmental protection and comply with national standards, implementation requires unified and synchronous guidance from central ministries and branches.
Therefore, the Department of Construction recommends that in the process of amending and supplementing circulars related to inspection activities, it is necessary to propose additional regulations and technical standards for the renovation and exchange of electric motors for motorbikes.
This will be a legal basis for organizations and individuals to be able to experiment and implement in practice, contributing to promoting clean energy conversion in urban transport.
The Department also requested the Department of Registration to consider supporting and guiding businesses that have proposed projects to be registered for testing and evaluate the quality of electric motor conversion products for motorbikes.
After merging with Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City currently manages more than 12.7 million vehicles, including more than 1.4 million cars and more than 11.3 million motorbikes.
The draft Project on controlling emissions of vehicles in Ho Chi Minh City proposes that from 2026, the city will establish a low emission zone (LEZ) in the central area, limiting gasoline and oil vehicles that do not meet emission standards. Can Gio and Con Dao areas are also in the pilot area.
The expected LEZ area includes the districts: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Binh Thanh, Tan Binh, Tan Phu and Phu Nhuan (formerly), limited by 15 bridges and 17 main roads.
From 2026, three groups of vehicles will be controlled in the LEZ region, including: diesel heavy trucks (completely banned), commercial cars under Euro 4 standards and service motorbikes under Euro 2.
By 2027, when motorbikes are required to have their emissions inspected, the control will be expanded to all vehicles that do not meet the standards.
