Race to launch electric cars

While VinFast is trying to speed up production to hand over electric vehicle models ordered by customers, a number of other automakers have quietly launched their latest electric vehicle lines in the Vietnamese market.

It’s getting busier and busier

Specifically, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam at the end of April announced a plan to distribute Mercedes-EQS 2022 electric cars to the Vietnamese market. Mercedes-Benz will distribute in Vietnam electric cars in the luxury sedan segment, launched globally in April 2021.

The Mercedes-Benz EQS 2022 has a length of more than 5.2 m, equivalent to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sibling. The car has a modern and luxurious design with a futuristic direction, and at the same time integrates a series of technologies and features. In particular, the battery system of this vehicle can meet the need to travel up to 778 km after each charge. In case of fast charging 15 minutes can travel 300 km. Initially, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam will provide charging systems at genuine dealers and at home for EQS car users, and then develop public charging points. For customers’ peace of mind, the German automaker has a battery warranty of 8-10 years, when damaged, it will be replaced with a new battery for free.

Brad Kelly, General Director of Mercedes-Benz Vietnam, said that the Mercedes-Benz EQS electric car line will be officially launched at the Vietnam Motor Show (VMS) 2022 in October and start handing over to customers around the end. this year.

The electric car model IONIQ 5 was introduced to the market at the end of April. Photo: THANH MAN

It is not clear which version of the Mercedes-Benz EQS 2022 will be distributed in Vietnam at this time. However, recently in Thailand, 2 versions of the Mercedes-Benz EQS 2022 series have just been officially launched with a converted price of 5.8-6 billion VND.

Similarly, at the end of April, TC Group and its partner Hyundai Motor also introduced the electric car model IONIQ 5 in Vietnam. This is a BEV pure electric vehicle with a rechargeable battery system with a capacity of 72.6 KWh, the ability to travel up to 450 km on a full charge. Notably, the car’s battery can quickly charge 10%-80% in just 18 minutes with a 350 KW DC charger and 56 minutes with a 50 KW charging station to charge from 20% to 80%. If using the standard AC 10.9 KW charger, it will take 6.6 hours to fully charge the battery to 100%. Information from the distributor said that after offering the IONIQ 5 electric car model, the company will open the sale of IONIQ 6 and IONIQ 7 electric cars in the near future.

Previously, Thaco also introduced the Kia EV6 pure electric vehicle in Vietnam and is expected to sell in the second quarter of 2022. However, due to difficulties in the supply chain of chips and components, the sales plan was postponed by the manufacturer and distributor to the end of this year.

According to reporters, Honda Vietnam is also planning to distribute electric cars in Vietnam in the near future. A representative of the Japanese automaker said that in the immediate future, the company will import a few electric car models for sale, if the market is large enough, it will plan to organize production and assembly in the country.

Charging station is too small

According to the business world, the electric car market is increasingly attractive when gasoline prices continuously set new records. Therefore, this is the right time for companies to bring electric cars to the market to gradually replace gasoline cars. Mr. Do Nguyen Vuong, General Director of Volkswagen Vietnam Automobile Co., Ltd., said that Volkswagen has many electric car models sold in the world and is ready to sell to Vietnam in the near future. According to Mr. Vuong, Volkswagen Vietnam will initially invest in installing charging stations at dealers, and then develop public charging stations. The problem lies in finding the ground. “If charging stations of car manufacturers are used together, it will help the electric vehicle market develop more quickly,” said Mr. Vuong.

Assoc. In addition, the system of public charging stations is also a difficult problem for car companies, each enterprise cannot complete it, but must have investment and support from the state.

Experts worry that too few public charging stations will make it difficult for customers to choose electric vehicles in the near future. Nguyen Minh Dong, an expert in the auto industry, said that recently many companies have been racing to launch electric cars, but mainly to explore the market, but no company has plans to produce and distribute large quantities to the market. school. Consumers also cannot feel secure when using electric vehicles, because the current public charging stations are too few. “Only when the system of charging stations is widely covered, even if there are more charging stations than gas stations, will it be enough to attract buyers. At this time, consumers are ready to give up petrol cars and switch to electric cars.” – Mr. Dong commented.

A representative of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association also admitted that the biggest obstacle for electric cars today is that public charging stations have not been able to meet the demand yet, so companies cannot offer electric cars at the same time. . To develop electric vehicles, it is necessary to have a widespread public charging station system. The state should also soon have uniform regulations on charging technology, ie electric vehicle models of the companies all use the same public charging station.

According to Long Giang