In the heavily polluted capital Hanoi, teenage taxi driver Phung Khac Trung rides his electric motorbike through streets jammed with two-wheelers belching toxic fumes.Trung, 19, is one of a growing number of Generation-Z workers driving an e-bike trend in the communist nation where 77 million – largely petrol – motorbikes rule the roads.
A cheap set of electric wheels can now be had for as little as US$500 (RM2,213). But issues include wasting hours at charging stations and people finding it hard to give up their habits.
Trung has long hated riding in Hanoi, rated among the world’s top 10 polluted capital cities in 2023 by air quality technology firm IQAir.
The air “is unbearable for motorbike riders”, said Trung, who is working as a motorbike taxi driver before applying to university.
“When stopping at T-junctions, my only wish is to run the red light. The smell of petrol is so bad,” he said after a morning rush-hour shift.
More than two thirds of the poisonous smog that blankets Hanoi for much of the year is caused by petrol vehicles, city authorities said last year. The World Bank puts the figure at 30%.
Vietnam officials have ordered that a quarter of two-wheelers across the country must be electric by 2030 to help battle the air crisis.
In 2023, just 9% of two wheelers sold were electric, according to the International Energy Agency, although only in China was the share higher.
Low running costs and cheap prices are pulling in students, who account for 80% of electric two-wheeler users in Vietnam, transport analyst Truong Thi My Thanh said.
But for older drivers, it is harder to give up what they know.
Fruit vendor Tran Thi Hoa, 43, has been driving a petrol motorbike for more than two decades and has no intention of switching.
“The gasoline motorbike is so convenient. It takes me just a few minutes to fuel up,” she said.
“I know e-bikes are good for the environment and can help me save on petrol but I am too used to what I have,” Hoa said.
Bowen Wang, senior sustainable transport specialist at the World Bank, told a news conference this month, that it is delivery and taxi firms, as well as rural drivers, who could really benefit.
They “typically drive much longer distances than urban users”, he said. “That’s where the swapping is critical.”
Thanh emphasises that Hanoi must also embrace public transport alongside electric vehicles if it wants to free up gridlocked streets.
But if a shift to electric cannot fully solve Hanoi’s issues, the growth in ownership “is a beacon of hope”, Thanh said. — AFP
