Electric vehicle (EV)sales have jumped in South-East Asia as cost-conscious buyers look to dodge the fuel price spikes driven by the Middle East conflict.
Asian nations have been particularly hard hit due to a sharp fall in the crude shipments they rely on – and have few alternatives to replace them.
Yet the energy crisis has been a windfall for Vietnam’s leading EV maker Vinfast as well as Chinese manufacturers.
Vietnamese office worker Do Thi Lan explained the simple math of the cars’ appeal at a Vinfast showroom in Hanoi.
“We have to calculate our monthly expenses, as the money we spend on petroleum has been on the rise,” she said.
She said her family owns a car that runs on petrol but was considering buying an EV to save money.
Dao Thi Hue, also at the showroom, was looking to go electric too.
“Driving an EV is so much better than driving a petroleum vehicle, in terms of costs and also in terms of saving fuel, queuing to fill up,” the school teacher said.
Vinfast, listed on the Nasdaq, saw a 127% surge in annual sales in Vietnam in March, reaching 27,600 cars.
About 40% of cars sold in Vietnam in 2025 were electric, but the trend has been accelerating.
“At this point in time, clients consider fuel costs a lot when making a decision on which cars to buy,” said Pham Minh Hai, deputy head of sales at a Vinfast showroom.
“In March we sold 300-400 cars,” he said, noting that the showroom normally sells between 200 and 250 cars a month.
Hai said more than 50% of his clients changed from petroleum to electric cars last month, while the number of customers at the showroom was up by around 30%.
Outside Vietnam, Chinese manufacturers specialising in electric vehicles, particularly Tesla’s main rival BYD, are booming.
At the Bangkok Auto Show earlier this month, BYD secured the most orders of any manufacturer, surpassing Japan’s Toyota for the first time.
BYD was also seeing increased sales in the Philippines.
Mae Anne Clarisse Bacquiano, manager of a BYD showroom in the suburbs of Manila, said foot traffic at the dealership was “at another level”.
“It was all because of the rise in fuel prices,” she said. “Earlier today, I had a customer, a doctor who was ranting to me about how he is being punished by gas prices ... He was in a hurry to go full electric. There was a huge difference in expenses.”
She added that all of her stock for the month had already been reserved by buyers. — AFP
