Vietnam pushes electric motorbikes as pollution becomes unbearable

December 04, 2024 (MLN): Vietnam officials have ordered a quarter of electric motorbikes across the country by 2030 to help battle the air crisis, as APP reported.

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%.

In Vietnam's 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 $500, 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 told AFP after a morning rush-hour shift in air labelled "unhealthy" by IQAir. 

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