VinFast operates 1st EV charging station at petrol station

Vietnamese electric vehicle startup VinFast kicked off the operation of its first charging hub at a petrol station in Vietnam on Monday after opening terminals at residential buildings and shopping malls.

The new charging station, at the PVOIL Cat Hai petrol station in Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city in northern Vietnam, includes a 150 kilowatt fast charging station and five 60 kW fast charging posts able to feed 12 vehicles at once.

Like other VinFast EV charging stations in the country, the new hub meets European standards and ensures safety in terms of power source, fire and explosion prevention, with anti-leakage and waterproof functions.

PVOIL, a member of the state-run Petrovietnam, is integrating EV charging stations into its petrol stations as part of its business strategy of supplying other kinds of energy, not just oil-related fuels, according to PVOIL chairman Cao Hoai Duong.

“We’ll develop into a supplier of electric and hydrogen energy in future," he said.

In the first phase of installing charging terminals, VinFast plans to cover almost 300 PVOIL stations across the country, according to Vu Thang, director of the VinFast charging center project. Following the first new one, more will be put in use.

For this year, VinFast plans to install 3,000 charging stations with 150,000 charging ports across the country. It is already scheduled to stop supplying fossil fuel cars by the end of this year.

To promote EV development in Vietnam, the government started this March to reduce taxes and fees for domestically manufactured and assembled EVs. The incentives include cutting special consumption tax down to 3% for 5 years for electric cars under nine seats, and no registration fees for three years.

The government has assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to advise the Prime Minister on solutions to the country’s EV development, including measures to attract major investors into the business.

VinFast was set up by Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup in 2017 as its car unit, and launched its first cars in October 2018. It has gradually shifted to manufacturing EVs.