Vietnam plans electricity subsidies for EV charging stations

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam is planning to subsidise electricity prices for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, as part of its efforts to promote the use of EVs and meet its energy transition commitments.

The subsidy scheme is due to be submitted to the central government by mid-September for approval, the government said in a statement over the weekend.

The Southeast Asian country, home of EV maker VinFast, is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the commitment made by advanced economies.

The country currently has just over 150,000 EV charging ports, most of which are owned and operated by VinFast.

"Green energy transition is an essential and important task in the process of realising green development objectives and in fulfilling Vietnam's international commitments," the government said in the statement.

The government will also work on incentives for EV production and imports, and for users to switch from internal combustion engine cars to EVs, according to the statement.

The statement said Vietnam will ensure all urban areas have public EV charging systems, adding that a unified set of technical standards for these stations is to be issued by the end of this month.

The country earlier rolled out policies to exempt registration fees and cut special consumption tax for new EVs.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Varun H K)