is preparing for a new era of transport, with officials looking to steer the country’s 80 million motorcyclists away from gas-powered vehicles and onto electric two-wheelers within a few years.
In July, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced that all gasoline-powered motorcycles will be banned from Hanoi’s Ring Road 1, the 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) road circling the capital’s center, by mid-2026.
Hanoi was labeled the world’s “most polluted metropolis” in 2025, and the measure could affect up to 2 million daily commuters in the capital.
Authorities plan to extend the ban to Ring Road 2 by 2028 and to Ring Road 3 by 2030, alongside new restrictions on gasoline cars.
A similar policy is under discussion in Ho Chi Minh City, where officials want to phase out 400,000 gasoline-powered ride-hailing bikes from the city center by early 2026, before a full phase-out at the end of 2028.
The Transport Ministry has set a nationwide target for 30% of cars and 22% of motorbikes to be electric by the end of the decade.
Analysts say the government’s push is driven by both environmental and industrial priorities.
“Vietnam’s policymaking process isn’t exactly straightforward, so it’s hard to pin down a single motivation,” Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told DW.
“Clearly, air pollution is a big issue in cities like Hanoi, and the government wants to be seen as doing something about it,” he said.
At the same time, the bans would help the government’s agenda of and Pega, which already dominate Vietnam’s fast-growing electric motorbike market.
A city choked by smog
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills at least 70,000 Vietnamese people each year, making it the country’s second-biggest cause of death, after cancer.
In January, the air-quality monitoring group IQAir described Hanoi as the “world’s most polluted metropolis.”
Just months later, levels of hazardous PM2.5 particles were measured at over 24 times higher than the WHO guidelines. The smog forced schools and factories to close.
A 2020 study by Hanoi’s National Economics University estimated that pollution cost the economy €8.5 billion to €11 billion, equivalent to about 5% of gross domestic product that year.
Informal workers rely on gas-powered bikes
Public opinion on the motorcycle ban is mixed, Hanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born PhD candidate at the Australian National University, told DW.
“Some support the ban,” she said, “and their view is not unreasonable, as Hanoi has become increasingly polluted in the last few years.”
But there is also the view that the edict is rather rushed, she said, especially for “informal sector workers who rely on gas-powered motorbikes for their livelihood.”
Tens of millions of drivers now face the prospect of replacing their bikes within months. Even the cheapest electric models cost about €380 ($445), a hefty sum in a country where the average monthly income is about €250.
Concerns also linger over the lack of charging stations and whether Vietnam’s fragile power grid can withstand the surge in demand, Hanh said.
A boom for Vietnamese brands
When it comes to electric motorcycle usage, Vietnam already ranks first in Southeast Asia and third globally, behind only China and India, according to a July report by analytics firm Kirin Capital.
Electric bikes accounted for 12% of all motorcycles in Vietnam in 2022, up from 5.4% in 2019, and the share has continued to climb.
Earlier this year, the ruling Communist Party announced a bold package of reforms that, for the first time, designated the private sector as the primary driver of economic growth and promised considerable support for “national champions” — large, globally competitive private conglomerates such as VinFast.
In the first five months of 2025, sales of small electric bikes jumped by 113%, while sales of larger models rose 49%, according to Motorcycles Data, a global statistics platform.
The recent growth is a windfall for national brands. Japanese giant Honda controls 80% of Vietnam’s conventional motorcycle market, but its share of the electric segment is negligible. Instead, Vietnamese manufacturers VinFast and Pega account for about 70% of e-motorbike sales.
VinFast, the country’s first global automotive exporter, led the pack in 2021 with a 43.4% market share, followed by Pega with 15%, Taiwanese company Dibao and China’s Yadea, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation.
VinFast saw sales surge by nearly 500% in early 2025, Motorcycles Data reported. The company has cut prices by up to 20% since May, with its entry-level Motio selling for €390 and higher-end Evo models retailing for under €640. Pega also remains competitive in the mid-to-low-cost segment.
Honda, meanwhile, has announced pilot rental schemes at about €50 per month, but has yet to commit to mass production of electric two-wheelers in Vietnam.
Politics and pollution
Whether Hanoi will follow through with next year’s ban remains uncertain.
The Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers, an industry body primarily comprising of foreign manufacturers, has already stated that it reckons that things are moving too fast.
“Residents, businesses and regulators need at least two to three years to prepare,” it said in a letter to the government in July, according to the online newspaper VNExpress.
The industry body recommended imposing the ban in stages — starting with restricting the use of older high-emission motorbikes and vehicles that are used commercially, with personal vehicles exempt.
The association argued that the ban could result in vast job losses if imposed too quickly, and warned that sales of gas-powered motorbikes could fall off a cliff for foreign businesses.
Giang said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were a delay, considering that “the government has backed down on ambitious policies before when implementation didn’t quite add up.”
If that happens, he added, the government would present it as a practical adjustment rather than a failure, “so while it may dent credibility, it would not amount to a major embarrassment for the party.”
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
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