An electric bus in HCM City. The city needs to develop technical guidelines for charging stations. Photo laodong.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City needs to have planning and clear standards for electric charging stations, according to its Department of Transport.

HCM City is making investment plans for buses that are compatible with fuel supply infrastructure, prioritising vehicles that use clean and environment-friendly fuels, including EVs, said the department director Bùi Hòa An told a workshop on standards for electric vehicle charging stations on Thursday.

It is implementing a programme approved by the Government for green energy conversion and reducing carbon and methane emissions, he said.

Its objectives are to enhance energy efficiency, promote the use of electric vehicles and integrate green energy into transportation by 2030, he said.

By 2050 it is to ensure all vehicles, equipment and transport infrastructure use green energy, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero, he said.

The growth rate of EVs in the city is exceeding expectations, he added.

In the event, the lack of EV charging stations and standards for them are a hurdle, he said.

The city is collaborating with the UNDP for developing green transportation.

It includes developing technical requirements for investing in charging stations for various types of electric buses.

Prof Vũ Anh Tuấn, director of the Vietnamese-Germany Transport Research Centre at the Vietnamese German University, said there are two obstacles to drafting technical standards for bus charging stations: cost and space.

Therefore, the city needs to identify which bus technologies to develop in future to ensure efficiency and that they cater to all of them, he said.

Patrick Haverman, deputy resident representative of the UNDP, said in HCM City personal vehicles account for 90 per cent, causing high emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

Việt Nam has set a goal of 100 per cent of vehicles using electricity and other green energy, with HCM City playing a leading role in realising these objectives, he added. — VNS