Being welcomed by two presidents of neighboring Vietnam, is VinFast 'giving up gasoline for electric

VinFast's decision to 'ditch gasoline for electricity' has received many opinions, is this the right strategy?

VINFAST IS WELCOME
Recently, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong (CEO of VinFast) during his trip to Vietnam a few days ago. Not long ago, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the VinFast factory and also talked with Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong.
The visits of both presidents promise to help VinFast do better business in these two countries as a contribution to greening transportation in the Philippines and Indonesia. An interesting thing to mention is that VinFast is considered the first car company in the world to stop producing gasoline cars to produce pure electric cars.
Does being welcomed in two countries near Vietnam show that VinFast's plan is correct?

Indonesian President Joko Widodo's visit to the VinFast factory in Hai Phong took place on
January 13. Here, the President of Indonesia toured and learned about VinFast's product lines. After that, Mr. Joko Widodo said that he would create conditions for VinFast to soon complete production and business investment procedures in the Indonesian market. Previously, VinFast announced its investment plan in Indonesia with a minimum of 1.2 billion USD (equivalent to 29.3 trillion VND). In the first phase, VinFast will invest 200 million USD (nearly 4.9 trillion VND) to build an electric vehicle factory. This factory has an expected capacity of up to 50,000 units/year. In parallel with the factory construction process, VinFast will also import cars from Vietnam to sell in this market.
Most recently, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the high-ranking Philippine delegation had a private meeting with many Vingroup leaders, including Group Chairman - Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong. At the meeting, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong introduced the companies under Vingroup, including VinFast. Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong also presented the prospect of cooperation in developing public services such as buses, taxis, training students specializing in AI and medicine... Speaking at the event, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said: "The Philippines is fortunate to possess all the necessary components to produce batteries for electric vehicles, with abundant reserves of cobalt, copper and nickel. Currently, the Philippines is still exporting raw minerals. We want to add value to the Philippines by processing minerals ourselves domestically and hope to be able to establish a battery factory. All of this is in line with our vision. Vingroup's view.
The President welcomed Vingroup to the Philippines and said that Philippine Government Agencies are ready to create all favorable conditions to support Vingroup and its subsidiaries in the investment and business process.
Before receiving the welcome from the presidents of these two countries, VinFast once made a decision that surprised the whole world: It was the decision to stop producing cars using internal combustion engines to devote all its efforts to development. pure electric car. This announcement by VinFast took place at the 2022 CES Consumer Electronics Show, right before the company officially introduced a set of 5 electric car models ranging from the A-class high-undercarriage car segment to the E-class high-undercarriage car segment. This decision once caused many people to question because in the world market at that time, gasoline car models were still bringing profits to many car manufacturers in the world, while electric cars were still considered a product of the times. , bringing little profit, even nothing or causing losses.However, just 2 years later, the worldwide electric vehicle market has become clearer with increasingly stronger investment commitments, accompanied by increasingly diverse products. As an example, at CES 2024, KIA introduced a set of 4 electric van models with different sizes, which can serve a variety of user needs and are ready to replace similar models. Petroleum. Even Honda - a car brand from a place that often receives criticism for being slow in developing electric vehicles - has introduced pure electric car concept models at CES 2024. One of them is to demonstrate Honda's philosophy. with electric vehicles: Minimize machine size to maximize user space. For VinFast, the greetings and support from Indonesia and the Philippines can be said to be the clearest proof of the correctness of its strategy of focusing on electric vehicle production. According to the plan, VinFast will invest in a factory in India, in parallel with a factory under construction in North Carolina, USA.


TECHNOLOGY CAN REPLACE ELECTRIC CARS
However, today's electric vehicles are still at the beginning of their development. Electric vehicles still have many weaknesses such as battery technology or charging technology that is not enough to make users feel secure - in terms of total distance traveled per charge, charging time, and even battery durability. While many car manufacturers and technology companies are looking for innovative options such as using solid electrolytes (also known as solid-state battery technology), or increasing the voltage level of the electrical structure (helping to shorten battery life). charging space), another emerging technology is rumored to be able to replace pure electric vehicles: Hydrogen energy technology
Specifically, BMW recently announced plans to sell hydrogen-powered cars in 2024, including the BMW iX5 model. Hydrogen-powered cars are equipped with electric motors similar to pure-electric models, but the power supply for the electric motor comes from hydrogen fuel cell stacks. In these compartments, hydrogen will participate in a redox reaction with oxygen gas in the air with the product being water and the electron transfer flow - electric current. The advantages of hydrogen-powered cars like the BMW iX5 are that hydrogen recharging time is as fast as gasoline cars, no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, weather changes do not affect vehicle performance, and smooth operation. love. However, hydrogen-powered car models are still not popular due to the high cost of building hydrogen filling stations. These stations need to meet strict standards in storing liquid hydrogen, which has very high pressure; Along with that is having to keep the hydrogen pure