Vietnam mandates open access to EV charging stations by 2027

Electric vehicle charging stations in Vietnam must serve any compatible vehicle from July 1, 2027, under new technical rules from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam News reported. The requirement is set out in Circular 61/2026/TT-BCT and the accompanying national technical regulation QCVN 32:2026/BCT.

Electric motorcycle sales reached 513,742 units in the first seven months of 2026, up 97.2% year on year, according to Motorcycles Data, giving electric models about 27.7% of two-wheeler sales. VinFast delivered 137,697 electric cars in Vietnam over the same period, 21,781 of them in July.

The obligation covers stations in public areas, parking facilities and rest stops, as well as outdoor sites and those under standalone shelters. Chargers in basements, garages and indoor car parks are exempt. So are wireless units, chargers supplied with vehicles and some testing and research equipment.

Operators must tell customers the electricity used, charging time, price or pricing method and total cost both before and during a transaction. Records of operations, incidents, metering, payments and complaints must be kept securely and remain retrievable.

Equipment legally installed before the deadline gets a transition period. Owners will have six months to check safety compliance and up to 24 months to fix shortcomings, though hazardous defects must be dealt with at once the report adds. Existing stations can keep operating, but any section repaired, renovated or expanded after the rules take effect must meet the new standards.

The ministry said the rules set mandatory minimum requirements covering the design, investment, import, installation, operation and inspection of charging infrastructure.

Lê Thanh Hải, director of the Centre for Applied Economic Consulting at the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, told Thanh Niên the timing was right. He said electric vehicles were now well established, local manufacturing was in place and investors wanted regulatory clarity. Rules issued too early could become outdated as technology changes, he added, while delays could deter large investors.

Vietnam has about 6.7mn cars, roughly 3% of them electric, and 70mn motorcycles, about 4.3% electric. The country aims for half of urban vehicles and all buses and taxis to run on electricity by 2030 and The World Bank estimates Vietnam will need $2.2bn of charging investment by 2030 and $32.6bn by 2050.