sustainability Article Analysis Study of Current Transportation Status in Vietnam’s Urban Traffic and the Transition to Electric Two-Wheelers Mobility Duc Nguyen Huu * and Van Nguyen Ngoc Faculty of Energy Technology and Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Electric Power University, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +84-90-1008-555 Abstract: In Vietnam’s major urban areas, private motorcycles are the main means of transportation that are suitable for socio-economic conditions, current transport infrastructure, and people’s habits. However, in recent years, the negative effects of a large number and high density of motorcycles in urban areas such as traffic congestion and noise and air pollution have resulted in a gradual change in the public’s opinion of private vehicle adoption, especially motorcycles. The public has also urged the authorities to issue policies of limiting or curving the growth in the number of private vehicles powered by fossil fuels in big cities. However, in order to achieve the goal, other alternative means of transport should be proposed to encourage people to move to a more sustainable and eco-friendly form of mobility. The alternatives also should be consistent with the average income level as well as social characteristics. In recent years, along with the development of a highly connected public transport network, efficient and less-polluting vehicles including electric two-wheelers have been emerging, thriving, and drawing more attraction from Vietnamese people and policy makers. The Citation: Huu, D.N.; Ngoc, V.N. spread in the number of electric two-wheelers in Vietnam’s major cities may be a sign of the transition Analysis Study of Current to a more sustainable and less-polluting means of transport as an alternative to gasoline-powered Transportation Status in Vietnam’s motorcycles. In this paper, the authors aim to analyze the current road traffic status in Vietnam’s Urban Traffic and the Transition to major cities, as well as shed a light on the transition to the greener and more efficient alternative Electric Two-Wheelers Mobility. vehicles to motorcycles in Vietnam’s urban traffic. Several recommendations for encouraging this Sustainability 2021, 13, 5577. https:// vehicle type development are also important outcomes of this paper. doi.org/10.3390/su13105577 Keywords: urban transportation; electric two-wheelers; e-bike; electric mopeds Academic Editor: Wann-Ming Wey Received: 1 April 2021 Accepted: 14 May 2021 1. Introduction Published: 17 May 2021 In Vietnam, road transportation plays a dominant role. In 2019, road vehicles trans- Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral ported about 26.8% of goods (million tons.km) and about 63.1% of passengers (million with regard to jurisdictional claims in passengers.km) [1]. In 2030, the market shares of inter-provincial cargo transportation published maps and institutional affil- by road, railway, and inland waterway will be 51.2%, 7.9%, and 30.9%, respectively. The iations. market shares of inter-provincial passenger transportation by road and railway will be around 92% and 4.7%, respectively [2]. In terms of urban traffic, with the high rate of ur- banization and poor traffic infrastructure, meeting the mobility needs of urbanites becomes a major challenge. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. The long-term state policies and orientations for urban transport are to build a highly Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. connected and convenient public transport system. According to Decision No.355/QD- This article is an open access article TTg [3] and Decision No.318/QD-TTg [2], by 2020, the proportion of public passenger distributed under the terms and transport in major cities in Vietnam will reach 25–30%. However, the current public conditions of the Creative Commons transport share in big cities only meets 9–15% of the mobility demand, far lower than the Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// target. Because of poor public transport services, private vehicles, especially motorbikes, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ are preferable. 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 5577. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105577 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 5577 2 of 27 The prevalence of private motorcycles in Vietnam’s urban traffic derives from many re- markable advantages including flexibility, suitability for short-distance travel, narrow road traffic condition, low land area occupation, and especially the purchase price and operation cost, which are consistent with living standard of the majority of people [4]. However, a large number and high density of private fossil fuel vehicles, of which motorcycles make up over 90%, put high pressure on traffic infrastructure, triggering traffic congestion as well as air and noise pollution in urban areas. In recent years, with a young population structure (the median age in Vietnam is 32.5 years [5] and the population aged 15–24 accounts for 70% [6]) and improving average income per capita (Vietnam GNI per capita for 2019 was 2590 USD [7]), there has been an emergence of the more comfortable, safer, and/or greener means of transport. A significant change in the private car consumption in Vietnam has been witnessed recently. However, the expensive purchase price, tax, fees, and high operation costs are hindering the accessibility of this vehicle type. In addition, traffic congestion, lack of car parking, as well as poor urban transport infrastructure (land fund reserved for transportation is only about 7.5–9.75%) are also barriers to private car adoption. Another notable transition also could be seen in the gradually increasing penetration of electric vehicles, especially electric bikes and electric motorcycles (hereafter referred to as electric two-wheelers or E2Ws), in Vietnam. With the current high rate of motorcycle ownership, the transition from gasoline-powered motorcycles to E2Ws is promising. E2Ws maintain the remarkable advantages that made motorcycles popular while adding other prominent advantages such as zero tailpipe emissions, better efficiency than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, large potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction when coupled with a low-carbon electricity sector, less dependence on fossil fuel import, noise reduction, and provision of ancillary services to power systems [8]. Generally, the introduction of these greener means of transport would be a promising and sustainable solution to mitigating negative impacts of fossil fuel vehicles in urban traffic, and E2Ws could be seen as an alternative solution to replacing gasoline-powered motorcycles in Vietnam. However, although having high potential as well as a continuing growing market share, the deployment of these means of transport is still in the initial phase. In the scope of the literature, there has not been any comprehensively published research addressing the recent personal mobility evolution in Vietnam’s urban areas, especially the transition from fossil fuel motorcycles to E2Ws. Additionally, there are limited studies to assess the advantages and disadvantages of E2Ws in Vietnam as well as the trend of widespread usage of E2Ws in near future. Moreover, the lack of support policies of the government, guidelines on the infrastructure, people’s awareness, investment, and research on E2Ws in Vietnam are the main barriers. Hence, several essential questions for sustainable and successful development of E2Ws in Vietnam are raised as follows: (1) Whether the urban transportation characteristics of Vietnam are suitable or not for the development of E2Ws. (2) Analysis of benefits of E2Ws on: users, society in terms of environment, economics, health. (3) What is the trend of E2W employment in the medium and long-term in Vietnam? (4) What is key difficulty in deploying E2Ws in urban areas in Vietnam? (5) What solutions are needed in order to develop E2Ws suitable for specific conditions of Vietnam as a developing country? In this paper, the authors conduct data acquisition and carefully study all signs and indicators of EV penetration and urban transport evolution in Vietnam. Hence, this paper is the first work assessing all aspects of the transition. The study also lays a foundation and is a good reference for policy makers as well as enterprises to encourage the development of EVs in Vietnam as an economic and sustainable transport solution. This study also provides a reference lesson to other developing countries with similar socio-economic conditions. It therefore makes a great contribution to the sustainable development of Vietnam in the transportation area and energy sector. Our study could be a useful reference for policy makers, people, researchers, and technology companies in this field. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5577 3 of 27 The remaining paper is organized as follows: Section2 introduces the current trans- portation status in Vietnam’s urban areas. Section3 mentions the adverse effects of the overwhelming gasoline power motorcycles in urban traffic such as noise and air pollution, which urge the transition to electric two-wheeler mobility. In the last section, several recommendations for sustainable development of E2Ws in Vietnam are proposed and discussed carefully. 2. Current Transportation Status in Vietnam’s Urban Areas 2.1. Dominant Share of Road Transporation Road transport plays an important role in the transport complex of Vietnam because of its high mobility, door-to-door features, and its maneuverability. Road transport has received the greatest distribution