, where they first gained traction. Even back in the 1990s, people were already aware of the benefits of EVs, being quieter, easier to operate, and well-suited for city trips.
Then they vanished. Crude oil discoveries made fuel cheap. Gas stations multiplied across highways and rural roads. Electricity, meanwhile, barely reached beyond urban centers. Without places to charge, EVs became impractical curiosities, and the internal combustion engine took over for the next hundred years.
The lesson is clear: EVs didn't lose because they were inferior, but because of the lack of a supporting ecosystem. Some brands today are determined not to make the same mistake that doomed early EVs.
In Vietnam, currently among the world's fastest-growing EV markets, if you go back a few years, you might not have seen any EVs at all. Ask around, and you would have found that the biggest concern then was range anxiety and charging access. Charging at home was the only real option, but this was mostly limited to affluent households, not those living in older apartment buildings or homes tucked deep inside alleyways.
Fast forward to last Saturday, and the picture looks very different. VinFast, the country's first and only domestic EV manufacturer, set a new record with more than 3,520 orders completed in a single day. This figure is equivalent to the monthly sales of some internal combustion engine automakers in the country and translates to an average of 146 orders per hour, or approximately 2.4 orders per minute.
The product hadn't changed dramatically. What changed was how usable it became in everyday conditions. VinFast customers can now access charging stations every 3.5 kilometers within cities, a density that exceeds many urban charging targets globally. On highways, stations appear every 65 kilometers, tighter than the U.S. federal guideline of one every 80 kilometers. Its app routes trips around charging stops in much the same way navigation apps route around traffic.
The company is also developing its own infrastructure for its customers in every market where it operates, including in the Middle East. In February, VinFast signed an agreement with PlusX Electric, a UAE-certified charging and mobility provider, to build out a comparable support layer for its Gulf customers. The deal covers portable charging pods for on-the-go use, mobile emergency charging for drivers caught short, and roadside assistance.
"VinFast is committed to building a long-term and comprehensive EV ecosystem in the UAE, one that gives customers confidence not only in the quality and performance of our electric vehicles, but also in the reliability and accessibility of the supporting infrastructure," a VinFast Middle East executive said in a press release.
VinFast's effort aligns with broader green initiatives across several Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia has been rolling out fast chargers along major corridors. The UAE has made EV infrastructure mandatory in new developments. The sequence mirrors what Vietnam has already gone through, but at a faster pace. The Middle East is now laying the groundwork to skip the slower early phase, and VinFast, having already moved through both stages of that transition, seems to know exactly what that groundwork needs to look like.
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