A lack of electric charging infrastructure is impeding electric car adoption in Vietnam, according to Pham Thanh Tung, Deputy General Director of Toyota Vietnam. This is driving the Japanese firm to focus on selling hybrid vehicles in the Vietnamese market rather than electric vehicles–or EVs–according to the Toyota executive.

That said, this has not deterred some fully-electric vehicle makers. Chery, a leading Chinese electric car maker, has announced plans to build an assembly plant in Vietnam to produce 200,000 electric vehicles annually. BYD, another Chinese electric car market, is also in the process of entering the Vietnamese market.

Of note, Vietnam’s EV charging network is mostly owned by VinFast, a subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup. The company claims to have more than 150,000 EV charging ports nationwide, however, these facilities are currently exclusively for Vinfast’s EV users. Vinfast has said that, after 10 years, the network will be opened up to other brands, however, this is years away and it’s not clear what electric car buyers of other brands will do until then.

It’s also worth noting that hybrid car buyers can benefit from tax incentives like a 15 percent excise tax reduction on these vehicles with fewer than nine seats from 2022, according to Vietnam’s Special Consumption Tax .

See also: Vietnam’s Automotive Industry 2024: Foreign Investor Cheat Sheet