CNI News
10 December 2023
There are reviews among businessmen about whether the purchase and use of electric vehicles (EV) could increase due to the fuel shortage and the high price of fuel currently occurring in Myanmar.
Currently, fuel cannot be bought at some fuel stations and people have to wait in line for long to buy fuel at other fuel stations. Moreover, people can only buy fuel in limited amount and the price has become high as well. So, there are people who are thinking about using EV electric car.
However, due to maintenance, warranty and charging space requirements regarding EV electric car in Myanmar, people won't buy EVs just because they don't have to pay for fuel, U Thiha Paing, founder of the Via Logistics and Supply Chain, told CNI News.
" Not everyone accepts EVs because there are some problems regarding EVs. Corporations tend to start using EVs in other countries. For example, taxi groups start using. They start using EVs in the public transport. But because EVs are sold to the general public, a lot of people haven't bought them yet. People consider things like whether there are enough workshops to fix EVs and how long the warranty will take. People won't decide to buy" an EV car just because they don't have to pay for the fuel." said U Thiha Paing.
While charging an EV
People are not very keen on buying EV cars because there have not been enough charging stations and maintenance facilities.
" Because there are not enough charging stations and maintenance facilities or workshops, people don't dare to buy EV cars. In Vietnam, EVs are produced by the companies and they use EVs as taxis. And then, after studying them, the people gradually buy the EV cars. People won't buy EV cars because of fuel. But EV is the new trend of the world. So, people will use EV cars but not so soon." said U Thiha Paing to CNI News.
However, the prices of EV cars have become high because there have been short of fuel in Yangon since early December.
An EV car that was paid 800 lakh kyats in the past is paid 900 to 1,000 lakh kyats just now, according to the EV car market. The reason why the prices of EV cars have gone high was because there was a short of fuel and sellers are making price speculations as well as the control of the price of US dollar has been lift, said businessmen.
While seeing the Central Bank's statement saying that dollar can be freely traded
" Because there are no alternatives, if you start using an EV car, I have to ask you if there are enough infrastructures. We need a lot of charging stations. If there are not charging stations, EV cars will pile up on the road." said U Thet Zaw, an economic commentator, told CNI News.
How long the fuel problem will exist has not been known and if it is getting worse, production and transportation will be seriously affected, pointed out businessmen.
Because commodity prices will rise, authorities need to solve the problem as soon as possible, said economists.
