Interesting, but it seems like this really only affects consumers, since commercial vehicles will still use diesel. And the fact that they're almost certainly going to get all their EVs from China... hmm, I wonder who or what really convinced the government in Laos to go for this?
rpdillon•32m ago
Well, the article mentions:
> The country runs almost entirely on hydropower and has built its export strategy around selling electricity to its neighbors. But it imports every drop of the fuel its cars burn, and that fuel bill is paid in foreign currency Laos is chronically short on. Every gas car swapped for an electric one runs on domestic hydro instead of imported diesel. That’s the whole game.
My issue with this, as I've been thinking about buying an electric car in the U.S., is that until I own a home where I have a garage, I don't have a place to charge an EV. I'm wondering, then, in Laos, what the charging story will actually be once these vehicles are purchased.
msh•19m ago
Lots of on street/car park charging, if there is government will it does not seem like much of a problem.
midnightbobarun•17m ago
The charging situation largely depends on where you live, as I see electric chargers all over the place (mostly shopping areas, but also at hospitals) and I don't even live in a big city. I don't know if that's true for your area, but Google Maps will usually show it.
For Laos though, I do hope they'll make sure to expand their charging infrastructure. I've heard enough stories of governments trying to push EVs but not bothering to provide the infrastructure for it or providing incentives for companies to do so.
stevenwoo•21m ago
The car market seems tiny in Laos and Ethiopia (the other nation noted in the comments with a similar ban). It doesn’t seem large enough for an in country industry (maybe one factory if that) if this data is accurate and sales trends continued. https://laotiantimes.com/2023/06/06/laos-imports-over-80000-...
duskwuff•5m ago
Laos is a fairly small country with 7.5m people, nestled in between Vietnam and Thailand.
Interestingly, Thailand is a major exporter of (largely ICE) automobiles.
z3ugma•7m ago
I can't believe that a magazine like Electrek is publishing articles like this straight out of the LLM without a human edit.
midnightbobarun•34m ago
rpdillon•32m ago
> The country runs almost entirely on hydropower and has built its export strategy around selling electricity to its neighbors. But it imports every drop of the fuel its cars burn, and that fuel bill is paid in foreign currency Laos is chronically short on. Every gas car swapped for an electric one runs on domestic hydro instead of imported diesel. That’s the whole game.
My issue with this, as I've been thinking about buying an electric car in the U.S., is that until I own a home where I have a garage, I don't have a place to charge an EV. I'm wondering, then, in Laos, what the charging story will actually be once these vehicles are purchased.
msh•19m ago
midnightbobarun•17m ago
For Laos though, I do hope they'll make sure to expand their charging infrastructure. I've heard enough stories of governments trying to push EVs but not bothering to provide the infrastructure for it or providing incentives for companies to do so.
stevenwoo•21m ago
duskwuff•5m ago
Interestingly, Thailand is a major exporter of (largely ICE) automobiles.