alt Hacker NewsInteresting, 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?
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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-...
Laos was never going to be able to set up a car factory, so imported cars - mostly Chinese - are already the default. If you have to import cars, getting them from your neighbour, who happens to be the world expert on cheap electric cars, isn't a terrible thing.
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.