When city bans gasoline vehicles and apartments prohibit electric vehicles

With gasoline vehicles restricted and electric vehicles banned in apartments, people are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Almost at the same time that Hanoi authorities announced a plan to prohibit internal-combustion vehicles within Ring Road 1, HH Linh Dam Apartments, one of the city’s most densely populated residential complexes, issued a notice it will stop registering electric motorcycles and bicycles anew for parking and phase them out.

The reasons stated were safety risks and an overcrowded basement. Many occupants agreed, or at least sympathized, with the management’s concerns.

But for others, this swift and immediate move raised more questions than offer solutions.

Electric vehicles have been parked there for years. HH Linh Dam did not just discover the existence of electric vehicles today.

Electric vehicles did not suddenly become « dangerous » after Hanoi announced a road map to limit gasoline vehicles.

Yet the ban comes precisely when residents needed time and space to prepare for a change in means of transport.

This suggests the management’s concern is not only about current risks but also future pressure to upgrade the electrical system, creating dedicated areas for electric vehicles, adding specialized fire prevention equipment and enforcing stricter routing and monitoring, all requiring costs they are not willing to bear.

A ban is thus the easiest option. But the easiest solution often creates the biggest problems.

Hanoi is entering a critical phase of its green transport strategy. This is a sound and necessary policy to improve the city’s air quality.

People are being asked to give up gasoline vehicles because restrictions are coming, but they cannot park electric vehicles if they buy them.

They are left with no real choice, they are stuck in the middle. One side opens the door to cleaner transport, the other shuts the door on clean vehicles right beneath their homes.

This is not just an HH Linh Dam issue.

The 2019 Population and Housing Census showed Hanoi had the highest rate of apartment residents at 12.9% compared with just 2.2% for the country. Many other apartments can issue similar restrictions.

Existing buildings were designed and built based on Vietnam’s national stardards regulated by the construction ministry in 2021, which had no requirements for electric vehicle charging stations. It did not address basement space allocation, ventilation and smoke extraction, safe distances from gasoline and diesel vehicles, or electrical wiring.

Basements cum parking space could hamstring the city’s entire transport strategy.

This situation exposes a gap in how cities prepare for large-scale transitions. A major policy cannot succeed if basic infrastructure, especially in high density residential areas, cannot adapt.

Apartment managements cannot not buy into the transition when the city decides to phase out gasoline vehicles. The public cannot be expected to bear the consequences if infrastructure fails to keep pace with policy.

Global experience offers a clear lesson.

Cities that restrict gasoline vehicles also adopt detailed infrastructure standards through EV-ready building policies. These rules usually require dedicated electric vehicle parking areas, charging standards, appropriate fire safety equipment, and clear retrofit roadmaps for older buildings.

« Charging rights » are a mandatory requirement for apartment construction permits in many countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

In 2021 the U.K. required new and renovated buildings to install charging points.

British Columbia and other urban areas in North America require charging stations or wiring infrastructure in new buildings.

When China encouraged residents to switch to electric vehicles, the government also increased charging stations and parking facilities for EVs.

Recently Beijing revised its design and planning standards for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, increasing the requirement for parking spaces with chargers in new buildings.

No city has moved to green transport through bans alone, without investing in places where people live and park their vehicles every day.

The fact that a building management can quickly shut the door on EVs shows that Hanoi lacks a unified infrastructure framework for clean transport.

Without common standards, each entity reacts in its own way. Each individual reaction creates a deviation. Together, those deviations can derail the green transport road map.

A city of millions cannot rely on defensive decisions by individual buildings.

People are not telling the city they will stick to gasoline vehicles forever, but surely have the right to demand infrastructure that allows a safe and reasonable transition.

Hanoi needs to quickly issue mandatory standards for electric vehicle parking and charging in apartment buildings, roll out upgrade road maps for older properties, require developers to disclose risk assessments, and establish oversight to prevent bans out of excessive caution.

After all, the onus cannot entirely be on building managements. When standards are absent, bans are always easier than investment and renovation.

A city cannot turn green when policy moves forward and infrastructure stands still.

How will Hanoi reach a green future if it begins with locked basement doors?

If green transport is to become a reality, the first step is to ensure that the public is shown a clear path forward. In the most literal sense of the word.

By Hoang Thanh Tuyen – VnExpress.net – December 15, 2025