Motorcycles and motorbikes will have to have energy labels.

This is the content of the draft circular guiding the labeling of energy for motorcycles and motorbikes that are completely new, assembled, or imported and have never been used, which is being widely consulted by the Ministry of Transport.

Only applicable to new vehicles

As explained in the draft, the energy label provides information related to the type of fuel used and the vehicle's fuel consumption so that consumers can identify and choose. Before putting a vehicle on the market, the manufacturing, assembling and importing facilities must publicly disclose information about fuel consumption according to the provisions of the circular.

The declared fuel consumption must not be less than 4% of the test results. In addition, the manufacturing, assembling and importing facilities are responsible for printing the energy label according to the model and sticking it on the vehicle in an easily observable location. The energy label must be maintained on the vehicle until the vehicle is delivered to the consumer.

By 2020, all new motorbikes and scooters (without license plates) will have to have energy labels.

According to the draft, vehicle models must be tested to determine the correct fuel consumption before being labeled. The testing is carried out directly or in combination with emission testing, at a qualified testing facility. Regarding the implementation roadmap, the Ministry of Transport encourages enterprises to voluntarily apply energy labels to vehicles from January 1 to December 31, 2019. From January 1, 2020, this activity will be mandatory.

The representative of the Registration Department noted: The subjects applying for energy labeling are new motorbikes and scooters (without license plates), not vehicles in circulation (already issued license plates). Therefore, motorbikes and scooters that people have been using will not be affected.

Reduce taxes and fees to encourage usersg

Supporting the goal of the above regulation, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Xuan Mai, former Head of the Department of Traffic Engineering - Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, analyzed: The main purpose of energy labeling for vehicles is to provide transparent information to control energy use, encourage people to choose energy-saving vehicles, save resources or use clean energy to protect the environment.

While the first important thing that consumers care about is the price, the quality of the car, and then the energy index. They will only use the car with a sticker or label attached unconsciously, without any intention of finding a clean car that consumes less energy to buy. This has been proven after nearly 1 year of applying energy labels to cars, the regulation has not brought about the expected results.

“In fact, many countries have been applying energy labels to vehicles for a long time. However, they have accompanying policies to encourage consumers to choose clean vehicles. For example, customers who buy energy-saving or clean energy vehicles will be exempted from taxes, exempted from or have preferential treatment on certain types of fees and charges. This will create motivation for people to consider when choosing a product,” he said.

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Xuan Mai also warned: Imported vehicles will have a difference between the test results in the laboratory and the actual vehicle running outside. For example, the indexes self-published by the manufacturer are often the energy consumption indexes with the minimum possible number in the laboratory. In reality, the increase in energy consumption depends significantly on factors such as traffic jams and speed not following the tested speed.

Not to mention, manufacturers can intentionally publish false information about energy to promote their products, but the inspection agency also has difficulty controlling it. Because currently, there is only one central inspection station in Hanoi that can check energy parameters. If all vehicles have to be transferred to Hanoi for inspection, it will be very costly and unfeasible.