For example, one reason my wife and I have an EV car and an ICE pickup is to give us some security in case the Dims mess up one energy supply -- my transportation needs can shift to the car of which I have good energy available. If the Dims make the power grid unstable here in Alabama like I hear it is in 3rd world California, fine, we'll drive the ICE pickup. If the Dims take us back to 2 years ago when we had gas shortages and gas was $5/gallon even here in Alabama, fine we have an EV.
If I lived under communist rule I'd probably all the more so want a gas vehicle and power vehicle to give me some flexibility. So I could see a Vietnamese family having both an EV bike and an ICE bike.
Hi, Tell It Right. Yes, it’s very common for families to have 2 motorcycles. The landlord of our apartment was in her 50’s and got around town with it. Meanwhile her son was going to a Hanoi university and needed a motorcycle to get there.
Public transportation is at a bare minimum. Also there’s a lot of guys who will earn their living giving backseat rides on their motorcycles to people. Helmets not strictly required.
Even pets ride on the cycles and I saw a young boy riding in front of his Dad as the kid is eating a chicken wing. No helmet, very dangerous. The big cities are not friendly to pedestrians either. The sidewalks are not protected by curb stones, and damaged sidewalks, missing plates, and construction hazards are everywhere.
It was well worth living there for a couple months for the education. It makes you appreciate modern industrial societies.
Yes a few boulevards in Hanoi are splendid with wide lanes and traffic lights that are respected. Along those boulevards are the office buildings of embassies, big business who are invested in Vietnam. But the rest of the city streets are tight and often jammed with cycles.
Elon Musk can help countries like Vietnam greatly with his low-earth satellites. A lot of the messy, scattered labyrinth of communications infrastructure can be avoided by putting an antenna on the roof.
But satellite comms are an exception. The biggest infrastructure issues are at the ground level and those problems are massive.