Myanmar junta’s new EV-trade mandate sparks chaos among urban residents

Mizzima

A newly enacted military junta directive forcing the decommissioning of older automobiles in exchange for Electric Vehicle (EV) import permits has triggered widespread frustration and administrative chaos across Myanmar’s major urban centres.

Political analysts view the policy as a thinly veiled effort by the cash-strapped regime to forcibly engineer a domestic transition toward Chinese-manufactured EVs while simultaneously weaponizing scarce foreign currency reserves through the centralized banking cartel.

According to a formal notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the junta’s National-Level Leading Committee on the Development of Electric Vehicles and Related Industries has introduced an “Old Vehicles Exchange Programme.” Under this framework, vehicle owners can secure an official license to import a single battery electric vehicle (BEV) by systematically or voluntarily deregistering fuel-powered vehicles.

The mandate targets three primary categories: vehicles that are more than 20 years old from their year of manufacture, vehicles officially deemed beyond repair for safe driving, and vehicles under 20 years old whose owners choose to surrender them.

To initiate the trade-in process, owners are required to surrender their cars to the Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD) and obtain an official Vehicle Deregistration Certificate Form (d).

Following a strict vetting process by the regime’s Leading Committee, the Central Bank of Myanmar will reportedly allocate and sell the necessary foreign currency required for the EV import at a junta-controlled exchange rate, according to junta’s affiliated news media.

While state-run propaganda outlets frame the initiative as an eco-friendly push to curb public fuel wastage, minimize toxic exhaust emissions, and reduce traffic accidents, local populations view the policy with severe skepticism.

For the middle and working-class citizens of Yangon and Mandalay, the policy represents an aggressive assault on their personal property and economic survival. Decades of restrictive import policies under successive military regimes have turned older, well-maintained Japanese vehicles into foundational financial assets for local families.

“My car is over 20 years old from its year of manufacture. It was made in Japan, and I am still driving it in great condition,” said a frustrated Yangon resident, echoing the sentiments of thousands of local motorists. “I have absolutely no plan to exchange my reliable vehicle for Chinese EV cars. If they force me to deregister, I will keep my car hidden or stored. If I am forced to buy another car, it will be another Japanese fuel-powered vehicle, not an EV. An EV is completely impractical for a country like Myanmar right now. The electricity grid is totally unstable with daily blackouts, there is no enough public charging infrastructure, no specialized maintenance servicing, and a complete lack of car spare products. Forcing us into EVs is an administrative joke.”

Automotive market specialists have labeled the junta’s sweeping roadmap as economically unfeasible.

To replace even a fraction of these units with foreign EVs would require billions of dollars in foreign exchange allocations, an impossible sum for a Central Bank currently choked by international sanctions and depleted reserves.