Victory Day (Ngày Chiến thắng), Reunification Day (Ngày Thống nhất), or Liberation Day (Ngày Giải phóng) is a public holiday in Vietnam that marks the occasion when the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) on April 30th 1975 .
This signalled the end of the Vietnam War or sometimes called the American War, known in Vietnamese as Chiến tranh Việt Nam (Vietnam War) or Kháng chiến chống Mỹ ("Resistance War Against America"). It was the start of the transition period towards reunification, which occurred July 2, 1976.
Much has been made of the electric car driving to the rescue of ailing automobile manufacturers and saving the planet at the same time. But what if that eco-savior came on two wheels instead of four?
Lean, green electric machine: KLD is hoping to kickstart the electric scooter industry with its new engine.
A high price tag, a limited range, sluggish performance and the tendency not to work when they get wet, have meant that electric scooters are a rare sight on the roads.
However, KLD Energy Technologies, an electric engine company based in Texas, believes that its new electric motor can overcome all these problems and kick-start the sector. It's teaming up with Vietnamese motorbike manufacturer Sufat to produce an affordable electric-powered scooter that has a performance just as good as a normal petrol-powered bike.
"We chose Vietnam [to launch the bike] because there are 22 million scooters in a country of 85 million people. That's a lot of people riding scooters in a contained area and the pollution is a concern. All governments in southeast Asia are looking for solutions [to pollution problems], but so far there hasn't been one. We believe that we've found that solution," Christian Okonsky, founder of KLD Energy Technologies told CNN.
Rather than looking at making batteries more efficient, KLD has improved the performance of the engine itself. The company has built an engine using nano-crystalline composite materials, which it believes is 10 times more efficient than traditional iron core motors, giving an output of 2500 hertz.
Together with a computerized motor control, the KLD engine is compatible with any type of battery. Top speed of the KLD scooter is about 55 mph, which is almost double that of many electric scooters and delivers twice as much torque, accelerating from 0 to 50 mph in ten seconds. The engine also doesn't require a transmission.
The range on a full charge depends on the type of battery used, although in tests KLD says that its motor system extends the distance a battery can go before a charge is required by 40 percent.
Cost-efficiency of components and years of technological development have created the engine KLD has the sole license to produce.
"The nano-crystalline material was developed 20 years ago, but it was incredibly expensive and people couldn't figure out how to use it in a motor. Even 10 years ago a computer, to run this kind of high frequency engine, would have been more like the size of a desk top computer. The magnets we use today that cost 20 cents 10 years ago would have cost $4 to $5," said Okonsky.
Vectrix Electrics is another company that has been developing electric scooters, so far selling only in North America and Europe. While the performance of its scooters is comparable to KLD's, their models sell at a much higher price tag around $11,000. Earlier this month Vectrix reported financial difficulties and has been forced to make staff cuts.
Okonsky, however, remains positive that the KLD scooter engine will be successful and that there is a market for electric-powered scooters. By the end of the year KLD is aiming for 2,000 scooters a month to be produced by Sufat with its electric engine. The projected retail price is around $1500, only slightly more than Sufat's existing bikes that sell in Vietnam for between $800 and $1250.
"Among two-wheelers a scooter is the best for electric drive," auto industry analyst John Wormald of Autopolis told CNN.
"A motorcycle is too performance-driven, so it's not really suitable, but a scooter would be. For many electric bikes with very limited battery capacity, the power is just an assist and the battery can be heavy which isn't great, if you're cycling."
Yet the market for electric bikes -- the pedal variety with a battery pack -- has been booming, particularly in China. According to the China Bicycle Association, sales of electric bikes in China stood at 58,000 in 1998, compared with the 20 million recorded just a decade later in 2008. Video Watch the report on electric bikes ».
However, rather than replacing cars, the majority of electric bikes are affordable substitutions for bicycles, as Chinese cities continue to grow and daily commutes get longer. Their impact in reducing pollution then is open to question, as car sales in the country continue to rise.
Ultimately the real eco-credentials of electric vehicles depends on how the electricity is generated, but for helping to relieve vehicle exhaust-filled streets, especially in Asia's two-wheel dominated city centers, electric mopeds could go a long way.
As the idea of electric vehicles as viable substitutions for petrol-powered ones becomes more widely accepted, Okonsky's bigger challenge will be convincing skeptics that the old problems of electric scooters have been overcome. advertisement
"I'm always asked, 'What happens if I go through a puddle, will it still work?' The answer is yes," Okonsky said.
In fact, Okonsky says that they've tested their engine underwater and it still works. Expect a video of the trial on KLD's Web site soon
As prime minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung occupies one of the hottest seats in regional politics.
His country may be far from a democracy, but Mr Dung (pronounced Dzung) still must deal with some tough constituencies.
First, there are the Politburo and the two other leaders who sit at the top of the ruling troika, Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and President Nguyen Minh Triet. And in the shadows are the often conservative party elders - old-guard revolutionaries - who still hold considerable influence across Vietnam's collective leadership.
More visible is the public. Vietnam's young and fast-growing population that is eager not just for continued economic growth, but for reforms and improved social conditions - whether greater freedoms or improved health and education systems. As the highest-profile of all Vietnam's leaders, Mr Dung is the lightning rod, the one who must keep them happy.
Then there is a far smaller grouping - the sometimes embattled band of foreign investors determined to make the most of Southeast Asia's second-biggest population and newest tiger economy.
Three years into his five-year term, Mr Dung, 59, has had to deal with all those domestic groupings as well as managing foreign policy - a complex effort to build ties with all major powers while ensuring Hanoi is beholden to no one.
Mr Dung had foreign investors and Beijing on his mind as he visited Hong Kong and Macau this week - the first official visit by a senior leader from modern Vietnam.
He sought to ease any fears from foreign investors that the international financial crisis would spark a further slowdown in Vietnam's reform process or lead to further coddling of inefficient state-owned enterprises. And by promoting ties with Hong Kong, he made clear he believed he was helping ties with China, Vietnam's giant neighbour and former enemy, and its most sensitive relationship.
"The potential for co-operation between Vietnam and Hong Kong is enormous," he told the South China Morning Post before his arrival.
"The two sides need to make greater efforts to tap and unleash this potential," he added, saying it could only strengthen Sino-Vietnamese ties in general.
And, according to sources on both sides, Mr Dung left Hong Kong after a long and relaxed banquet with Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen at Government House satisfied there was a new momentum to the official relationship. For many involved in the private sector, it is about time, given an official relationship that has lagged more than 20 years of expanding trade, investment, tourism and social ties.
Smiling and apparently at ease, Mr Dung dealt with three business forums, insisting that Vietnam was "holding up" better than many in the region.
He anticipated growth in gross domestic product for this year dropping as low as 5 per cent - hardly enough to absorb Vietnam's growing ranks of young workers - but that recovery was close.
"Vietnam will meet its commitments to foreign investors," he said at one session, hooked up to major financial capitals, answering questions in Vietnamese. "Vietnam is a friendly and reliable partner."
If he seemed relaxed, on tour, it is tempting to think it could be because life is tougher at home. In late 2007, months before the global crisis was apparent, his government was grappling with double-digit inflation and asset bubbles as foreign currency flooded in.
With party conservatives worried about rising social discontent, he tightened liquidity - rattling alike, at times, foreign investors and the chiefs of freewheeling state-owned enterprises. Unpopular as he may have been at times, either by luck or good management, the tough action meant that Vietnam was better placed to cope than it might have been as international markets tumbled.
Amid the pressures, he has faced a lot of internal elements nipping at his heels.
"Foreign investors have come to see him quite favourably," a veteran foreign banker in Ho Chi Minh City said. "There was concern that he wouldn't be able to handle the economy or do enough to rein in the worst parts of the bureaucracy, but he has shown commitment and a willingness to listen."
On the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it still may not be enough for many. Mr Dung took office amid unusually high hopes after a decade of being touted as a fast-rising star in the leadership.
The youngest prime minister in modern Vietnam, Mr Dung injected a touch of dynamism to the ranks of grey apparatchiks - even if, as a former Interior Ministry official and teenage guerilla fighter, he had enough polish on his party credentials. He had a law degree and had also headed the State Bank.
Initially, there were online, meet-the-public sessions and he appeared eager to cut a dash on the regional and international scene, playing golf and sporting sharp suits.
"I'm not sure he has ever really met our expectations," said Binh, a 28-year-old Hanoi broker. "There was a great deal of hope when he took office that he would be something really new - maybe the job and the system are just too difficult. It is hard to see him charting a new course at this point."
Amid the domestic pressure, some have also questioned the activities of his children – a frequent problem for Vietnamese leaders.His daughter, Nguyen Tan Phong, has a master’s degree in business administration from Geneva University and has managed Swiss investments in Vietnam – a pursuit that could have proved trickier had she represented a less neutral country.She is also married to a Vietnamese-American.
For the moment, however, there is little doubt Mr Dung is secure in his job - even if his precise legacy is still a work in progress. He repeatedly told his audiences that he hoped to see signs of recovery in the next three quarters of the year. After a tough three years, Mr Dung has his own reasons to hope his economic advisers are correct
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