Fast and Dubious: How Electric Cars Are Tiring the Mekong

Electric vehicles are rapidly reshaping transport across Southeast Asia, from Bangkok and Hanoi to Vientiane, as part of the global shift toward cleaner energy.

In 2024 alone, more than 17 million electric cars were sold worldwide. Yet behind this transition lies an often-overlooked cost: Electric vehicles, heavier and more powerful than gasoline cars, consume tires faster—driving growing demand for natural rubber, the key material that gives tires their strength and durability.

This surge in demand has far-reaching consequences for the Mekong region—Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam—which together produce about half of the world’s natural rubber and host major tire and EV manufacturing plants. Since the early 2000s, rubber plantations have expanded rapidly across the region, replacing diverse forests with monoculture plantations. Despite falling rubber prices, expansion has continued as global demand remains strong.

The loss of forests has meant declining biodiversity, weakened carbon sinks, and heightened risks of erosion and flooding. In many cases, rubber plantations were established through long-term land concessions that transferred forests and farmland to investors, displacing Indigenous peoples and rural communities, often without consent or adequate compensation.

As awareness of these environmental and social costs grows, governments, companies, and civil society organizations are working to improve traceability and accountability in the rubber supply chain.

This investigation by Mekong Eye—in collaboration with regional media partners, the Earth Journalism Network, and the Pulitzer Center—traces how problematic rubber continues to reach global EV tire manufacturers, and examines emerging solutions to make “green” cars truly sustainable.