Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?

If you are an attentive person, you easily realize that electrical items brought from the US or Japan are often required to be used with a switch .

Current history

To solve this problem, we should return to the past to be able to understand more clearly. Thomas Edison was not the first person to find electricity, but he was one of the individuals with the most important contributions to electricity for humans.

Picture 1 of Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?
Thomas Edison.

Typical is the one-way electricity system , one model he designed and used in the US with voltage 110v. DC current can be understood simply as the current flowing in a certain direction and there is no change no matter how much its intensity increases or decreases.

But the problem is that it is not the optimal grid , not capable of providing on a large scale like cities and countries.

And that was when the famous scientist's name but very different from Nikola Tesla was heard again. According to many stories, he and Edison considered each other as archenemy enemies because of conflicts in inventive thinking as well as their use.

But one thing is undeniable, Tesla is one of the scientists who owns many of the most creative ideas on the planet. Some even compare him to the mighty genius Leonardo Da Vinci of the renaissance.

Picture 2 of Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?
Nikola Tesla.

At that time, Tesla introduced the world to an alternating electrical network, which has an alternating current and intensity over time. And it has clearly shown the advantages compared to the one-way electricity and most typical is the ability to distribute as well as use on a large scale.

This led to a war between two great scientists of the time. Tesla can guarantee the use of AC power on a national scale. On Edison's side, he thinks his grid uses 110v voltage, which is much safer.

So what is the difference of voltage 110v and 220v?

The first thing that everyone mentioned is 110v voltage which is safer than 220v. So countries like Japan and the US use 110v because they put safety targets first. This is both true and false!

The truth is that the 110v voltage is actually more secure but only for 220v voltage . Because any voltage is dangerous to human life. According to the study, the greater the voltage, the more dangerous it is, an electric current with a voltage of 24v and a intensity of 10mA or more is enough to take away an adult's life.

Picture 3 of Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?
80% of the world uses 220v voltage.

Secondly, we can mention the power loss, 110v current needs much stronger current than 220v. That is not to mention that the investment cost for infrastructure of 110v voltage is very large because it requires higher quality lines, stations and poles.

Therefore, in the beginning, there were many countries using 110v voltage, but due to high demand, it was forced to replace wires to withstand higher currents. At this time, some countries have switched to using 220v voltage so that they do not have to pay too much investment pressure on facilities .

The change and keep the voltage intact

In fact, 80% of the countries in the world use 220v voltage, including European countries, Asia, including Vietnam due to higher use efficiency. Meanwhile, some countries like the US and Japan use 110v due to historical factors.

After World War 2 , European countries gradually shifted to 220v voltage, partly because of economic reasons , partly because the war severely destroyed the facilities, so the transition seemed easier.

Picture 4 of Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?
World War 2.

In contrast to Europe, there was a time when the US considered the conversion but because the cost was too great, plus all the old 110v electric appliances had to be replaced, so it canceled this plan, Recently, The US is also trying to replace the 240v standard but still can lower the voltage to use the old device.

For Japan it is a completely different story, after World War 2, the United States was in charge of regenerating the electric system in western Japan, and Britain would be the eastern region. Of course, the US will also rebuild to Western Japan like me.

And the East in charge of the UK also uses 110v voltage, even for the UK and European countries.

Picture 5 of Why does Vietnam use 220v voltage but Japan only uses 110v?
Japan's 2-split electricity system is in charge of two countries.

Another point worth mentioning is that Vietnam uses 220v electricity a lot due to the built infrastructure in accordance with this voltage. In addition, the use of 220v will save us the economy by cutting a lot of wasted electricity if we use 110v voltage.