VinFast is making a bold push to electrify two-wheeled transport in Vietnam, with plans for a nationwide expansion of its electric scooter lineup alongside an ambitious battery swapping network that could reshape how riders think about charging.
The Vietnamese automaker has already announced its plans to deploy up to 150,000 battery swapping stations across all provinces in the country, creating one of the largest such networks in the world. The rollout is currently underway, with thousands of stations already installed in major metropolitan areas like Ho Chi Minh City.
That’s a staggering scale – potentially far denser than traditional gas station networks – and it highlights VinFast’s strategy of eliminating one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption: charging time.
Alongside the infrastructure push, VinFast introduced new versions of its electric scooters designed specifically for battery swapping. These models use dual removable battery packs, each with a capacity of 1.5 kWh, offering up to around 85 km (53 miles) of range per battery under standard conditions.
Instead of owning the batteries, riders can opt into a subscription-style model. Battery rental costs around 200,000 VND (roughly $8) per month per battery, while each swap costs about 9,000 VND (around $0.35), including the electricity. That creates an extremely low operating cost compared to gasoline scooters, which still dominate much of Vietnam’s streets.
With a similar model and battery capacity to Gogoro, VinFast’s model seems to be taking a tried-and-true approach to battery swapping electric two-wheelers.
VinFast isn’t abandoning traditional ownership, though. Buyers can still choose scooters with fixed batteries for home charging, or even mix approaches depending on their needs.
To further accelerate adoption, the company is offering aggressive incentives. Electric scooter buyers can receive discounts of around 10% off the purchase price, along with financing options that lower upfront costs significantly.
Vietnam has quickly emerged as one of the most important battlegrounds for electric two-wheelers, and for good reason. Motorcycles and scooters dominate the country’s transportation mix, with tens of millions of gas-powered bikes on the road serving as the primary mode of daily travel. That makes electrification efforts especially impactful. With dense urban environments, relatively short trip distances, and a population already accustomed to two-wheeled mobility, Vietnam is uniquely well-positioned to transition to electric scooters faster than many Western markets.
At the same time, both government support and private investment are accelerating that transition. Cities have begun exploring measures to reduce emissions and congestion, while local companies like VinFast are stepping in to build out the infrastructure and product ecosystem needed to make the switch practical. Instead of relying solely on at-home charging, Vietnam is leaning into solutions like battery swapping and widespread public charging to better match the realities of urban living. The result is a rapidly evolving landscape where electric scooters are moving from early adoption into the mainstream, offering a glimpse at what large-scale micromobility electrification could look like in other parts of the world.
While gasoline-powered motorcycles and scooters still dominate the two-wheeler landscape in Vietnam, these kind of major investments in electrification could provide a significant boost to early stage adoption of electric alternatives.
Taken together, VinFast’s combination of ultra-dense battery swapping, low-cost energy, and aggressive pricing may help make electric scooters competitive or even preferable to gasoline powered vehicles in one of the world’s largest two-wheeler markets.
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