Despite rapid improvements in quality, Vietnamese consumers remain skeptical of electric motorcycles

08 May 2022

Although becomingly more diverse in designs, types, and affordable prices, consumers continue to hesitate in buying electric motorbikes.

Considered to bear great potential in Vietnam, but at the moment, not many are drawn to this type of transportation. According to data from Motor Cycles Data, in the first 5 months of 2021, more than 50,000 Vinfast electric scooters were sold. To put into perspective, the number of Honda motorbikes sold during the same period was more than 900,000 units.

There are many reasons to why consumers are still hesitant to opt for electric motorbikes:

 

  1. Charging problems

A large part of people living in big cities live in apartments, and not all apartments have available places for users to charge their bikes. Removing the battery and carrying it to such places is rather inconvenient. Furthermore, some models use lead batteries, so this is almost impossible.

Xe máy điện ngày càng tốt nhưng người Việt vẫn "thờ ơ" - 1

On the other hand, there is the absence of public electric vehicle charging stations even in big cities, let alone provinces, or remote and isolated areas. When running out of gas, people can easily find a gas station and keep going, but if the electricity runs out in the middle of the road, users can only walk because chargers are not compact enough to be carried around.

Although many electric motorcycle models have now been introduced that are capable of traveling 200km per charge (equivalent to the distance a hand-clutch model can travel when fully filled), the worry of running out of power while commuting still prevents the majority from choosing to buy electric motorbikes.

 

  1. Cost of battery replacement when damaged

The cost to buy a battery for an electric motorbike will be about 3 million VND, and about 8-15 million VND if it uses a lithium battery. Every 3-4 years, users need to replace the battery because their charging capacity will gradually decrease, leading to shortened travel distance. This is definitely something that many people are still concerned about when buying electric motorbikes. Even though they are cheaper than petrol motorbikes, the cost of replacing batteries during use will also cost them money. This problem is non-existent on traditional internal combustion engines.

However, with a battery rental policy like Vinfast being implemented, users can be more assured. With only 190,000 – 350,000 VND/month (equivalent to petrol price for motorbikes), users already have good batteries for their electric scooters to use for the entire life of the vehicle without having to worry about the battery being damaged, or replacement.

 

  1. The prejudice on electric motorbikes

For many Vietnamese, electric motorbikes are just “rickety”, “less safe”, or “only for children”. Before, most electric motorbikes in the country were of unknown origin, or poor-quality goods from China. This is the reason why when it comes to electric motorbikes, many people dismiss them, let alone wanting to learn more.

Xe máy điện ngày càng tốt nhưng người Việt vẫn "thờ ơ" - 4

However, with the presence of a series of Vietnamese brands such as Vinfast, Pega, Yadea…, users have now gained a different view of electric vehicles with outstanding quality, safety and modernity. Not only that, from the beginning of 2022, brands like Honda and Yamaha have also introduced newly developed electric motorcycles. It is expected that in the future, both in terms of type and quantity of high-quality electric motorcycles make their way to buyers.

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