VinFast’s electric scooters are on their way to the Philippines, and the brand is starting to make a lot of buzz in the motorcycle market. One of its biggest selling points for these two-wheelers is that they’ll come with swappable batteries.
While this all sounds well and good, introducing battery-swappable systems to the Filipinos has proven to be challenging in the past. A few brands have already tried and failed. Suffice to say, VinFast has its work cut out for it.
But unlike the other brands, VinFast has a bolder approach to push Filipino riders to adopt this system: It plans to build 30,000 battery-swapping stations across the country. This would equate to about one station every 5km.
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During a press conference with VinFast management, we tried to get some specifics regarding these stations, such as rollout timeline, but we couldn’t get definitive answers just yet. What VinFast Philippines CEO Niño Fabros told us was that the strategy will involve putting up battery-swapping stations at both the soon-to-rise VinFast 3S shops and at partner multi-brand dealerships. The Vietnamese brand is also in talks with fuel stations and major malls to establish battery stations at various locations around the metro.
Fabros also confirmed that VinFast’s scooters will be sold across the archipelago, not just in Metro Manila. They will be available in other provinces around Luzon, as well as in major cities in Visayas and Mindanao, such as Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. This means we can expect battery stations—and even 3S shops—to start popping up outside the capital.
Big plans, then. It’ll be interesting to see how these will all play out across 2026. We’ll be keeping a close eye on developments regarding this. Your thoughts, readers?
