VinGroup’s electric buses run on Hanoi’s busy streets

The buses run on the Hao Nam – Vinhomes Ocean Park, Times City – central agencies’ zone, and Ho Tay Water Park – Vinhomes Smart City routes.

A Vinbus representative said that the buses carry no passengers during the trial time.

Earlier on April 8, Vinbus launched the first smart e-bus service in its inner areas. The buses ran in the Vinhomes Ocean Park urban area in Gia Lam district, Hanoi, while awaiting the completion of procedures to connect with the city's public transport network.

Vinbus is an electric bus model manufactured and assembled by VinFast at its Automobile Production Complex in Hai Phong city.

Each bus is equipped with an automated system able to control driving behaviour and give warnings about unsafe situations, an on-board public address system, free wifi, USB charging ports, and security cameras, among others.

With a battery capacity of 281 kWh, the bus can travel between 220 and 260 kilometres on a single charge. It can fully recharge in just two hours at VinBus’s 150 kW charging station network.

VinBus is scheduled to provide public transport services in five major cities in Vietnam: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Can Tho.

In March, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung agreed in principle for Hanoi city to temporarily apply the economic and technical norms and unit cost for buses using the compressed natural gas (CNG) buses in the city, on electric buses.

Based on the e-bus service trial results, the municipal People’s Committee will join hands with competent ministries to set up and issue economic-technical norms for the electric buses.

Earlier in December 2019, Vingroup proposed the operation of ten e-bus routes in the city, and committed to investing in 150-200 high-end e-buses.