May 14, 2026 — Stage: Preparation — Getting the Ride
Every motorcycle trip has one non-negotiable starting point: you need a motorcycle. Obvious, sure. And yet finding the right one ended up being the biggest part of this whole preparation process.
The main constraint I was working with: whatever I ride has to be something I can legally operate in Vietnam without a motorcycle license. That narrows things down quite a bit. After going through the available options and doing the usual agonizing over specs I only half understand, I landed on the Vinfast Evo Lite — a brand-new model released just this year.
What makes it stand out from everything else in the license-free category is one specific feature: it’s the first no-license scooter in Vietnam with a battery swap system. The bike runs on two batteries housed inside the frame. You can charge them the traditional way via cable, but you also have the option to pull into a swap station, hand over your dead batteries, and ride away with fully charged ones in minutes.
Vinfast claims there are already 45,000+ swap stations operating across the country. If that’s true in practice, the “range problem” that kills most e-scooter trips essentially disappears — it becomes roughly similar to stopping for gas on a petrol bike. Whether those stations are actually out there when I need them in the middle of nowhere is, frankly, one of the main things this whole trip is designed to find out.
Buying the Thing
I bought the Evo Lite brand new from a dealership. One thing anyone planning to do the same should know upfront:
Foreigners without a Temporary Residence Card (TRC) cannot register a vehicle in their own name in Vietnam. You need a trusted local friend willing to be the official owner on paper.
I’m lucky to have exactly that person. The purchase itself was painless — under an hour, start to finish.
The breakdown:
- Bike price: ₫16,700,000 ( $634/ ~€540) at today’s exchange rate
- Batteries: Not included — purchased or rented separately
- Battery deposit: ₫500,000 ( ~$19 / ~€16) per battery
- Monthly rental fee: ~$6.45 (₫170,000 / ~€5.50) per battery per month
There’s a small wrinkle: the dealership could only locate one battery at the time of purchase. They’re “working on finding the second one.” I’m choosing to believe them.
What’s Left Before I Go
Here’s the mildly surprising part: even a license-free scooter needs to be officially registered and plated. The dealership is handling all the paperwork with the traffic authority — which is a relief, because bureaucracy in a language I don’t speak at all is its own kind of adventure I’d rather delay.
So right now I’m in a waiting game. The second the dealership calls to say the plate is ready, I head to the start point and this thing actually begins.
Over the next few days I’ll be doing some real-world range tests and putting together first impressions on the bike. The official start of the ride is May 24 — stay tuned.
