Vingroup sets up non-profit electric bus subsidiary

Vingroup has now entered public transportation

On May 2, 2019, Vingroup officially established VinBus Transport Service Co., Ltd., to enter the passenger transport segment. VinBus has a total charter capital of VND1 trillion ($43.48 million) and will work entirely in a non-profit model to help build a civilised and modern public transport system, reducing air pollution and noise for major cities in Vietnam.

According to the plan, in the short term, the company will launch 3,000 electric buses produced by VinFast.

VinFast’s bus manufacturing facility is currently being constructed. VinFast will co-operate with Siemens from Germany to provide technology and components for the production of electric buses.

VinBus will operate under a non-profit model, which means 100 per cent of the profits will be reinvested by the company to improve the quality of services, expand the bus station system to provide civilised and modern public transport services to a large number of people.

Prior to VinBus, Vingroup founded educational and medical companies also under a non-profit form.

“When we joined the automobile and scooter manufacturing industry, we decided to focus on developing electric vehicles which are environmentally friendly to join the community in dealing with noise and air pollution in large urbans and promote environmentally friendly public transport among the people,” said Nguyen Viet Quang, vice chairman cum general director of Vingroup.

In early April, VinFast Trading and Production Ltd. (a subsidiary of Vingroup) and LG Chem Ltd. (a subsidiary of South Korean LG Group) officially announced the establishment of their joint venture company for battery pack production following international standards. The plant is located in VinFast’s Supplier Park in the northern port city of Haiphong. At first, the factory will provide batteries for VinFast’s electric scooters and electric cars.

Covering an area of more than 12,000 square metres, the plant is one of a number of factories producing spare parts at the VinFast complex. The joint venture aims to produce lithium-ion battery packs for VinFast’s electric scooters that are being made now and electric cars to be produced in the future.

VinFast will be responsible for building warehouses and production lines, employing human resources and operating the plant. LG Chem will provide technical consultancy for the warehouses and equipment, supervise operations, train workers, and transfer technologies and designs.