Vietnamese firm debuts electric motorbike delivery system for business

Selex Motors, a Vietnamese startup, launched its electric motorbike delivery system Sunday, the first in Southeast Asia with optimization for business-to-business (B2B) transport services.

The Hanoi-based business’ eco-system can offer solutions in energy charging, which can help users reduce 40% of operational costs and boost delivery efficiency, said Selex Motors CEO Nguyen Huu Phuoc Nguyen.

Vietnam is the fourth-biggest motorbike market in the world with over 50 million units on the road, which consume over $5 billion of fuel and discharge massive greenhouse gas, Nguyen added.

"As a result, electric motorbikes would become inevitable in Vietnam, however, the market struggles with issues like prolonged battery charging and underdeveloped charging facilities," he noted.

Selex Motors provides smart electric motorbikes, highly compactible batteries, automatic battery switching stations, and an Internet of Things (IoT)-based management platform. It takes customers fewer than two minutes to replace a battery instead of waiting to charge for 3-8 hours with quick procedures via the mobile app. The battery switching cost is expected to be 25-35% less than fuel on the same travel routes.

The firm noted its battery is compatible with 70% of electric motorbikes on the market, which would facilitate customers to share a battery network and build a common energy platform. Selex Motors hopes its solutions would help expand the electric bike network in Vietnam.

At the event, the startup signed an agreement with Lazada Logistics, a unit under e-commerce platform Lazada, to deliver 100 electric motorbikes and to operate them next year.

The business, which is accompanied by major investors like Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Korea’s venture capital firm Nextrans, and venture capital firm Touchstone Partners, also plans to expand its battery stations to 200 units in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Launched in 2018, Selex Motors has designed and built 70%-localization rate factories in Gia Lam district, Hanoi, with an annual capacity of 20,000 electric motorbikes and 100,000 packs of lithium-ion batteries.