Many benefits for VinFast customers when buying battery-free electric vehicles
Saving hundreds of millions of dong when buying a car and avoiding risks related to batteries are the benefits for customers when buying battery-free electric vehicles.
When gasoline prices reached a historic peak of 31.573 VND per liter, Mr. Tuan Hung (Hanoi) felt his decision to switch to an electric car was the right one.
Since running VF e34, each month Mr. Hung spends about 2,3 million VND for all travel needs, including 1,805 million VND in fixed package battery subscription fees. According to his calculations, this cost is lower than when he used a gasoline engine sedan. The cost gap is even further, if calculated based on current gas prices.
"Before receiving the car, I was quite worried because I had to pay a monthly battery subscription because it was new, but after using it for a while, I found that the battery subscription policy is more beneficial to users," Mr. Hung shared.
Operating costs are more economical than before, but electric cars still have difficulty reaching customers because their selling prices are higher than gasoline cars in the same segment. To remove this barrier, when launching the first electric car model VF e34, VinFast chose to sell the car without a battery. Accordingly, instead of paying a large amount of money to own a battery, customers need to pay a monthly fee to subscribe to a battery pack.
Around the world, the "subscription economy" model has been popular in the fields of telecommunications, software, entertainment, music, movies... With many advantages, this form has recently continued to expand to other areas. fields such as food, transportation.
Vietnamese customers are also gradually catching up with this consumer trend when they are ready to receive brands that provide services and products in the form of subscriptions such as Spotify, Netflix or recently, electric car battery subscription packages from VinFast.
The benefit of subscription compared to outright purchase is that customers do not have to spend large sums of money to own products such as electric cars. For example, the VF e34 sold without battery costs 690 million VND. If the battery is sold with the car, customers will need to spend about 200 million VND more.
“Battery subscriptions make electric vehicles affordable. For example, the VF e34 model is positioned in the C segment but has the same price as B-class SUVs or crossovers on the market," Mr. Tuan Hung compared.
Currently, all VinFast electric car models are sold in the form of battery rental. Flexible battery subscription prices (VAT included) for 3 models VF e34, VF 8 and VF 9 are 657.000 VND, 990.000 VND and 1,1 million VND respectively for a maximum distance of 500 km per month. If it exceeds, customers need to pay an additional 1.315 VND, 1.980 VND and 2.200 VND for each additional kilometer, depending on the vehicle model.
Vietnamese car company also takes into account the case of customers who need to use the car a lot to add a fixed battery subscription package, the cost is 1,805 million VND respectively; 2,189 million VND and 3,091 million VND, corresponding to VF e34, VF 8 and VF 9.
In addition to the reasonable price, the batteries in the battery rental policy are replaced, repaired, and maintained free of charge if damaged, due to manufacturer errors, or charging capacity drops below 70%. This is a privilege that customers do not have if they buy the battery pack outright. The car company said buyers will be able to use good quality batteries, prolonging vehicle life, ensuring safety and operating performance.
“Many people mistakenly think that the monthly subscription cost is a form of installment payment to buy a battery pack, but in fact, it is a depreciation cost. If you buy the battery pack outright, customers also have to bear maintenance and replacement costs when the battery pack degrades after a long time of use," Mr. Tuan Hung analyzed.
According to statistics Recurrent Auto, the cost of replacing the battery pack on Chevrolet Bolt ranges from 16.000 - 16.250 USD, on Tesla Model 3 is about 15.800 USD and on Tesla Model S is 12.000 - 22.000 USD. These are car models where manufacturers sell batteries to customers. After a long period of use, if the battery is aging, the customer will pay for the replacement cost.
Meanwhile, with battery rental, manufacturers like VinFast can control the number of batteries in circulation to come up with solutions for recycling and safe disposal, limiting the impact on the environment.
According to VnExpress