{"id":223015,"date":"2022-04-13T16:22:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=223015"},"modified":"2022-04-13T16:31:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:31:34","slug":"vinfast-will-lease-the-batteries-in-its-new-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2022\/04\/vinfast-will-lease-the-batteries-in-its-new-evs\/","title":{"rendered":"VinFast Will Lease the Batteries in its New EVs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EV startup VinFast will lease the batteries in its new electric vehicles when it launches EV sales later this year, a program designed to address consumer concerns about lithium-ion technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VinFast's
Emmanuel Brett, VinFast Global co-CEO for sales and marketing, revealed the company’s plans to lease the batteries for its vehicles arriving in the U.S. later this year. Photo Credit: NYIAS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Vietnamese automaker plans to introduce two new SUVs in 2022, the VF 8 and bigger VF 9 models, with a compact model, the VF 7, to follow in 2023. VinFast officials told a media audience at the New York International Auto Show the leasing program will be one of the ways it hopes to differentiate itself from other manufacturers entering the EV market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur cars are no longer concepts,\u201d said Emmanuel Brett, the startup\u2019s global co-CEO for sales and marketing. \u201cThey\u2019re actually here for you to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, not quite. While VinFast plans to open its first American dealership at the end of May, the first VF 8 and VF 9 models won\u2019t be offered until late this year. Final product tuning is still underway, as TheDetroitBureau.com noted in a First Impressions review posted earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making a splash \u2014 or a charge?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The automaker was only incorporated in 2017, but showed it was serious about its name when it got its first model into production a mere two years later. The first model was a heavily modified version of the BMW X5 SUV. And, initially, VinFast planned to come to the U.S. with several models running on internal combustion engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VinFast's
Brett told the crowd VinFast’s vehicles are “no longer concepts.” Photo Credit: NYIAS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At last November\u2019s L.A. Auto Show, it announced a shift in direction, revealing it would soon halt production of ICE vehicles and switch entirely to battery power starting in 2022. The automaker began deliveries of its first electrified product, the VF 34, to Vietnamese customers last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VinFast confirmed that it will eventually produce five BEVs. But TheDetroitBureau.com has learned that another two are now in development. As many as four are expected to go on sale in the U.S. during the next several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like other manufacturers, VinFast must overcome a number of consumer concerns about electric vehicles. It hopes to minimize range anxiety with the VF 9 model, which is expected to deliver as much as 369 miles per charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And VinFast has teamed up with charging company Electrify America to help make it easy for buyers to plug in when they\u2019re away from home. The Vietnamese manufacturer will become one of the first to offer vehicles that can Plug & Charge. When a VF 8 or VF 9 will be plugged in at an Electrify America station, billing information will automatically be transferred from the vehicle to the charger, eliminating the need to enter personal data and then use either a credit card or a smartphone app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Electrify
VinFast’s formed a partnership with Electrify America to make it easier to charge the VF 8 and VF 9.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Assuaging battery concerns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The durability of lithium-ion batteries has been found to be another serious concern, consumers worried that vehicle packs could suffer the same rapid degradation in power often experienced with smartphones and other portable apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, VinFast buyers will effectively purchase just one of the two new vehicles, the VF 8 starting as low as $40,700, the VF 9 at $55,500. Those figures undercut key competitors which, in the case of the VF 8 include the Volkswagen ID.4 and Kia EV6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be two leasing options. The basic plan comes in at $35 a month for the VF 8, $44 for the VF 9. Motorists will get up to 310 miles of free use each month. Motorists who go above that will pay an additional 11 cents per mile for the VF 8, 15 cents with the VF 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alternate, all-you-can-eat plan will run $110 a month for the VF 8 and $160 for the VF 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leases initially run for three years. After that, motorists will have a choice of either buying the packs or continuing to lease them. Under lease, VinFast will replace packs that develop problems, including those that drop to lower than 70% of initial capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis could help address concerns\u201d about lithium batteries, said IHS Markit\u2019s principal auto analyst Stephanie Brinley. But \u201cyou don\u2019t rent an engine\u201d in a conventional vehicle, she cautioned, saying that VinFast could find it \u201cchallenging\u201d to get consumers to understand the unusual approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EV startup VinFast will lease the batteries in its new electric vehicles when it launches EV sales later this year, a program designed to address consumer concerns about lithium-ion technology. TheDetroitBureau.com has the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,8,5,10,2648,1347,9],"tags":[4982,4158,5682,3621,5683],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223015"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223026,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223015\/revisions\/223026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223015"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=223015"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=223015"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=223015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}