Which Electric Scooters Are Actually Licence-Free in Vietnam

The rule: two limits, not one

An electric two-wheeler is licence-free in Vietnam only if its maximum motor power is 4 kW or under AND its design speed is 50 km/h or under. Fail either one and it is a motorbike, requiring a licence.

Vietnamese law defines xe máy điện — the licence-free electric class — by two conditions that apply together: a maximum motor power of 4 kW or under, and a maximum design speed of 50 km/h or under. Both must hold. This is set out in Decree 100/2019/ND-CP and restated in the Road Law 36/2024/QH15.

Above either limit the machine is legally a motorbike (xe mô tô điện), and riding it requires a motorbike licence — which, for a visitor, means a licence from home plus a valid International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention. Vietnam recognises no other permit by convention.

The power limit is almost never the problem. Nearly every electric scooter on the Vietnamese market runs a motor between 1.2 kW and 3 kW, comfortably inside 4 kW. It is the speed limit that catches people out, and it is the number nobody publishes.

• Maximum power 4 kW or under — nearly all models pass
• Design speed 50 km/h or under — where most models fail
• Both together, or the machine needs a licence
• The machine's registration document states the class; the model name does not

What the manufacturers publish, model by model

VinFast's own guidance lists the Evo200, Feliz S, Klara S, Vento S and Theon S as requiring an A1 licence, and only the Evo200 Lite as licence-free. Yadea's G5 reaches 52 km/h; the G5 Lite stops at 50.

The figures below are the manufacturers' own published specifications for the Vietnamese market, checked in September 2026. Where a model appears in a rental catalogue under a 'no licence needed' heading and its published design speed exceeds 50 km/h, the two statements cannot both be true.

Licence-free on the published spec: VinFast Evo200 Lite (49 km/h), VinFast Klara lead-acid version (45 km/h), Yadea G5 Lite (50 km/h, exactly on the limit), Honda ICON e (49 km/h, maximum power 1.81 kW).

Requires a licence on the published spec: VinFast Evo200 (70 km/h), VinFast Klara S 2022 (78 km/h, 3 kW), VinFast Feliz S (around 78 km/h), VinFast Vento S (up to 90 km/h), VinFast Theon S (99 km/h), Yadea G5 (52 km/h), Yadea G5S (80 km/h), Yadea S3 (54 km/h), Pega NewTech (60 km/h).

Note how the pairs work. Evo200 and Evo200 Lite share a name and a silhouette and differ by 21 km/h. G5 and G5 Lite differ by 2 km/h — and those 2 km/h are the difference between needing a licence and not. A rental listing that says only 'VinFast Klara' is naming a family that spans 45 to 78 km/h, which tells you nothing about the machine you will be given.

• Evo200 Lite 49 km/h — licence-free · Evo200 70 km/h — licence required
• Yadea G5 Lite 50 km/h — licence-free · Yadea G5 52 km/h — licence required
• Honda ICON e 49 km/h, 1.81 kW — licence-free
• Klara S 78 km/h, Feliz S ~78 km/h, Theon S 99 km/h — all licence required

The speed you are actually allowed to use

A licence-free machine may not exceed 40 km/h on the road, whatever it is capable of — Circular 38/2024/TT-BGTVT, in force since 1 January 2025.

There is a second speed number, and it changes how the first one should be read. Since 1 January 2025, Circular 38/2024/TT-BGTVT caps xe gắn máy — including electric ones — at 40 km/h on ordinary roads.

So a licence-free scooter is limited to 40 km/h in use, regardless of whether it was built for 45 or 50. Which means a faster 'licence-free' scooter offers you nothing legal: the extra speed cannot lawfully be used on that class of machine, and the machine itself has left the licence-free class by having it.

Read the two numbers together and the sensible choice is obvious. A machine built for 49 or 50 km/h, ridden at up to 40, is a lawful ride. A machine built for 70 and advertised as licence-free is a licence requirement you were not told about.

Why this matters more than the fine

Vietnam's compulsory third-party insurance does not pay out where the rider holds no licence for a vehicle that requires one. The fine is the small part.

Riding without a recognised licence carries a fine of VND 2-4 million for a machine up to 125cc, or VND 6-8 million above it, plus a seven-day impound under Decree 168/2024. That is unpleasant but survivable.

The part that is not survivable is the insurance. Decree 67/2023/ND-CP excludes payment where the driver holds no driving licence, or one that is not valid for the class of vehicle. On a machine that turns out to require a licence you do not have, the compulsory third-party cover on that bike does not answer for the person you injure — and most travel-medical policies carry the same exclusion for your own treatment.

This is the real reason to care which trim you are handed. The difference between a 49 km/h scooter and a 70 km/h one is not comfort. It is whether an accident is an insured event or a personal catastrophe in a foreign country.

How to check before you ride

Ask for the registration document and the model trim, and compare the class and power against the two limits. A shop that cannot show you the papers cannot tell you the answer either.

The registration document (giấy chứng nhận đăng ký xe) records the vehicle class and the motor power in kW, tied to the frame and motor numbers of that individual machine. It is the document that decides the question, and Vietnamese consumer guidance already tells local renters to ask for it.

The design speed is not printed on the registration, so the second limb comes from the manufacturer's specification for that exact trim — which is why the trim name matters and why 'a VinFast Klara' is not an answer.

There is no public government database a visitor can check a scooter against, so the proof has to be documentary and it has to be handed to you. Ask three questions: which exact trim is this, what class does its registration state, and may I see the paperwork. If the answers do not come, the price difference you are being offered is not a discount — it is the risk being transferred to you.

• Ask for the exact trim, not the model family
• Ask what vehicle class the registration states
• Ask to see the registration and the compulsory insurance certificate
• Compare against both limits: 4 kW and 50 km/h

Frequently asked questions