Vietnam: VinBus deploys 50 electric school buses

VinBus, a Vingroup-owned public transport service provider, has deployed 50 electric school buses in Quang Ninh City, Vietnam. It operates this fleet across the Ha Long, Hong Gai, and Ha Tu wards.

Image: Vinfast

The 50 electric school buses are part of a new initiative from the city government to provide students with free transport to and from schools. Quang Ninh City launched the free electric school bus service on 5 September, the first day of the 2026-2027 school year, and says it is the first locality in Vietnam to introduce such an initiative.

Initially, VinBus is operating the new electric school buses on six main routes from Monday to Friday, and on some routes also on Saturdays. The service caters to around 2,000 students from 22 educational institutes. The city government says this is only a pilot programme, and based on the results, it will expand the service to more areas in the next school year.

VinBus provides its electric bus service exclusively through VinFast models. For this particular deployment, it is using the EB 6, the smallest electric bus in the VinFast line-up, measuring 6.2 metres in length, 2.2 metres in width, and 2.9 metres in height.

VinFast manufactures the EB 6 in two versions: as an urban bus and as a school/intercity bus. The urban version accommodates 30 people, comprising 11 seated passengers, one wheelchair user, 17 standing passengers, and the driver. The school bus/intercity version accommodates 19 seated passengers and the driver. VinBus is using the urban version for the free school transport service in Quang Ninh City.

The EB 6 has a single, rear-mounted motor producing 140 kW and 420 Nm of torque. A 179.5 kWh LFP battery pack that supports charging at up to 120 kW and takes 70 minutes to charge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent SoC. The six-metre electric bus can achieve a top speed of 90 km/h and travel up to 340 kilometres on a single charge.