A new mystery electric scooter has been patented in the country by Vietnamese electric mobility giant VinFast. At the time of writing this article, VinFast is only offering electric cars in the country with local production at its manufacturing facility in the state of Tamil Nadu. However, the company intends to launch electric scooters in India as well.
Now, the mystery scooter design patented in India belongs to Vinfast, as evidenced by the clear branding all around. However, this is a new scooter and Vinfast does not offer this special variant anywhere in the world. However, it looks like a Vinfast Viper electric scooter and one can guess that it is the Gen 2 version of the existing Vinfast Viper electric scooter.
New Vinfast Electric Scooter
India has seen rapid growth in electric 2W sales and many state and union territory governments are considering making electric-only 2W registration mandatory in the future. Therefore, electric 2W sales will accelerate in the future and many OEMs are keen to be part of the action. VinFast is one such brand and is expected to debut with offerings like the Evo, Feliz II and Viper.
The new generation Viper electric scooter (Viper II, name not confirmed) seems to have been patented in India, spiking launch speculations. VinFast Viper is mainly sold in Vietnam and India is a potential market for this electric scooter. Therefore, patenting the next generation Viper design in India makes perfect sense for IP protection practice.
VinFast is a new electric mobility solutions provider and has recently been coming out with the second generation version of its portfolio. The Feliz is a clear example of this where we saw iterative updates in aesthetics and functionalities. Same situation may happen with Viper II also. We can see that the VinFast has retained the overall tall boy silhouette of the Viper.
What’s new?
The new elements that we can see are revised LED headlights with integrated LED DRLs and a lower WinFast logo position, a sharper front fender, a slightly redesigned fly screen and then new side body panels. The rear bat-wing-like LED tail lights look newer and more mature than the current model. Additionally, VinFast may consider introducing an entirely new color palette or retain some from the existing model.
The current model retains the same 14-inch alloy wheels, step seat for the rear occupant, flat floorboard, foot pegs, rear hub motor, TFT instrument cluster, smart key system with keyless go, 10L front storage and more. Parts of the cycle like the telescopic front forks, gas-charged rear twin shocker, front disc brake and other elements have also been retained.
Powertrain-wise, the current Vinfast Viper electric scooter comes with a 1.5 kWh fixed battery with 82 km of range and an optional 1.15 kWh secondary battery that adds 74 km to the range. The rear hub motor is rated at a maximum of 3000W (4 bhp) and the top speed is 70 km/h. VinFast has not yet confirmed whether this particular scooter is the India-specific Viper II or a global model.
