Speed decides whether an electric two-wheeler needs a licence in Vietnam. Under the vehicle definitions of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15), the licence-free category stops at 50 km/h design speed and 4 kW motor output. Everything faster or stronger is legally a motorbike, and motorbikes need motorbike licences.
The dividing line
The law defines the moped category (xe gắn máy) as up to 50 cc or an electric motor up to 4 kW, with a design speed of no more than 50 km/h — no licence required from age 16. An electric machine whose design speed exceeds 50 km/h, or whose motor exceeds 4 kW, does not fit that definition; it falls into the motorbike classes and needs A1 (up to 11 kW) or class A (above 11 kW) from age 18.
The market reality
Vietnam’s electric two-wheeler market spans both sides of the line. Licence-free machines are capped and de-restricted by law; the performance models — the ones reaching 80–90 km/h — are registered as motorbikes, plated as motorbikes, and fined as motorbikes. Buyers are sometimes told at the showroom that “e-bikes need no licence”, which is true only of the sub-50 km/h category. The registration paper tells the truth: if the machine carries a motorbike plate, it needs a motorbike licence.
Helmet and equipment rules follow the classification
A fast electric is a motorbike for every rule, not just licensing: helmet requirements, lane rules, speed limits and the fine schedule of Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP apply in the motorbike versions. The unlicensed-rider bands — 2,000,000–4,000,000 VND up to the 11 kW line, 6,000,000–8,000,000 VND above — apply by electric power exactly where they apply by engine size for petrol machines.
For renters
Rental fleets in Hanoi mostly stock automatic petrol scooters and licence-free e-bikes. If an electric model is offered that is faster than the e-bike class, treat it as a motorbike for your own licence planning: an A1, an exchanged foreign licence with motorbike entitlement, or a Vienna-Convention IDP with a motorbike category on the national licence.
Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15 on 2026-09-22.