Green SM deployed its first electric taxis in the US in Los Angeles, California, on October 13. Customers can book rides through their mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play or traditionally by calling their hotline or hailing a taxi on the street.
As a launch promotion, Green SM is offering customers a 50 percent discount, capped at $12 per ride, on the first five rides. It also offers a complimentary Green Pass membership that provides customers with ten vouchers, each offering a 30 percent discount with a limit of ten dollars per ride. Commenting on the entry into the new market, Hoang Thanh Hang, CEO of Green SM in the US, said: “The United States represents an important milestone in Green SM’s growth journey. We are not simply expanding into a new market. Our goal is to build trust with customers, drivers and local communities, one trip at a time.”
While Green SM operates both electric scooters and cars in Asian markets, it only uses cars in the U.S. Its Los Angeles fleet consists solely of VinFast’s VF 8, a mid-size SUV and the brand’s most affordable model in the U.S., with a price starting at $39,900.
VinFast offers the VF 8 in the US in two dual-motor AWD variants, one with 260 kW and 500 Nm of torque and another with 300 kW and 620 Nm of torque. Both feature an 87.7 kWh NMC battery that, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), offers a range of 256 miles in the former and 235 miles in the latter. Green GSM has not revealed which configuration it chose for its fleet or whether it uses both.
Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup, the parent company of VinFast, founded Green SM in 2023. The company operates solely with VinFast electric vehicles and has made around 850 million trips covering almost six billion kilometers to date. In addition to the US, it offers electric transportation service in India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and the Philippines in Asia, and in Denmark and the Netherlands in Europe.
vingroup.net
