A New Electric Contender on Jakarta's Streets
Jakarta's ride-hailing market gained a significant new player in September 2026 when Green SM, the electric mobility unit of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, formally launched its e-scooter service in the Indonesian capital. The rollout pits the company directly against Grab and Gojek, the two operators that have long dominated two-wheeler ride-hailing in the city.
The service uses VinFast Feliz II scooters, which were already spotted on Jakarta streets during a pilot that ran roughly a month before the official launch. Edison Mai, CEO of V-Green Indonesia, the infrastructure arm supporting Vingroup's EV operations in the country, described the rider experience in a LinkedIn post ahead of launch day: the standout quality, he wrote, was the silence of an electric scooter moving through a city of 11 million people.
Infrastructure Is the Real Story
Green SM's scooter service is only as viable as the charging and battery-swap network behind it, and V-Green Indonesia has been building that network at speed. According to Mai, more than 3,200 battery-swap stations were already live across Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali, Makassar and Medan by the time VinFast's electric motorbikes launched in Indonesia. The company is targeting one swap station per kilometre in major Indonesian cities before the end of 2026.
On the charging side, V-Green is aiming for 700 stations this year, up from 130 already operational, with Circle K named as a key retail partner for those locations. The company recently installed 12-slot battery swap cabinets at PLN Signature and is developing a dedicated EV charging hub in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, in partnership with state-owned property developer PT HK Realtindo, a subsidiary of Hutama Karya. A V-Green mini hub in Kapasari, Surabaya, where electric taxis charge overnight before entering service, shows how the model is being replicated outside the capital.
Green SM's Broader Indonesia Footprint
The e-scooter launch builds on Green SM's existing electric taxi operations, which began in Indonesia in late 2024. The company now runs electric taxis in Jakarta, Makassar, Surabaya, Bali, Bandar Lampung and Palembang, with Palembang added this month as its second market in Sumatra after Bandar Lampung. The two-wheeler service gives Vingroup an additional entry point into Indonesian urban mobility, complementing rather than replacing the taxi business.
Why It Matters for Hosts
Independent accommodation operators in Jakarta and the other cities where Green SM now operates have a practical reason to pay attention. Guests increasingly ask about sustainable, affordable ways to move around a city, and a quiet electric scooter service is a genuinely useful option to flag at check-in or in a digital guestbook. Hosts near planned V-Green charging hubs or Circle K swap points may also find that proximity to charging infrastructure becomes a minor but real selling point for guests travelling with their own electric vehicles. As the network expands toward one swap station per kilometre in major cities, that convenience factor will only grow.
Details in this post were first reported by DealStreetAsia on 16 September 2026.
First reported by dealstreetasia.com.