Having covered the Philippine automotive scene for over two decades now, every year, there’s always a particular car lunch we look forward to. It’s often easy to tell, just from the initial specifications and teaser images whether it will be a game changer or not.

We’ve been witness to how the Toyota Innova and Mitsubishi Xpander have become the most popular cars on the road. The BYD Sealion 6 looked like a winner from the start, with eye-catching styling and a price to match. The return of the Toyota Tamaraw was one we’ve eagerly anticipated, and it still surprises me what this new model is used to haul these days.

Yet this year, the launch I’m looking forward to is not a car but a motorcycle. It’s VinFast’s trio of motorcycles to be precise, the Evo, Feliz II, and Viper. While the motorcycles' specifications are not particularly standout, it's the combination of the motorcycle, their unique battery, and VinFast’s battery subscription that are appealing.

You see, these new motorcycles are fully-electric. Not only that, their batteries can be completely removed and swapped out for fully-charged ones in an instant. Even e-bikes aren’t this convenient, requiring you to physically plug-in the bike itself. This means no more waiting for it to recharge to keep going. Simply swap out and go. Charge one battery while you’re out with the other. In addition, there’s an optional battery subscription service where you can pull up to a battery swapping station and swap it out for a fully charged one, no different from how we refill our LPG tanks.

It’s not a novel idea. Just a few years ago, Globe’s 917 Ventures offered the same proposition with Gogoro. These scooters also had swappable batteries and Globe had plans to set up swapping stations at key locations. The problem was the price. The scooters were expensive, at over ₱200K, nearly double a comparable ICE version. In addition, these were leases, meaning each customer would not actually own the motorcycle.

Worse still was the battery subscription service. The company came up with a tiered service based on the expected frequency of swaps and accumulated mileage. In other words, the more you ride, the more you swap, the more you pay. It didn’t help that there were only a handful of swapping stations in not particularly popular locations. Not surprisingly, it didn’t quite take off.

What’s different with VinFast is the price. These motorcycles are now priced competitively against ICE rivals, at par with popular Honda and Yamaha ICE models of similar size and styles. Once bought, whether outright or through installment, they are yours, with the accompanying LTO documents.

Even better is the battery subscription. At a fixed ₱439 subscription fee per battery per month, riders can swap a battery up to 20 times a month. It's an additional ₱35 per swap after that. Sign up before July 31, 2026 and the battery subscription for the first battery is free with 20 free swaps a month for the next year. Each battery equates to about 70-80 km of riding. I highly doubt each rider will even be able to avail of all 20 swaps a month, but it’s certainly a tempting possibility. Bear in mind, each buyer can still charge their batteries at home for much less without affecting the subscription. Do the math and that’s surprisingly cheap monthly mobility that even the most frugal 50-km/L rated motorcycle can’t match.

Granted, this may only be appealing to those that commute with motorcycles. It’s certainly got me thinking as I easily spend at least ₱2,000 a month on gasoline for the motorcycle alone. It may not seem like much, but that figure makes my motorcycle quite the guzzler by two-wheel standards.

However, the demographic these motorcycles may truly be a game-changer for are the ride-hailing and delivery riders on the streets every day. With the flexibility these e-motorcycles and swapping stations provide, these riders can stay on the road just as long as they do with ICE motorcycles, but at a fraction of fuel cost. That equates to more take-home pay they can use to pay debts, bills, or take the family somewhere nice. It may seem like just a couple of extra hundred pesos a week, but it can make a huge difference in their quality of life. That is the kind of change that few of the cars launched in the past have been able to achieve.

It's why I’m keen on seeing just how the market will receive this new motorcycle and ecosystem. Perhaps I’m blowing the benefits way out of proportion. Or perhaps, we could be witness to the same electric frenzy the fuel crisis ushered in for cars, this time on two wheels.

(Iñigo S. Roces is the editor of Manila Bulletin’s Motoring section)