Thailand dreams of becoming Southeast Asia's electric car manufacturing
center
As humans’ awareness of climate change, physical health and sustainable
development continues to increase, consumers’ demand for electric vehicles is
also on the rise. Thailand, as the world's 11th largest automobile manufacturer,
also cannot fall behind in this emerging field.
Electrification can be called the biggest challenge the automotive industry
has encountered in decades. From user needs to manufacturing operations and
sales models, the former challenges the current rules of the game all the time.
At the same time, automotive design has been evolving, progressing and becoming
more and more complex, because electric vehicles and autonomous driving
technology represent a new model, so we need to make some fundamental changes in
vehicle design, especially the mechanical, electrical, electronic and
communication systems are integrated.
However, electric vehicles account for less than 1% of the vehicles on the
roads in Thailand today-partly because electric vehicles are still more
expensive than gasoline vehicles, which reduces the desire of many consumers to
buy. This is where Thailand needs to be delicately balanced: on the one hand,
the automotive industry contributes as much as 10% to Thailand's US$545 billion
GDP. On the other hand, Thailand's electric vehicle industry is still in its
infancy, with a long way to go.
How can we accelerate the development of Thailand's electric vehicle
industry? As a country that accounts for "half of the river and mountains" in
Southeast Asia, how can Thailand lead the region's development in this
field?
The first step requires the Thai government to provide continuous support
for advanced technology and investment to attract OEMs and spare parts suppliers
related to the production of electric vehicles. The importance of official
policies and measures should not be underestimated. In addition to attracting
investment, they can also use a series of incentives, such as reducing the cost
of purchase and use, to promote people to change their negative perceptions of
electric vehicles.
Fortunately, Thailand is serious about entering the field of electric
vehicles. The "National Electric Vehicle Policy" recently issued by the Thai
government declares that by 2030, the proportion of electric vehicles in
Thailand's total automobile production will increase to no less than 30% in
order to realize the vision of a green and low-carbon society. To achieve the
above goals, the number of electric passenger cars (including pickup trucks) and
electric motorcycles in Thailand must be 725,000 and 675,000 respectively.
Thailand also plans to start selling only zero-emission vehicles from 2035,
thereby making the country a "traditional car + electric car" manufacturing
center in Southeast Asia. By then, Thailand plans to build 12,000 public fast
charging stations and promote the promotion and use of electric vehicles by
providing manufacturers and consumers with various incentives, including tax
reductions and exemptions.
Although there are a lot of automakers and most of the parts and components
can be purchased locally, Thailand, like Europe and Japan, has a huge production
base for fuel vehicles. "The ship is difficult to turn around". Direct
transformation is more difficult, so it is necessary to attract new car-making
forces from the United States and China are developing the electric car
industry.
Although electric vehicles produce less than half of the emissions during
the entire life cycle of fuel vehicles, and have been proven to reduce air
pollution, there are complexities in the generation of electric energy. Traffic
decarbonization has increased.
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in
modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate battery is a perfect
replacement for lead-acid batteries, and it is the first choice for
grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy
storage, UPS, data center and other industries.
