The top five best-selling EV brands in Thailand are BYD, Tesla, MG, Neta and ORA. BYD topped the list with 2,027 units sold, followed by Tesla with 1,072 units, MG with 1,017 units, Neta with 686 units and Ora with 430 units. Since December 2022, BYD has maintained its position as the top electric vehicle sales champion in Thailand for many months.
Thailand's "30 30 Policy" aims to have electric vehicles account for 30% of vehicle production by 2030. The roadmap consists of a three-phase development plan.
The first phase (2021 to 2022) :* will promote electric motorcycles and support their infrastructure development across the country.
Phase 2 (2023 to 2025): The electric vehicle industry will grow to production2250,000 electric car pickup trucks, 360,000 motorcycles and 180,000 buses and trucks, including the production of batteries.
Phase 3 (2026 to 2030): Strive to achieve production by 2030 7250,000 electric pickup trucks and 67With a target of 50,000 electric motorcycles, electric vehicles will account for 30% of total vehicle production. This also includes the production of domestic batteries.
The development of the industry is inseparable from the support of national policies, and a series of incentives and support measures issued by Thailand's National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee (BOI) and the Board of Investment have greatly stimulated the vigorous development of Thailand's electric vehicle (EV) industry.
In early 2022, Thailand** announced a series of EV incentives to encourage the consumption and production of EVs from 2022 to 2025, and the GST on EVs was also reduced from 8% to 2%.
In addition, on December 19, 2023, the Cabinet approved a four-year electric vehicle promotion measure (EV3.).5) Covering electric vehicles, electric pickup trucks and electric motorcycles, to promote the adoption of electric vehicles by providing subsidies, reducing import tariffs on finished vehicles, and reducing consumption tax rates. These measures will take effect on January 2, 2024.
According to EV35 measures, the import duty on electric vehicles imported ** not exceeding 2 million baht in the first two years will be reduced by no more than 40%. At the same time, the excise tax on electric vehicles not exceeding 7 million baht will be reduced from 8% to 2% through the investment conditions set in Thailand. In addition, EV manufacturers that have already participated in EV3 initiatives will compensate for imports at a ratio of 1:2 in 2026 and 1:3 in 2027 to provide opportunities for entrepreneurs.
In addition to the approved measures, the BOI plans to work with relevant agencies to make a series of recommendations, including the establishment of appropriate charging tariffs, the promotion of the use of commercial electric vehicles, the promotion of electric vehicles using battery swapping systems, and the promotion of high-capacity, internationally compliant cell production. These initiatives will further Thailand's progress towards becoming a global EV hub.
BOI Secretary-General Nali revealed that promoting the electric vehicle industry is an important policy, aiming to deal with two core issues: one is environmental issues, reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector through electric vehicles, improving people's quality of life, and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050;The second is to build a new industrial base, based on Thailand, aiming to build Thailand into the largest electric vehicle production base in ASEAN and one of the top 10 in the world.
Currently, Thailand's EV industry is rapidly rising and is constantly striving to become one of the leaders in EV production in the ASEAN region and globally.
According to the BOI, foreign investors and domestic companies have applied to invest in the promotion of electric vehicles, involving a total investment of 772 electric vehicles and charging stations600 million baht, and more promotion applications are expected in the future.
Meanwhile, Japan's four major auto giants (Toyota, Honda, Isuzu and Mitsubishi) plan to invest more than 150 billion baht in Thailand's Hyundai transformation over the next five years, including electric vehicle companies. This will bring the total investment to more than 2,272600 million baht to provide strong support for Thailand's electric vehicle industry.
As the center of Southeast Asia's 600 million population market, Thailand has established a number of Chinese car companies in Thailand to establish production bases or sales centers, and more companies are actively entering the Thai new energy vehicle market. At the same time, Thailand has the largest automobile assembly capacity and parts production capacity in the ASEAN region, and can provide 80% of the parts required for local truck assembly and 60% of the parts required for bus assembly.
At present, the automobile industry has become Thailand's first pillar industry, accounting for about 12% of Thailand's GDP, among the ten ASEAN countries, Thailand is the largest automobile manufacturer and exporter, known as the ASEAN automobile hub, is the world's fifth largest automobile market.
Thailand's automotive industry is concentrated around Bangkok, including Ayutthaya, Nakhon Pathom, Chonburi, Rayong, Chachoengsao, Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachinburi. There are 18 automobile factories in the upstream of Thailand's automotive industry chain, employing 100,000 people. There are about 700 first-class spare parts suppliers in large scale, with about 450,000 related employees, more than 60% of which are dominated by foreign capital.
Among the world's top 100 spare parts suppliers, more than half have set up branches or factories in Thailand, of which 28 are Japanese, such as Denso, Aisin Seiki, Yazaki, etc., in addition to Bosch, Continental, Faurecia, Johnson Controls and other European and American manufacturers have also entered the Thai market.
The main product categories include high-end parts, safety and energy-saving parts, new energy vehicle parts, fuel injection systems, engine systems and transmission systems. At the bottom of the chain are the smaller secondary and spare parts dealers, with a total of more than 1,700.
Thailand's multiple incentives are already starting to bear fruit, and its ambition for electric vehicles has been unveiled.