Electric Vehicle

Thailand To Lead In EV Battery Manufacturing And Assembly

Thailand To Lead In EV Battery Manufacturing And Assembly

Thailand’s assembly and output of Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries are predicted to reach 430,000 units by 2023, according to Kasikorn Research Center (K-Research). As such, Thailand will be responsible for three percent of global EV battery production by 2023 and will be placed top four in Asia. Moreover, sales of the three types of EVs—hybrids, plug in hybrids and battery EVs in Thailand will account for 25 percent of the total car market.

The research centre said, “The EV market is expected to increase significantly from 2019 as many car manufacturers have applied for the Board of Investment’s (BoI) incentives to localise EV assembly.”

With implementation of the government’s EV scheme to focus on hybrid and plug-in hybrid EVs, investment flow for EV battery assembly will follow. Furthermore, car manufacturers successfully granted the BoI incentives are required to carry out their plans within three years, by 2021. The assembly of battery EV’s depend on the coverage of EV charging stations, while hybrid EVs may extend into eco-hybrid cars. Sales of hybrid EVs will see significant increase since they have already been available. Car manufacturers like Toyota and Mercedes-Benz will be localising battery assembly, which will drive assembly manufacturing for EV batteries.

Thailand will be a hub for EV battery exports. 260,000 units of the 430,000 total battery output by 2023 will be supplied to the domestic market, while 40 percent or 170,000 batteries will be exported. Battery EVs will mainly be delivered to Japan, Oceania, Singapore and Malaysia due to rising income growth and government’s support for EV facilities. Furthermore, with the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, Thailand is set to become the original equipment manufacturer EV battery hub for Japanese car manufacturers.

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Thailand To Waive Excised Tax On Full Electric Vehicles

Thailand To Waive Excised Tax On Full Electric Vehicles

Thailand’s government will be scraping the tax imposed on full electric vehicles (EV) from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. The move aims to encourage full EV manufacturing and reduction of carbon emissions.

However, the tax waiver will only be offered to projects that were awarded promotional privileges from the Board of Investment (BoI). Currently, tax for BoI approved investment projects for manufacturing full EVs is two percent, while non-awarded BoI incentives are subjected to eight percent tax. The tax waiver also symbolically shows the government’s support for building full EVs.

Under Thailand’s S-curve policy, EVs have been identified as a targeted industry for driving economic growth. Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said the government hopes this would speed up manufacturing of full EVs.

The government will also be cutting tax levied on vehicles depending on their carbon emissions. For example, pickup passenger vehicles that have CO2 emissions less than 0.005 PM will be taxed at three percent instead of the current four percent. Mr Apisak said that this would reduce emissions and promote a better environment. Furthermore, tax cuts will encourage manufacturers to increase diesel engine development to reduce emissions.

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Mercedes-Benz Thailand To Start Local Manufacturing Of Electric Vehicles

Mercedes-Benz Thailand To Start Local Manufacturing Of Electric Vehicles

Mercedes-Benz plans to start local assembly and sales of battery EVs, following application to assemble battery EVs for Thailand Board of Investments (BOI) incentives covering all global electric vehicles (EV) line-ups—plug-in hybrid EVs, battery EVs and lithium-ion batteries.

Previously in early 2016, Mercedes-Benz decided to localise its assembly line of plug-in hybrid EVs and in 2017, joined the government’s EV scheme. In early 2018, the company also applied for manufacturing expansion of plug-in EVs (worth 607 million baht).”We have begun marketing our plug-in hybrid EVs in the market and have invested further to produce lithium-ion batteries, so it would not make any sense if we did not bring our battery EV technology to the country,” said Frank Steinacher, vice-president for sales and marketing of Mercedes-Benz.

In March 2018, Stuttgart-based parent firm Daimler AG has localised assembly of batteries for plug-in hybrid EVs at its Samut Prakan plant with an investment of 3.9 billion baht. However, Mercedes-Benz will become the first car brand to produce the batteries locally. Furthermore, Mr Steinacher announced that Mercedes-Benz will be bringing the EQC that was launched last September under the EQ Electric Intelligence initiative into the local market this year as the first battery EV sold in Thailand.

Mercedes-Benz is also emphasising the EQ families of EQ Power (plug-in hybrid EV), EQ Power+ (AMG cars) and EQ Boost (48-volt on-board electric system) in the market., with all three platforms being assembled at the Samut Prakan plant.

According to Roland Folger, president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Thailand, the overall luxury car market grew from 27,000 units sold in 2017 to 32,000 in 2018, as each distributor was competitive with new cars and technologies. Mercedes-Benz set a record for sales with 15,785 vehicles, a 9% rise from 2018 and has launched 16 models in Thailand in the last year. With new luxury players entering the market, Mr Folger expects that at least 20 new models are expected to be launched in Thailand and total dealers to come up to 36 in 2019.

Mitsubishi To Export Philippines Manufactured Units To ASEAN

Mitsubishi To Export Philippines Manufactured Units To ASEAN

According to the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) would start exporting locally produced vehicles to different parts of Southeast Asia in 2019 and the company has also expressed a desire to help develop the local electric vehicle industry.

In particular, MMPC would be exporting the Mirage and L300 units in a bid to address the Philippines’ worsening trade deficit as well as the decreasing revenues in the entire local vehicle industry. Currently, MMPC is producing Mirage and Mirage G4 units domestically under the multibillion-peso Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) programme, which is an initiative under the Aquino administration that aims to produce a total of 200,000 car units by 2023.

Regarding the export of MMPC manufactured vehicles, Trade Secretary, Ramon Lopez, has said, “We keep saying that building an export manufacturing base is the way to go. It is also a good import substitution strategy. Through this initiative, we will address the trade imbalance and provide more jobs to our countrymen.”

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