Thailand approves plans to drive electric vehicle industry forward, aiming for 30% of the country’s automobile production to be electric by 2030.
On Tuesday, February 15th, Thailand’s cabinet moved to approve an incentive package for electric vehicle (EV) production in the country. The package includes tax breaks and subsidies, that will promote a more sustainable shift for one of Southeast Asia’s largest automobile producers.
The package targets a goal of 30% of all auto production in Thailand being for EVs by 2030 and is in line with goals to achieve 100% zero emission vehicle manufacturing by 2035.
The wider incentives for imports will be in place until 2025, by which time local production is expected to pick up. Tax cuts available for EV producers are based on the condition that businesses manufacture the same number of vehicles or more by 2025 that they have imported in preceding years. During this time, the government will also working on promoting domestic electric vehicle use in Thailand.
Following this, a majority of the support will go towards local EV production, with some the benefits going towards foreign companies being subject to cancellation, according to Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, a government spokesperson.
“This is to encourage operators to accelerate the production of electric vehicles in the country to meet increasing demand,” Thanakorn added.
Further details of these incentives will be released in coordination with Thailand’s Ministry of Energy.
In 2021, Thailand produced a total of 1.7 million traditional automobiles for industry leaders including Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi, exceeding predictions from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) from July that year, most likely due to better control of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and increased semiconductor supply.
The incentive package will also work towards reducing the price of EVs by between TH฿70,000 (US$2,165) and TH฿150,000 (US$4,638).
Featured banner image credit: toyota.com
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