Accelerating or Decelerating Electric Mobility in Thailand?

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Abstract:

This study examines Thailand’s electric mobility from the perspective of industrial policy. The Thai National Electric Vehicle Committee (NEVC) consisting of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Energy, Board of Investment, Thai Automotive Manufacturer’s Association, etc., chaired by the Thai Prime Minister, introduced a series of EV promotion schemes: EV 1.0 (2018-2025), EV 2.0 (2021-2025), EV 3.0 (2022-2025), and the most recent EV 3.5 (2024-2027). The initial aim of the EV promotion policy in Thailand was to promote HEVs, but later, the policy was re-designed to target BEV-led development due to competition with neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. In Thailand, Chinese OEMs employ a leapfrogging strategy by targeting BEV segment, by contrast, Japanese OEMs use a multi-pathway strategy by promoting a variety of powertrains (particularly HEVs). Although the BEV-led transition was promoted as a tool of carbon neutrality in the Thai automotive sector, most recently the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) of CO2 emissions in vehicles was strongly emphasized by the Japanese OEMs. Consequently, EV 3.5 targets not only BEVs, but also other types of powertrains in the scheme. One of the main roles of the NEVC is to coordinate between newcomers (Chinese OEMs) and incumbents (mainly Japanese OEMs) for electric mobility in Thailand.