The Thailand government encourages the development of new energy electric vehicles

Global carmakers are actively producing batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles in Thailand as the Thai government pushes ahead with local production of environmentally friendly models.

It is reported that the German Daimler Group's Mercedes-Benz will start operating battery factories in Thailand in early 2019. Local executives said the plant, with an area of about 48,000 square meters, would supply batteries for the electric vehicles sold by the company in Thailand. Currently, Mercedes produces batteries only in one factory in Germany, but plans to expand its battery assembly plant to six in the next few years: three in Germany and one each in the United States, China and Thailand. Mercedes plans to invest 10 million EUR in Thailand by 2020, and the Thai battery factory will be part of the investment. In 2017, 40 % of Mercedes-Benz's sales in Thailand came from plug-in hybrids, which have a high share of the Thai electric car market.

In addition to Mercedes, BMW will also build a battery plant in Luoyongfu, Thailand, its fourth battery plant in addition to Germany, the United States and China. Currently, BMW assembles four plug-in hybrids in Thailand, selling 1,300 in 2017. Toyota also plans to produce batteries in Thailand as early as 2020 to build the first wholly-owned battery factory outside Japan.

The report said the plant will import the core into the battery package. For example, Toyota will import battery cores from its subsidiary, Primearth EVEnergy. At present, the company produces in China and Japan and supplies products to the world.

It was pointed out that Thailand is not only a high-yielding country in Southeast Asia, but also one of the countries in the region that promotes electric vehicles. If car companies produce major components such as motors and batteries in Thailand, they will receive policy incentives. So assembling batteries in Thailand will not only help companies get more tax breaks, but also more government incentives for electric vehicles.

In terms of local companies, Thailand's renewable energy technology company Energy Absolute started operating a large battery factory in 2019. The first phase of the plant will invest $100 million, using the technology of Taiwan's Amita Technologies, with an annual production capacity of 1 GWh. The company hopes to eventually increase its production capacity to 50 GWh, which is higher than the planned production capacity of 35 GWh of the Tesla super factory.

Energy Absolute pointed out that once the goal is achieved, it needs to dam its Chinese competitors. According to IHSMarkit's projections, the capacity of the core will reach 450 GWh in 2020, and Chinese companies will probably produce three-quarters of the global core by then. Centralized production in China will make Chinese-made cores cost-competitive in the global market.

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