Thailand is poised to produce over 430,000 units of EV batteries in 5 years, becoming 4th largest production base in Asia. (Current Issue No.2960)

​        The booming electric vehicle (EV) market in Thailand is increasingly evident in 2019 as a number of automakers have sought the Board of Investment (BOI)'s incentives to produce EVs here.  KResearch forecasts that the EV market share in the next five years will increase to one-fourth, or 240,000 units, of the total car sales nationwide. Eco-hybrid cars and mild-hybrid vehicles are likely to accelerate the growth in the early stage.  When the EV production is approaching its full capacity in 2023, it is expected that at least 260,000 units of EV batteries will be rolled out to serve the demands in Thailand.

       Moreover, the prospects are bright for export-oriented EV batteries as many car companies have planned to produce EVs in Thailand at a large scale for export.  At present, existing production bases of EV batteries in the world cannot produce enough batteries to serve the soaring demand.  Thus, Thailand has emerged as a new production base for OEM and REM batteries for export to countries such as Japan and Thailand's auto markets in ASEAN and the Oceania. KResearch expects that, in 2023, Thailand will produce at least 170,000 EV batteries for export.

        Thailand's EV market is still in its early stage. However, there are ample opportunities to grow further due to strong government incentives to boost local output of environmentally friendly cars. Global automakers are gearing up to produce electric cars and EV batteries in Thailand, boosting the long-term prospect of the industry.  KResearch estimates that Thailand will produce over 430,000 EV batteries in 2023, representing 3 percent of the global market. This will make Thailand not only a leader of EV battery production in ASEAN and the Oceania but also the 4^th largest production base of EV batteries in the Asian region in the future.