The Thai military cabinet is steering towards a set of measures to promote electric vehicle (EV) production in Thailand.
While the Customs Department, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry are in discussions to amend commitments under the Asean-China free trade agreement (ACFTA) to pave way for imports of EV parts to Thailand.
According to Nattaporn Jatusripitak, an adviser to the Office of Prime Minister, the Cabinet approved the measures to support EV production yesterday. Such measures span from Board of Investment (BOI)’s investment promotional privileges for EVs, parts and equipment to Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s excise-tax cuts.
Earlier, the BOI granted privileges for Toyota Motor Thailand to produce 70,000 hybrid electric vehicles, 70,000 batteries for EVs and 9.1 million parts annually.
The MOF has slashed excise taxes for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to half its normal rate and battery electric vehicles to 2 per cent.
Application for investment in EVs, parts and equipment in the Eastern Economic Corridor must be made by the end of next year (2018). In regard to other planned measures to promote EV production, the MOF is drafting its ministerial announcement to waive duty on EVs and Customs Department’s notification on customs procedures.
On another front, both Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Industry have discussed amendments to the commitments under ACFTA to allow EV part imports for EV production in Thailand.
The Budget Bureau is looking at battery electric vehicles made by Nissan, Tesla and FOMM and will consider purchasing them for use by officials of state agencies.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy is requesting a budget from Energy Conservation Fund for the year 2018 for a feasibility study on using EVs as taxi and tuk tuk (three-wheeled taxi).
As for EV infrastructure, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport and Metropolitan Electricity Authority are gathering information on already-established charging stations and planned ones in order to develop a full coverage in the future.