Thailand EV sales soar 223% as buyers take advantage of incentives
Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Thailand rose 223 per cent in the first nine months of 2022 from the same period last year, according to the Energy Ministry.
Buyers took advantage of generous incentives to register a total of 13,298 BEVs in the year up till September, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said on Friday.
Overall EV sales also grew with 11.9 per cent of the total made up of buses, trucks and other non-car EVs.
Included in the latest purchasers’ incentive package is a 70,000-baht subsidy for an EV car with 10-30 kWh battery capacity for completely knocked-down (CKD) and CBU units.
The subsidy rises to 150,000 baht for an EV car over 30kWh.
An 18,000-baht subsidy is available for purchase of an electric motorcycle from eligible manufacturers until 2023.
The EV subsidy package is funded by 3 billion baht from the 2022 central budget and from the longer-term 40-billion-baht investment in the EV industry between 2023 and 2025.
Supattanapong said the subsidies came under the “30@30” scheme to boost EV production to 30 per cent of total cars and motorcycles production capacity within 2030. The scheme also aims to set up 12,000 charging stations around the country and 40mW of battery factories.
Incentives also include 40 per cent less import duty for CBU BEVs priced up to 2 million baht and 20 per cent less for those priced 2 million-7 million baht until 2023.
Excise tax on imported EVs has also been cut from 8 per cent to 2 per cent.
The incentives apply to 27 types of EVs and cover:
- Eco-cars with up to 10 seats
- Electric pickups
- Hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks
- EVs with up to 10 seats
- Plug-in four-door passenger pickups
