Thai government allocates THB24 billion for subsidies to boost domestic manufacture of EV batteries
A budget of 24 billion baht has been set aside to subsidise domestic manufacturing of battery cells for electric vehicles (EVs), Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said on Friday.
He said that the state subsidy was aimed at helping manufacturers cut their production costs, which in turn would result in cheaper prices for EVs in the domestic market.
The subsidy is part of measures agreed upon by the National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee at its first meeting of the year. Among other measures is a reduction in excise tax for EV battery-makers, from 8% to 1%.
The incentives to encourage domestic production of EV battery cells were aimed at creating a complete manufacturing base for EVs in Thailand, said Supattanapong, who also doubles as deputy prime minister.
The committee, also known as the “EV Board”, resolved to offer subsidies of 400-600 baht per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to producers of EV batteries with a capacity below 8 gigawatts-hour (GWh) and 600-800 baht per kWh to manufacturers with a capacity above 8GWh.
Due to the limited budget, subsidies will be distributed on a “first-come, first-served” basis, according to Supattanapong, who chaired the meeting as head of the EV Board.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Finance Ministry, the Board of Investment, the Transport Ministry, the Energy Ministry, and the Industry Ministry.
Supattanapong said on Friday that due to a number of positive factors, Thailand has drawn the attention of many leading battery manufacturers to set up their factories in the country.
Those positive factors include a clear government policy on EVs, surging domestic demand for EVs, and massive investment by Chinese and European EV-makers.
The government has set a target of making 30% of the total car production EVs by 2030.
