The EV story in Southeast Asia — CleanTechnica
01 Nov 2021
Association of Southeast Asian Nations Automotive Federation data show that “about 3.5 million passenger or commercial vehicles and 4 million motorcycles or scooters were sold annually before the pandemic,” Nikkei writes. “The region is also expected to generate 140 million new consumers by 2030, with the high- and upper-middle-income ranks doubling to 57 million, according to the World Economic Forum,” CleanTechnica reported.
A few of the ASEAN countries have committed to phasing out fossil fuels — Thailand (the area’s largest auto manufacturer) by 2035, Singapore by 2040, and Indonesia by 2050. We have seen how that is playing out in Europe.
Indonesia already has one of the world’s higher ratios of chargers to EVs, according to the International Energy Agency, and “has set a target of 2,400 charging stations and 10,000 battery swap stations by 2025. By 2030, it aims to have over 31,000 charging stations, as the government projects more than 2 million electric cars and 13 million electric motorbikes will hit the streets by that year,” CleanTechnica reported.
Thailand — the region’s largest auto production center — plans to lift output of purely electric vehicles to 50% of all car manufacturing by 2030. However, I would expect that Thailand’s EV uptake would move more rapidly since it has a domestic automaker and Australia is dependent on imports.
Thai government is creating an EV production hub and has attracted newcomers like Great Wall Motors and Foxconn. GWM opened its first local plant in June and expects to be making EVs as early as 2023. Foxconn is planning to invest up to $2 billion to produce an EV platform, CleanTechnica reported.
Source: The Edge Markets
