According to foreign media reports, Thai state-owned energy group PTT announced on Feb. 7 that it will start producing electric vehicles in Thailand from 2024 through a new joint venture with Foxconn.
Horizon Plus,PTT, a joint venture between Foxconn and PTT on February 3, owns 60 per cent of the joint venture, with Foxconn holding the remaining 40 per cent. The two companies are expected to invest $1 billion to $2 billion in the joint venture. The joint venture will first build a car factory in eastern Thailand with an annual production capacity of 50, 000 vehicles and hopes to expand production to about 150000 vehicles by 2030.
The two companies plan to use the chassis platform developed by Foxconn for electric vehicles and work with Thai parts suppliers to develop other parts. Buranin Rattanasombat, PTT's senior executive vice president in charge of innovation and new joint ventures, says this approach will shorten development time and reduce production costs.
Thailand is the largest car producer in Southeast Asia, and its goal is to increase Thailand's share of electric car production to 30% by 2030. At present, 90% of Thailand's car production comes from Japanese companies, but Japanese companies have made building electric vehicle capacity in the United States, Europe and China their top priority. As a result, the Thai government hopes to encourage local parts suppliers to focus more on electric vehicles through the joint venture between PTT and Foxconn.
In an effort to promote the use of electric vehicles in Thailand, PTT also began offering car rental services from other carmakers on Feb. 4. The company has also installed electric vehicle charging facilities at gas stations across Thailand.
Meanwhile, Foxconn launched its first electric car in October. In addition to Thailand, the company plans to start mass production of electric cars in China and the United States.
