Where will be the next electric-vehicle superpower?

IN A scrappy office that is more startup than ivory tower, Yossapong Laoonual, head of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand, strikes a bullish tone. Clinging to the internal-combustion engine is “like doubling down on horse-drawn carriages long after motorised vehicles became the standard”, he says. A stroll around Yossapong’s campus at KMUTT, an engineering college in Bangkok, makes such optimism seem natural. Three electric buses sit beside a charging point. Signs outline the university’s plan for carbon neutrality.

Governments around South-East Asia are betting that Yossapong is right. Many in the region, particularly Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, want a share of EV growth. By fostering investment relatively early, the thinking goes, they can become crucial production centres, with spillover benefits such as a reduction in deadly air pollution. But success is far from assured, and vast sums are being risked. Many of the schemes look a little foolhardy.

Thailand has been the most aggressive of the three countries, hoping that a burgeoning consumer market will lure production. Under its “EV 3.0” scheme introduced in 2022, purchases are subsidised via tax cuts and direct payments of up to 150,000 baht (S$5,900) per vehicle, meaning EVs cost no more than regular cars. From nearly nothing a few years ago, their share of auto sales has surged to around 15 per cent.