Thailand to cut excise tax on locally produced EV batteries to just 1 percent

Thailand will soon announce cuts in excise duties for locally produced EV batteries, along with a 24 billion THB subsidy (~RM 3.07 billion). The matter has yet to be formally approved by the government but the Kingdom’s national committee on EV policy has in principle, agreed to the proposal.

The current excise tax for EV batteries is 8 percent.

The 24 billion THB subsidy will be distributed to qualified applicants on a first-come first-served basis, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow told the Bangkok Post.

EV battery manufacturers with less than 8-gigawatt hours (GWh) capacity will receive a subsidy of between 400 THB and 600 THB per kilowatt hour (kWh), while those with more than 8 GWh will receive between THB and 800 THB per kWh.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are among the major manufacturers that are already producing xEV batteries for the Thailand market.

A local company Energy Absolute’s (EA) Amita Technology (Thailand) also operates the first and only Gigafactory in the region. It currently makes batteries for energy storage systems (ESS) for solar farms as well as EV buses manufactured by EA’s subsidiary Assembly Absolute.