As Thailand ramps up its electric vehicle (EV) industry, the country will be producing batteries as well as assembling EVs for the domestic and regional markets.

Most of them are from Chinese companies with battery producer, Svolt recently holding the first battery pack offline ceremony at its plant in Sriracha Chonburi.

The battery pack that was taken offline that day was a 60-kWh lithium iron phosphate (LCTP) battery pack with a range of over 500 km. It uses Svolt’s L600 series cell products and LCTP grouping technology which meets the battery needs of entry-level EVs in the Thai market.

The battery packs produced at the factory will be equipped on the Thai-assembled (CKD) Ora Good Cat which is expected to be launched in the Kingdom in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2024).

The electric feline is currently only produced in China but Thailand is aimed to be Ora and parent company, Great Wall Motor’s (GWM) hub for right-hand drive (RHD) markets.

Also read: Construction begins for GWM's RM 100 mil CKD plant, located near Honda's plant in Pegoh, Melaka

Svolt Energy was originally under GWM as its power battery division which was established in 2012. It became independent from the Chinese automotive conglomerate in 2018.

The Svolt Thailand factory is a joint venture between Svolt’s Thai subsidiary and Thai energy giant Banpu’s subsidiary Banpu Next. The Sriracha Chonburi plant began construction in July and is expected to have a capacity of 60,000 modules and packs per year.

The plant consists of two production lines, one for the production of modules for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV) while the other is for the assembly of battery packs.

Also read: GWM invests RM 140 mil to set up battery pack assembly plant in Thailand

Besides providing battery packs for GWM, Svolt will also be supplying battery packs to Stellantis Group which announced a deal to increase its procurement by nearly 5.48 GWh to accelerate the implementation of its electrification strategy.

Also read: Stellantis to take over Peugeot sales and distribution from Bermaz in Q1 2024