Thailand Urgently Needs Charging Stations! Another Overseas Opportunity?
2022 can be said to be the first year of rapid development for electric vehicles in Thailand. In 2022, the sales of electric vehicles in Thailand exceeded 12,000 units. With the surge in the number of electric vehicles in Thailand, the demand for charging stations (EVCP) is also increasing.
2022 can be said to be the first year of rapid development for electric vehicles in Thailand. In 2022, the sales of electric vehicles in Thailand exceeded 12,000 units. With the surge in the number of electric vehicles in Thailand, the demand for charging stations (EVCP) is also increasing.
Many charging station companies are also eyeing the Thai market, intending to catch up with the fast-growing electric vehicle market in Thailand.
1. Shortage
The number of charging stations and charging piles in Thailand is seriously insufficient. According to data from the Thai Electric Vehicle Association, as of the end of December 2022, Thailand had a total of only 3,739 public charging piles, including 2,404 slow chargers (AC) and 1,342 fast chargers (DC). Among the fast chargers, there are 1,079 DC CSS2 interface chargers and 263 DC CHAdeMO interface chargers. Of course, these are just the charging piles that are open to the public, and some that are not open are not included, such as SAIC MG has also built charging piles, but currently, only MG electric vehicle customers can use them.
(As of the end of December 2022, the number of charging stations of various brands in Thailand and the corresponding number of charging piles)
In Thailand, fast charging mainly uses CHAdeMO and CCS2 two charging interface standards, the former is the Japanese standard, and the latter is the European standard. There are currently five main charging pile standards internationally, namely China's national standard GB/T, CCS1 American standard (combo/Type 1), CCS2 European standard (combo/Type 2), CHAdeMO Japanese standard, and Tesla has its own independent set of charging interface standards. The charging piles in Thailand are mainly Japanese and European standards.
Summary of pure electric vehicle models in Thailand in 2022
It can be seen that more than half of the current charging piles in Thailand are slow chargers, which greatly reduces the charging efficiency of electric vehicles. For information, the charging capacity of slow chargers is usually 3-7 kilowatts, and it generally takes more than 6 hours to fully charge an electric vehicle. The power of fast chargers can be as high as 50 kilowatts or more, and it usually only takes 30 minutes to 2 hours to fully charge an electric vehicle. Of course, this is related to the lifestyle of Thai people. Except for the main high-rise buildings in the urban area of Bangkok, the rest of Bangkok mainly feels like a large rural area. Most people live in villas and rarely live in high-rise buildings. Thai people can charge their electric vehicles at their villas when they go home, which also leads to a relatively low demand for fast charging. However, in places such as shopping malls, office buildings, high-rises, highway service stations, etc., there is still a great need to install a large number of fast-charging facilities.
So, how severe is the shortage of charging piles in Thailand? There are currently more than 2,500 charging piles across Thailand, with an average ratio of about 20:1 for electric vehicles to charging piles, meaning 20 electric vehicles share 1 charging pile on average. According to the current growth rate of electric vehicles in Thailand, this ratio will soon reach 30:1. In comparison, in China, the ratio of vehicles to piles is about 3:1. Although the number of charging piles in China has greatly increased due to rapid construction in recent years, there are still problems of uneven regional distribution and a low proportion of shared charging piles. In the Yangtze River Delta region, the number of charging piles is relatively high, but in the central and western regions, charging piles are still insufficient.
Thailand actually has this problem as well. Most charging piles are mainly concentrated in the capital Bangkok. The following is a distribution map of charging stations in Thailand, which clearly shows that charging stations are mainly concentrated in Bangkok.
Distribution map of charging stations in Thailand
2. Opportunity
The aforementioned 3:1 ratio of vehicles to piles in China still includes private charging piles. As of 2022, there are more than 4.7 million new energy charging piles in mainland China, of which nearly 65% are private charging piles, and less than 40% are shared charging piles, with half of them still being slow chargers. China's current plan is to achieve a ratio of 2:1 by 2025 and 1:1 by 2030. At the current speed of China, it will take 8 years to achieve a 1:1 ratio.
The Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) of Thailand currently plans to add 567 charging stations and more than 13,000 charging piles within 8 years, that is, by 2030. Thailand aims to have electric vehicle production account for 30% of total vehicle production by 2030, which is about 750,000 electric vehicles in total. Obviously, the current speed of charging pile construction planned in Thailand is far from matching the growth rate of electric vehicles in Thailand.
Of course, while the Thai government is adopting various subsidies, tax reductions, and other preferential policies to stimulate the consumption of electric vehicles, it is also encouraging automakers to participate in the construction of public electric vehicle charging stations and charging piles. Companies investing in the construction of charging piles in Thailand enjoy preferential policies such as exemption from corporate income tax and subsidies. The current developers of charging piles in Thailand are mainly state-owned institutions, such as the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), and some automobile manufacturing companies. Automobile manufacturing companies often cooperate with these state-owned institutions to build charging stations and charging piles together. For example, Chinese brands such as SAIC MG, Great Wall Motors, and Neta Auto have all cooperated with these state-owned institutions in Thailand.
The main companies currently building charging stations in Thailand are EA Anywhere, EVOLT, SHARGE, EV Station, PEA VOLTA, ELeX (by EGAT), ONION, Noodoe EV, HAUP, Mea EV, PUMP CHARGE, CHOSEN, and GWM.
A subsidiary of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), MEA EV, invested in Thailand's first electric vehicle charging station and cooperated with the Charoen Pokphand Group to set up charging station outlets around 7-11 convenience stores. MEA EV also developed the MEA EV Application, through which users can find charging stations (only applicable to charging stations registered with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority) and navigate to the charging stations using map navigation, and book a charging pile in advance.
The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has also joined in to provide electric vehicle charging points. The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) cooperated with Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited to install electric vehicle charging stations at most Bangchak gas stations in Thailand and set up PEA VOLTA charging stations. PEA VOLTA also developed its own application to facilitate users in finding charging stations and charging.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) first installed EGAT charging stations at EGAT's power plants. EGAT's new business, EGAT EV Business Solutions, expanded the "EGAT EleX" charging stations along major tourist routes nationwide to meet users' needs for nationwide travel. EGAT also developed the EleXA mobile application.
EA Anywhere is a brand under Energy Mahanakorn Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited (EA). EA Anywhere is a supplier of charging stations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and pure electric vehicles (BEV), with charging stations mainly located in Bangkok.
Cumulative registration of electric vehicles in Thailand from 2018 to 2023
According to data from the Thai Electric Vehicle Association (EVAT), as of January 31, 2023, the cumulative registration of pure electric vehicles (Battery Electric Vehicles, BEV) in Thailand in 2022 was 36,775, the cumulative registration of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, PHEV) was 43,360, and the cumulative registration of hybrid electric vehicles (Hybrid Electric Vehicle, HEV) was 267,391.
With the increasing demand for charging piles in Thailand, it is necessary to manufacture charging piles locally to reduce import costs, as most of the charging piles in Thailand are currently imported from countries such as Japan and China. For companies, investing in the installation and operation of these electric vehicle charging piles is a business opportunity. Private enterprises can choose to cooperate with government agencies or local municipalities to install and operate public electric vehicle parking stations at various locations, such as shopping malls, airports, and public parking lots.
According to the forecasts of the Kasikorn Research Center, referring to the vehicle-to-pile ratio in cities such as Singapore, Shanghai, and London, and based on the population density, vehicle types, and numbers in Thailand, it is estimated that by 2025, Thailand should have no less than 19,000 public charging piles to meet the potential demand for 300,000 plug-in pure electric vehicles, with the main customer group being about 180,000 pure electric vehicles, including about 122,000 in Bangkok and surrounding areas, and about 58,000 in other provinces.
In the future, the sales of hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and pure electric vehicles (BEV) in Thailand will see a rapid increase, and the demand for charging piles will also grow exponentially. Although the major state-owned enterprises in Thailand are also continuing to build charging piles, they still cannot meet the rapidly growing demand. Therefore, there are still broad prospects and huge business opportunities for private enterprises in Thailand to build electric vehicle charging piles.
Urban Roads in Bangkok, Thailand
Aside from recognizing the significant growth in electric vehicle (EV) sales in Thailand, businesses must also consider specific factors such as the regional density of charging stations, the types of chargers available, consumer usage habits (most Thai residents live in standalone houses and prefer installing wall-mounted chargers at home), as well as electricity prices and charging fees.
As of January 2022, the cost of charging services in Thailand varies. During peak hours, using a DC Charger (fast charging) costs around 6.5 to 8 THB per unit, while off-peak service fees are approximately 3.5 to 4 THB per unit. For AC Chargers (slow charging), the peak hour rate is 7 to 8 THB per session, and the off-peak rate is 4 to 4.5 THB per session. The fees may slightly differ between charging station operators.
With the growing acceptance of new energy vehicles in Southeast Asia and Thailand's goal of achieving over 30% EV sales by 2030, the enormous demand generated by the market will drive the development of the EV charging station market. This progress will also present significant opportunities for Chinese EV charging station companies. Currently, China has more than 270,000 companies related to charging stations, and the number is still growing rapidly. In the first half of 2022 alone, 37,200 new companies were added, representing a 55.61% year-on-year increase. Some representatives from charging station companies are already inquiring about investment opportunities.
It is foreseeable that charging station companies will encounter a wave of new opportunities in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
