Electric vehicles penetration in Thailand: Rationale, challenges and strategies

This paper provides an evolution of energy policy development of the Thai transport sector with an aim to analyze the driving forces that have shaped policy development and to identify the socio-economic and political challenges faced by the EV penetration. This evolution is divided into four time periods spanning from the pre-legislative era in 1970 to 2023. These periods mark pivotal shifts in energy policy directions within the transport sector. For each time period, analysis is carried out to delineate the influence of economic, environmental, social, political and other factors on shaping policy development in Thailand. The analysis reveals that the formulation of EV policies has been driven by several internal and external circumstances and influences. These include energy security issues, environmental threats, the economic and war crises, and global health crisis. Therefore, the impetus behind EV promotion policy in Thailand arose from the need to develop new strategies to tackle the energy import dependency, instability of energy costs, and the environmental consequences of fossil fuel consumption. However, limited attention has been paid on the socio-economic and political challenges that could emerge and hinder the effective implementation of EV promotion policy. Key emerging challenges include rising electricity tariffs, impacts on other related industries, and ineffective planning and practices for the rapid expansion of EVs. This paper further proposes several strategies could be adopted in order to address these challenges. The strategies, for example, coordinated charging with a time-of-use electricity tariff, workforce reskilling and upskilling, reinventing the business model of petrol stations, the development of new biofuel products, and establishing a platform to integrate various national energy and associated plans for harmonizing vision and objectives. These strategies could contribute to addressing emerging challenges and providing sustainable future of electric transportation in Thailand.