Foxconn PTT electric vehicle joint venture approved by Thai government

According to foreign media reports, on June 13, the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) officially approved Foxconn and the State Oil Company of Thailand (PTT) to establish a joint venture worth 36.1 billion baht ($1.04 billion) to produceelectric vehicles.

Image source: Foxconn

Horizon Plus, a joint venture between Foxconn and PTT, was one of several investment applications approved on June 13, Thailand's Investment Commission said in a statement.The above-mentioned approved projects have a total investment of 209.5 billion baht, involving manufacturing and infrastructure.

Duangjai asawachinachit, chief executive of BOI, said: "The joint venture between Foxconn and PTT will support investment in the electric vehicle industry, based on Thailand's policy of becoming an electric vehicle manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia."

For investments in EV battery production for existing and new projects, the BOI has also approved more favorable policies, which include, within 5 years, if the produced EVs and batteries are sold in Thailand, the import duties on the required raw materials and basic materials will be 90% reduction.

On February 3 this year, Foxconn and PTT announced the establishment of a joint venture, Horizon Plus, in which PTT holds 60% of the joint venture and Foxconn holds the remaining 40%.The two companies expect to invest between $1 billion and $2 billion in the joint venture.The joint venture will start by buildingacar factory in eastern Thailand with an annual output of 50,000 vehicles and hopes to expand annual production to about 150,000 vehicles by 2030.

Thailand is the largest car producer in Southeast Asia, and its goal is to increase the share of Thailand's electric vehicle production to 30% by 2030.Currently, 90% of Thailand'scar productioncomes from Japanese companies, but Japanese companies have made building EV capacity in the US, Europe and China their top priority.Therefore, the Thai government hopes to encourage local parts suppliers to focus more on electric vehicles through the joint venture between PTT and Foxconn.