Thailand approves budget for EV subsidy, offering buyers up to $3,000 per vehicle

Under the second phase of the subsidy program called EV 3.5, running from 2024 to 2027, EVs priced less than 2 million baht with batteries of 50 kWh or larger will receive a subsidy of 50,000-100,000 baht per vehicle, and those with smaller batteries will receive 20,000-50,000 baht per vehicle.

Jirayu Huangsab, an advisor to the Prime Minister, said the budget allocation, amounting to 7.12 billion baht, will be used to subsidize buyers of electric vehicles and motorcycles who have already purchased their vehicles but not yet applied for the government EV subsidy under the EV promotion measures.

Since the implementation of the EV promotion measures, subsidies have been disbursed for 55,000 EVs, totaling 6.87 billion baht. A budget of more than 5 billion baht is awaiting disbursement.

In the previous first phase of the program, called EV 3.0, the Excise Department provided subsidies of up to 150,000 baht for EVs priced less than 2 million baht, and up to 18,000 baht for electric motorcycles priced less than 150,000 baht.

The government provides these subsidies directly to car manufacturers. Once EV buyers register their vehicles, they can submit a request to the manufacturer to claim the subsidy.

Based on these incentives, various manufacturers have invested to establish production bases in Thailand, with investment exceeding 80 billion baht.