NXPO’s Recovery Forum took place on 20 August 2020. The recent weekly forum focused on opportunities of Thai industry in the future of mobility, with guest speaker Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yossapong Laoonual, President of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (EVAT) and Assistant to the President for Sustainability of King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT).  

According to Dr. Yossapong, the auto industry has lately witnessed the transformation due to heightened awareness and concern on the environment and climate change, along with the change in consumers’ perception with regard to the safety of the transportation. Countries around the word are promoting clean technologies in order to lessen pollutions, thus saving the environment and a good example is the use of electric vehicle (EV). In Thailand, a number of actions have been implemented to minimize damages caused by vehicles to the environment and human health, including campaigns on public transportation and carpooling as well as the promotion of EV. The number of hybrid cars in Thailand has increased significantly in the past two years. The market expansion should have continued, had it not been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To effectively move forward the Thai EV industry, all parties involved, including consumers, must share the same goal, i.e. to save the environment, and the government must have clear policies, mechanisms and measures to control, monitor and support the industry. Dr. Yossapong cited the response of Thailand on the COVID-19 as a fine example of everyone in the society sharing the same view and goal of fighting the COVID-19, the government doing its part in implementing a number of measures to control the spread and everyone complying to the measures. As everyone moves in the same direction towards the goal, Thailand has been able to effectively control the spread of the disease. The promotion of EV industry will not only help mitigate environmental problems, but also foster related tech industries such as digital industry, IoT (internet of things), software and application. 

Dr. Kitipong Promwong, NXPO President, shared his view that Thailand has potential to develop its EV industry to a prominent position with the supports of the government, ranging from establishing standards of EV and parts, to rolling out incentive measures to promote the use of EV, developing capacity of human capitals working in the manufacturing to accommodate the growth of this industry which will attract more investment into this promising sector.