The decision, made during the EV Board’s first meeting of 2025 on July 30, includes a new incentive for export-focused manufacturers: each electric vehicle produced and exported from Thailand will now be counted as 1.5 units toward their compensatory production quota under the EV3 and EV3.5 schemes.
The adjustment is effective from this year and follows recommendations from the Federation of Thai Industries and the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand, said an official report of the new policy.
The change is expected to significantly increase Thailand’s EV exports ‒ by an estimated 12,500 units in 2025 and 52,000 units in 2026.
“The new measures align with our national 30\@30 goal and provide flexibility for manufacturers while reinforcing Thailand’s ambition to become a global EV production base,” said Narit Therdsteerasak, Secretary-General of the Board of Investment (BOI) and secretary to the EV Board.
The ‘30\@30 policy’ aims to ensure that at least 30% of vehicles produced in Thailand by 2030 are zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
Extended Registration, Tighter Oversight
The EV Board also approved an extension to the EV registration deadline for domestically produced vehicles under the two schemes. The EV3 deadline has now been extended from Dec 31, 2025 to Jan 31, 2026, while the EV3.5 measure is extended from Dec 31, 2027 to Jan 31, 2028.
Alongside the extensions, new criteria were introduced to ensure more rigorous oversight of subsidy disbursements:
- Subsidy Withholding: Companies must meet at least 50% of their compensatory production target before receiving subsidy payments.
- Forecast Plans Required: Monthly production forecasts and reporting are now mandatory.
- Bank Guarantee: Companies seeking to extend their compensatory production period must provide a bank guarantee ‒ B20 million for firms with over B5 billion in registered capital, and B40mn for smaller firms.
- Production Plant Flexibility: Companies may procure additional production facilities to meet obligations.
- Retroactive Adjustment Option: For registered vehicles that have not received subsidies, companies may opt to refund excise tax and penalties to remove them from their compensatory quota.
The measures are intended to support effective planning and prevent misuse of public funds while giving manufacturers room to adapt to market conditions, said the official report.
EV Industry Momentum Builds
The EV Board’s revisions come at a time of rapid growth in Thailand’s EV sector. In the first half of 2025, 57,289 new battery electric passenger vehicles (BEVs) were registered ‒ a 52% year-on-year increase, making up more than 15% of all new vehicles sold. Thailand currently leads Asean in EV adoption, with more than 203,000 registered BEVs, alongside: 71,900 electric motorcycles; 3,800 electric buses and trucks; and 1,000 electric tricycles.
In total, 209,623 EVs are registered under the EV3 and EV3.5 schemes ‒ 175,064 cars and 34,559 motorcycles.
Investment Highlights
Thailand’s growing EV ecosystem is supported by strong investment across multiple sectors. As of July 2025, total investment in EV-related projects exceeds B137 billion, including:
- B41.1bn in 21 BEV production projects (capacity: 386,000 units/year)
- B990mn in 16 electric motorcycle projects (capacity: 810,000 units/year)
- B2.2bn in 3 electric bus and truck projects (capacity: 4,800 units/year)
- B80bn in 53 battery production projects
- B6.5bn in 42 key component manufacturing projects (e.g. traction motors, BMS, DCUs)
- B5.6bn in 29 charging station projects, adding 20,080 charging points, including 7,360 fast-charging points
- B1.28bn in five battery swapping station projects with 555 locations for motorcycles, seven for commercial vehicles, and six for passenger cars.
As of March 2025, Thailand boasted 3,720 public EV charging stations nationwide, offering 11,622 charging points ‒ of which 6,524 are DC fast chargers and 5,098 are AC chargers.