Japanese chemicals maker Kuraray recently begins production of high-performance resins at a new plant in eastern Thailand. (Photo: nikkei.com)Jakarta (VNA) – According to Nikkei Asia, a newsservice in Japan, Indonesia and Thailand havebecome two of the hottest Asian destinations for investment in parts andmaterials for electric vehicles (EV), as Japanese, Chinese and the Republic ofKorea (RoK) players race to get in at the start of EV production in the region.
In April, Japanese plasticsmaker Kuraray opened its first plant in Thailand. Speaking at theopening ceremony, President Hitoshi said automakers want to have a supplychain.
The new plant is one of agrowing number of EV-related investments in Thailand, which is Southeast Asia'sbiggest auto producer but still new territory for electric models. RoK's Hyundai Motor started EV production here just last year, and China'sBYD has plans to begin assembling vehicles in Thailand in 2024.
About 70 billion JPY (520 million USD)was invested in the Kuraray plant, a joint venture with Thai petrochemicalcompany PTT Global Chemical and Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp.
Kuraray'shigh-performance resin Genestar is being produced there. It has a higher heatresistance than standard resins and is used for high-voltage parts aroundvehicle batteries. Genestar is produced in Japan, but the new Thai plant willdouble annual production to 26,000 tonnes.
InMarch, Japanese electronics parts maker Murata Manufacturing said that itcompleted a factory for multilayer ceramic capacitors in Lamphun province innorthern Thailand.
Multilayer ceramic capacitorsstabilise the flow of electricity inside devices. As many as 10,000 can beneeded in an EV. Murata, the world leader in these capacitors, plans toincrease its supply capacity in Southeast Asia.
Thailandintroduced incentives in 2022 to promote the shift to EVs, and Chinese andJapanese automakers responded.
BYD plans to open a plant next year with an annual output of150,000 vehicles. Great Wall Motor, which already has entered the Thai market,and SAIC Motor-owned MG Motor also plan to start production in the country.
Japanese parts makers see BYD and other Chinese automakers aspotential customers. Toyota Motor and Honda Motor plan to make EVs in Thailandbut likely will start at a small scale./.
