BoI throttles down rules to woo investors in EV charging stations
The Board of Investment (BoI) has eased its terms for investment incentives in the electric vehicle (EV) charging business to help small operators or start-ups better access BoI benefits, secretary-general Duangjai Asawachintachit said on Thursday.
She said that with increased start-up participation, the ecosystem and infrastructure for EVs in Thailand would be expanded, which is necessary to build the confidence of prospective EV users.
The BoI’s executive board resolved at its meeting on Thursday to offer a five-year exemption from corporate tax to investors of EV charging stations, with at least 40 chargers and no less than 25 per cent of them delivering quick-charge services.
Investors who do not meet the requirements are entitled to a three-year exemption from corporate tax, according to Duangjai.
Also, the BoI decided to drop a requirement for the ISO 18000 international standard for radio frequency identification (RFID) and a term that eligible investors must not seek investment privileges from any other state agency.
However, investors seeking BoI benefits are required to connect their charging stations with an integrated central platform that manages the country’s charging station network. This is aimed at creating an ecosystem for EVs and charging stations, the BoI chief said.
Between January and March this year, BoI received applications for 378 investment projects worth a total of THB110.7 billion. The amount was down by 6 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
However, projects with foreign direct investment that sought BoI privileges totalled THB77.2 billion in the first quarter, a 29 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Most of the investments are from Taiwan (THB37.1 billion), followed by Japan (13.8 billion) and China (13.3 billion).
Most applications for BoI benefits came from the automobiles and parts industry, agricultural products and processed foods, electric appliances, and electronic products.
Meanwhile, projects worth THB60.3 billion have sought investment privileges in the Eastern Economic Corridor covering Rayong, Chonburi and Chachoengsao, according to the BoI.
They include projects that require advanced technologies in production, hard-disk drive suspension, multilayer printed circuit boards, multilayer ceramic chip capacitors, and fibre optics equipment.
