Egat driving project to convert conventional cars to electric ones
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) is studying how to develop a low-cost electric car battery to make it much more affordable for car owners who want to convert their vehicles to electric ones, said assistant governor for Research, Innovation and Business Development Jiraporn Sirikum.
The move is part of the state agency’s EV Kit & Blueprint Project in cooperation with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and the National Science and Technology Development Agency.
The project aims to enable Thais to convert their old cars into electric vehicles at a cost not exceeding Bt200,000 (excluding the price of the battery).
The project has three phases.
The first phase (2010-2016) has been completed, with the conversion of some Honda Jazz and Toyota Vios models into electric cars.
The second phase, with a budget of Bt60 million, began in 2017 and will be completed next year.
The third phase is set to begin next year.
After this last phase is completed, the project will come out with a blueprint, which will be the standard for conversion of conventional cars into electric vehicles. It will subsequently seek out qualified car repair garages and provide knowledge to them in installing the EV kits.
