Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which has moved aggressively into the electric vehicle market, is looking to take an EV joint venture with Thailand's state-owned oil supplier PTT Public Co. Ltd. public. At an online forum -- The Future Energy Asia -- held Friday, Hon Hai Chairman Liu Young-way (劉揚偉) said his ambition was for the EV joint venture to become a benchmark for EV development in Thailand and for it to launch an initial public offering in 2025. Liu said the partnership is expected to lead to a comprehensive EV ecosystem in Thailand.
At the end of May, Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn internationally, announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with PTT to enter the EV market in Thailand by setting up an open platform for producing EVs and key components for the EV sector there. Under the MOU, the platform, featuring hardware and software services and to be built on Hon Hai's MIH Open Platform, will be available to all auto companies in Thailand looking to boost sales of EVs at home and in the ASEAN region, according to the two partners.
In Thailand, the government has a 30/30 EV plan in place that targets 30 percent of all production to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, in a bid to produce 725,000 emission-free passenger cars by that year. At the forum, Liu said the partnership with PTT will use a Build Operate and Localize (BOL) business model as part of Hon Hai's goal to forge multinational cooperation in EV development.
Source: Focus Taiwan
August 30, 2021
