Thailand In Talks With Battery Maker CATL To Set Up Production Units: Report

Thailand is reportedly in talks with the Chinese battery manufacturing company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) to build production units.
This comes on the heels of Thailand's government's push to project the country as a regional EV production hub, reported Reuters.
The second-largest economy in Southeast Asia aspires to become an important player in the EV supply chain through incentives, including tax cuts and subsidies.
By 2030, Thailand aims to convert around 30% of its 2.5 million vehicles produced annually into EVs, the report noted.
"We are talking to many companies, not only CATL but many companies in the battery industry," the report cited Secretary General of Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) Narit Therdsteerasukdi.
"This is one of our goals. That we would like to attract battery cell producers to set up their factory in Thailand."
CATL, with a market share of 37% has zero production facilities in Southeast Asia.
Narit said Thailand prefers investing in plants with a capacity of more than 8 gigawatt hours (GWh).
The report noted CATL has contracts with Ford Motor Co F, Honda Motor Co HMC, BMW BMWYY in addition to powering the vehicles of Tesla Inc TSLA and Volkswagen AG VWAGY.