Thailand’s biggest gas stations are gearing up their business to keep up their sales in the EV era. Currently, there are only 30 EV Charging stations in Thailand, which is expected to increase in the coming years.
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The Jiraporn Kaosawad, who currently owns thousands of gas stations, is preparing to have coffee shops, snacks, and other beverages near the EV charging stations. Even a super-fast charger would need at least 30 minutes to charge fully. The Thailand businesses plan to take advantage of that time gap.
EV in Thailand
In January 2021 the Thailand government made some changes to keep the country updated with EVs. The difficulty of having policies in south-Asian countries is people find high-tech to be complicated. The development is more than just installing EV charging stations and companies selling EVs.
On the other hand, Thailand is struggling with pollution and no proper public transport or infrastructure. The case is the same in the capital city, Bangkok, with a higher population, higher pollution levels. Furthermore, the government has plans to have high taxes on fuel-based vehicles and reduced taxes on EVs. By 2035, the country plans to have 18.41 Million EVs.
The oil and gas stations around the world have been trying to fit in the picture by shifting to a better fuel like Hydrogen gas. However, Thailand’s businesses thought something else entirely.
Thailand selling coffees and cookies
Jiraporn gave a statement to Reuters recently, “Our investments and partnerships have to build on the company’s strength, and align with consumer demand,”. Further added, “Charging EVs takes about 20 minutes, while you wait you can have a meal, buy things in the service station.”
The brand has experience in coffee shops, it is nothing new. Except, their ambitious target aims to have 300 EV charging ports in their gas stations by 2022. Eventually, they plan to have more than 2,500 EV charging stations, which includes their existing 2,000 gas stations.
Transformation doesn’t come by EV automakers constructing EV charging ports, it comes by gas stations’ involvement too. The Thailand business has ambitions to go international and is sure that this is what it takes. They are not just going to rely on gas stations, which is about 90% of their total revenue currently.
In the future, their fuel is going to be coffee and cookies. Their coffee amazon started around 2002, which currently has sales from motorists and other travelers who look for some stop. While gas stations may or may not produce income for coffee shops, EV charging stations certainly can.
The PTTOR (PTT Oil and Retail) has already aligned with restaurants like Ohkajhu, Cloud Kitchens, and coffee chain shops.