Komatsu Provides Hybrid CE To Southeast Asia

News: Southeast Asia

2022-06-25

Komatsu Provides Hybrid CE To Southeast Asia

INDONESIA REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Komatsu began introducing hybrid construction equipment in Indonesia this spring. Equipped with an engine and electric motor as the power source, these machines can improve fuel efficiency by 20-30%, compared to conventional machines.

Chinese manufacturers are pushing low-priced construction equipment, and are now rivaling Komatsu, which has a stronghold in Indonesia, in terms of market share. With fuel prices rising sharply, emerging countries are also becoming more environmentally conscious. Komatsu is fending off Chinese competition with its highly fuel-efficient construction equipment and is tapping into demand for decarbonization.

In Indonesia, the largest construction equipment market in Southeast Asia, Komatsu has launched a hybrid hydraulic excavator. Equipped with a hybrid system developed in-house, the excavator’s swing unit is electrically powered. When turning the body, including the arm and driver’s seat, from side to side, the energy generated during deceleration is used to generate electricity, which is stored for future use. The company plans to market the system to nickel mine developers and others, where demand for EV batteries is growing.

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2022-05-23

Vietnam’s Dat Bike EV Motorcycle Enters SE Asia

SOUTHEAST ASIA: VIETNAM REPORT

Vietnamese electric bike manufacturer Dat Bike says it has raised $5.3 million. This brings the total raised by Dat Bike, founded in 2019, to $10 million. The funds will be used to invest in technology, increase production, expand operations to major cities in northern, central, and southern Vietnam, and hire skilled workers.

Dat Bike is a tech startup that plans to promote environmentally friendly transportation, first in Vietnam and then soon in Southeast Asia. The company’s strength lies in the performance of its electric bikes compared to gasoline-powered bikes. The company achieves this through vertical integration, in which key components such as speed controllers and batteries are designed and manufactured in-house.

The company currently sells two products: the Weaver, launched in 2019, has an output of 5 kW, about three times that of most electric bikes in the same price range. It has a range of 100 kilometers, about twice as long as competing models.

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2022-04-23

Thai Incentive Program to Promote EVs, Starting in 2022

SOUTHEAST ASIA: THAILAND REPORT

The Thai government plans to introduce an incentive program to promote EVs starting in 2022. The program will focus on providing subsidies to lower sales prices and reducing excise and import taxes. Automakers taking advantage of the program will be required to produce EVs locally from 2024 onward.

According to local media, the subsidy is 70,000 to 150,000 baht per vehicle, depending on the model and battery capacity. The excise tax on purchases will be reduced from the current 8% to 2%. Import duties will be reduced by 20-40% depending on battery capacity and sales price. The current maximum tariff rate is 80%, but the trade agreement will impose no tariff on Chinese-made products and 20% on Japanese-made products. Japanese-made products are also expected to be tariff-free if they meet the conditions. The current sales prices of imported cars vary from about 1 million baht for EVs from China’s SAIC Motor Group and Great Wall Motor to about 1.5 million baht for Nissan Motor’s LEAF at campaign prices.

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2022-02-20

Thai Oil Corp and Hon Hai To Produce 50,000 EVs in 2024

THAILAND REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Thailand’s state-owned energy giant, PTT says it will start producing EVs in 2024 in a joint venture with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry. They will build a plant in eastern Thailand with an annual production capacity of 50,000 units, which they plan to increase to 150,000 units by 2030.

PTT and Hon Hai have established a joint venture company, Horizon Plus, which is 60% owned by PTT and 40% by Hon Hai, to produce EVs. The two companies had signed a joint venture agreement in September 2009. The total investment is expected to be US$ 1 billion to US$ 2 billion.

Based on the platform for EVs developed by Hon Hai, the company will produce vehicles in cooperation with auto parts companies clustered in Thailand.

Thailand, the largest auto producer in Southeast Asia, has set a goal of having 30% of its domestic vehicles be EVs by 2030. However, Japanese automakers, which account for 90% of the domestic production, are prioritizing EV production in Europe, the US, and China.

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2022-01-22

Japan Could Miss Out on Southeast Asia’s Shift To EVs

INDONESIA AND THAILAND REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Competition in the development of EVs is fierce, and the momentum for their introduction is growing in Southeast Asia. While Chinese and Korean manufacturers are aggressively entering the market, Japanese manufacturers, which hold an 80% share of the new car market, have not made any significant moves.

Although the COVID-19 disaster has brought the market to a standstill, Southeast Asia, with a population of 660 million and a rising middle class, will continue to be a promising growth market.

A proactive EV strategy is required to protect the current market dominance. In Indonesia and Thailand, the two largest markets in the region, Japanese cars have a 90% share of the market. However, it is only the Chinese and South Koreans who are providing the buzz about EVs.

In Indonesia, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. will begin producing EVs in March at its completed vehicle plant that recently went into operation. For the time being, it will rely on imports for key components, but it is building a plant for mass production of onboard batteries in collaboration with LG Group, another Korean electronics giant.

In Thailand, China’s SAIC Motor Group and Great Wall Motor have already started selling EVs. The latter plans to start mass production of EVs in 2023 at a plant it acquired from GM in the US. Compared to China and South Korea, which are trying to secure a scale of production with an eye to exports, Japan is generally cautious, with Toyota and Mitsubishi considering local production of EVs in Thailand starting in 2023.

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2021-12-19

Indonesia Aims at Lead in Integrated EV Production

INDONESIA REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Investment related to EVs is gaining momentum in Indonesia. While the government is aiming to upgrade the industry by mainly using nickel as a battery material, Hyundai Motor of South Korea and Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan have announced their plans to produce EVs and automotive batteries. If the concentration of industries advances, the country will compete with Thailand, which is also making efforts to attract related industries, for the leading role in EV production in Southeast Asia.

At the Indonesia International Auto Show, which started in the suburbs of Jakarta on Dec 11, Hyundai Motor’s compact EV “Kona” attracted much attention. The company will begin production in 2022 at its plant in West Java province, which will soon be operational.

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2021-10-24

Auto Production Down Sharply in Asia

SOUTHEAST ASIA REPORT: VIETNAM, THAILAND, MALAYSIA

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

At the end of September, an auto parts manufacturer operating a plant near the southern Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh is struggling with a sharp drop in orders. The parts produced at this plant are delivered to Toyota group companies.

On Sept. 10, Toyota revised downward its production plan for the same month and October, adding about 70,000 units to the originally planned production cut of about 360,000 units in September, and cutting production by about 330,000 units in October.

The company also announced that it would revise its full-year production plan from 9.3 million units to 9 million units. Parts suppliers in Vietnam were affected by this. It was around the same time that Toyota announced its production cutbacks that the manufacturer mentioned above was told by its business partner that it wanted to significantly reduce orders for October.

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2021-09-26

VinFast Partners with Chinese Company To Make EV Batteries

SOUTHEAST ASIA: VIETNAM REPORT

Automaker VinFast is partnering with China’s Gotion High-Tech to research and produce batteries for electric vehicles as part of its vision to become a global brand.

According to a statement released by Vingroup, VinFast’s parent company, the two companies are planning to build Vietnam’s first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant. LFP is an iron-based battery that does not rely on rare raw materials such as cobalt or nickel. That makes LFP batteries much cheaper, although they have lower energy density than nickel-based chemistries.

According to Vingroup, Gotion is the leading manufacturer of LFP batteries in China, with eight research and development centers worldwide and 10 manufacturing facilities in China. Thai Thi Thanh Hai, vice chairman of Vingroup, said the partnership is key to VinFast’s ability to achieve supply chain autonomy.

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2021-08-22

Hyundai Motor and LG Chem To Build $1.1 Billion EV battery Plant in Indonesia

Hyundai Motor and LG Chem have announced they will build a battery plant for EVs in Indonesia. The investment of $1.1 billion will be shared equally. The plant will mass produce batteries in Indonesia, which has the world’s largest reserves of nickel, and supply them to Hyundai Motor and Kia’s complete vehicle plants around the world. The new plant will be established on a 330,000 square meter site in an industrial park in the Karawang region, about 65 kilometers southeast of central Jakarta. Construction will begin by the end of this year and mass production will begin in 2024.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours, enough to supply batteries for 150,000 EVs. Hyundai and Kia have a plan to launch a total of 23 new EV models in the next five years. In order to expand the range to include sedans, SUVs, and the Genesis luxury brand, stable procurement of batteries, a key component, has been an issue. The company’s first joint venture plant will lead to a long-term shift to EVs.

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COVID-19 Variant Disrupts Supply Chain

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

In Southeast Asia, where the delta variant of the COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, business activities are becoming stagnant. In response to government regulations and the rapid increase in the number of infected people, major Japanese companies such as Toyota and Panasonic have suspended production at some of their plants. In addition to the decline in local sales, the disruption of the supply chain has also affected production in Japan.

Toyota has sequentially shut down all three of its plants in Thailand since July 20. The company has not yet decided when to resume operations because it has been unable to procure parts due to an outbreak of infection at one of its customers’ plants. Honda also shut down one of its plants in Thailand from August 3 to 5.

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