SET-listed Energy Absolute Plc (EA), a renewable energy developer and operator, has expanded its electric vehicle (EV) business upstream towards large-scale battery production for buses and saloons, with battery production technology designed to be kinder to the environment.
The recent opening of a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Chachoengsao has further strengthened the position of EA, which is also an assembler of electric buses as well as an operator of an electric boat service along the Chao Phraya River.
The 6-billion-baht facility, with production capacity of 1 gigawatt hour a year, can produce batteries for 4,160 buses or 30,000 saloons in the first phase, said Sompote Ahunai, chief executive of EA.
The factory is said to have the largest capacity in Southeast Asia.
EA plans to first produce batteries for 400 electric buses.
Its subsidiary Amita Technology (Thailand) Co, which operates the factory, uses pouch cell tech to make batteries with a lighter weight and a high power storage.
Their production process also causes less waste.
Mr Sompote believes this battery production plant will help the government move closer to the goal of making Thailand an EV production hub.
He said EVs will also help Thailand achieve its net-zero goal, a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, by 2065.
If the new factory is used to produce batteries for 4,160 buses, it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 91,710 tonnes a year and cut diesel consumption by 97 million litres a year.
At its production facility, EA also makes solvents for use in a battery recycling process, and has set up an electrolyte production unit for battery performance testing.
EA has invested more than 20 billion baht over the past six years to develop its battery and EV businesses, focusing on assembling mass transport vehicles.
The company invested in Taiwan-based Amita Technologies and gradually bought more shares until it held a 77% stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder.
EA, which started its electric boat business in November last year, is providing a commercial service carrying commuters between the Sathon BTS station in Bangkok and MRT's Phra Nangklao station in Nonthaburi.