BANGKOK — China’s Nice Wall Motor Co. is finalizing plans to take a position as much as $30 million to arrange a brand new battery pack meeting plant in Thailand, the place it is going to begin making a compact electrical automotive subsequent yr, in keeping with an organization official.

The Hebei-based firm can be contemplating establishing a analysis and growth middle in Thailand that might work on battery powered pickup vans, Narong Sritalayon, managing director of Nice Wall Motor Thailand, mentioned in an interview.

The automaker has 10 related growth hubs globally that target different applied sciences. Funding in Thailand, which goals to change into a regional electrical automobile manufacturing middle, would rely partially on authorities subsidies, Narong added.

Though China’s Nice Wall and BYD Co. have made massive investments in Thailand, Japanese automakers together with Toyota Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors dominate the nation’s auto market, with pickup vans accounting for greater than half of gross sales final yr.

“There’s a number of issues we will study from Thailand’s distinctive marketplace for pickup vans,” Narong mentioned.

Thailand, the world’s tenth-largest auto manufacturing economic system, goals to make use of tax cuts and subsidies to assist convert about 30 p.c of the nation’s annual manufacturing of two.5 million autos into EVs by 2030, in keeping with a authorities plan.

Nice Wall launched its Ora Good Cat compact EV in Thailand in late 2021. It grew to become the nation’s top-selling EV final yr, with the most cost effective variant listed on Nice Wall’s web site priced at 828,500 Thai baht ($24,475) after a authorities subsidy of 230,500 baht.

Nice Wall entered Thailand in 2020 after taking on a former Basic Motors plant that at the moment makes two of its Haval hybrid autos on the market within the nation.

It plans to start manufacturing of the Ora Good Cat in Thailand subsequent yr and can look to supply extra parts domestically, together with battery packs, to fulfill necessities underneath the federal government’s incentive progam for carmakers, Narong mentioned.

A pack meeting facility may require an funding of between 500 million to 1 billion Thai baht, with the precise dimension relying on a plan anticipated to be finalized throughout the subsequent six months, Narong mentioned.

SVOLT Vitality Know-how, a Nice Wall subsidiary that has been increasing its presence in different markets like Europe, will produce battery meeting packs in Thailand within the preliminary part, the corporate mentioned.

However the facility might be upgraded for battery cell manufacturing with further funding relying on demand and Thai authorities assist, Nice Wall added.

“We could change into a contract producer of batteries to different (automakers) as effectively,” Narong mentioned. “That might additionally scale up the capability of the battery plant.”

China’s CATL supplies a 63.1 kilowatt hour battery pack for the Ora Good Cat 500 Extremely variant imported into Thailand, however Nice Wall mentioned it had no present plans to buy batteries from CATL for upcoming native manufacturing.

Thailand is in talks with CATL – the world’s dominant battery provider with a 37 p.c market share — and different battery makers to construct manufacturing services in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economic system.