Production set to kick off in June next year

Japan's FOMM Corporation is scheduled to start the construction of its assembly plant for its compact electric vehicles (EVs) at Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate this year, with production expected to kick off by June next year.

Chief executive Hideo Tsurumaki said the plant, which has an investment cost of about US$6 million (206 million baht) will make 5,000 units of compact EVs a year.

Founded in 2013 and based in Kawasaki, Japan, FOMM Corporation develops and manufactures four-seater electric vehicles. The company also designs and develops micro electric vehicles, provides technical consultancy services for micro electric vehicles and designs and develops electric vehicle components, as well as offering engineering consultancy services.

The company successfully developed its first and second prototypes in 2014 under a US$6-million development budget.

A four-seater compact EV developed by FOMM is on show. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN

FOMM set up a joint venture company in Thailand, FOMM Asia, in February last year to take care of research and development, manufacturing, and marketing and sales, and run the EV production facility. With registered capital of 360 million baht, FOMM Asia is 49.9% equally held by FOMM and Trinex, and 0.2% by Kusumoto Chavalit and Partners Co.

Mr Tsurumaki said the company is now studying details of the investment privileges offered by the Board of Investment.

In March, the BoI approved promotional privileges for EVs, including tax holidays of 5-8 years. The privileges focus on production of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The BoI added 10 more important EV parts that will enjoy corporate income tax exemption for eight years. They include batteries, traction motors, battery management services, EV smart charging systems, DC/DC converters, inverters, portable electric vehicle chargers and electrical circuit breakers.

"We believe the packages will be good for FOMM, now that we plan to localise EV production," he said.

Mr Tsurumaki said, FOMM's main focus would be only on BEVs for which it already has a prototype compact EV.

Due to a higher production cost, FOMM compact EVs are estimated to cost more than earlier expected, from 300,000- 400,000 baht each, he said.

He has set local sales target of 4,000 units in 2018, 16,000 in 2019, 30,000 in 2020 and 40,000 in 2021. It also plans to export to Asean and Europe in 2018.