Where will be the next electric-vehicle superpower?

Mar 18th 2025

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Bangkok and Jakarta

IN A SCRAPPY office that is more startup than ivory tower Yossapong Laoonual, head of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand, strikes a bullish tone. Clinging to the internal-combustion engine is “like doubling down on horse-drawn carriages long after motorised vehicles became the standard”, he says. A stroll around Mr Yossapong’s campus at KMUTT, an engineering college in Bangkok, makes such optimism seem natural. Three electric buses sit beside a charging point. Signs outline the university’s plan for carbon neutrality.