PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (OR), leading operator in oil and retail business in Thailand, Toyota Tsusho, the trading affiliate in the Toyota Group companies, and EVLOMO, a leading provider of energy infrastructure and services for eMobility with the vision of creating a sustainable society, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on battery standards development and battery swapping station expansion to elevate Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for electric two wheelers
The signing ceremony took place at OR Phrakanong Office, Bangkok, Thailand. Jiraphon Kawswat, President and CEO of OR, Nobufumi Miura - Director and Executive VP from Toyota Tsusho, and Nicole Wu, Group CEO of EVLOMO signed the MOU on behalf of their respective parties. The signing ceremony was attended by Matt Murray, U.S. Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Bureau Of East Asian And Pacific Affairs, Edwin Sagurton, Economic Counselor, Evan Fox Deputy Economic Counselor at United States Embassy Bangkok, senior officials from the Royal Thai Government, and senior management from OR, Toyota Tsusho and EVLOMO.
OR, Toyota Tsusho and EVLOMO have decided to capitalize on each of their strengths to make the most out of each other's deep knowledge of technology, the Thai market, and electric vehicles (EVs) to drive new product development in the next few years.
The parties intend to work together to provide smart battery technology and a management platform to support EV Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and introduce an innovative Battery-as-a-Service program that allows for batteries and energy to be subscribed by customers when they purchase electric two wheelers to ensure quicker adoption of eMobility.
Further, the collaboration is expected to target Thailand's huge two-wheeler market by matching initial demand of two wheelers from potential customers either in form of Business to Business (B2B) or the Business to Customer model (B2C) and by creating a large, dedicated battery swapping station network to accelerate electric mobility in Thailand. This partnership will further ensure quicker EV adoption in Thailand among two-wheeler customers who aspire to take a step in going electric.
OR, Toyota Tsusho and EVLOMO will together gauge market conditions and collaborate to create an ecosystem where the customer has access to the latest battery technologies throughout the lifecycle of their EVs without incurring repetitive costs of battery purchase via the provision of battery-as-a-service under a subscription model and seamless access to network of battery swapping station across Thailand.
Jiraphon Kawswat, President and CEO of OR, remarked, "Together with Toyota Tsusho and EVLOMO, we will bring mass adoption of electric two wheelers to Thailand. OR has served customers on-the-go for years across Thailand. With the transition to eMobility across the world, we want to play a pivotal role in Thailand's adoption of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for electric two wheelers by collaborating on battery standards development and battery swapping station expansion."
Nicole Wu, Group CEO of EVLOMO, said, "The collaboration with OR and Toyota Tsusho is the first such partnership in electric two-wheeler segment. We hope that this alliance will accelerate the creation of an ecosystem for the adoption of electric two-wheeler in Thailand. The EVLOMO battery swapping station network will create a more convenient and comfortable EV ecosystem for our consumers. Further, Toyota Tsusho's advanced technology and expertise, combined with OR's extensive network and brand power, will add greater value, and establish EVLOMO as an innovative service provider and will surely help us to achieve our common goal of accelerating the demand and adoption of EVs in the country."
Matt Murray, U.S. Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), noted, "Today's agreement between U.S., Japanese, and Thai firms is an important step in creating an EV ecosystem in Thailand that provides manufacturers, retailers, and consumers with the right incentives to expand the use of critical, zero-emission technologies. This kind of commercial engagement, underpinned by enabling government policies and facilitated by our work at APEC, exemplifies the kind of cooperation we hope to enable through our new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which includes a specific pillar on clean energy and decarbonization."