EV policy among Asian countries: Is it working or not?
27 Mar 20236 min read
Summary
- Governments across Asia have rolled out wide‑ranging EV policies including vehicle subsidies, tax incentives, local manufacturing targets and charging infrastructure mandates in order to drive demand and support their EV ecosystems.
- While these policies are facilitating a favourable environment for EV growth in several countries, uptake remains limited in places due to high battery costs, inadequate charging infrastructure and lingering consumer hesitation.
- The article observes that policy ambitions alone are not sufficient — success will depend heavily on implementation, alignment of incentives with supply‑chain readiness and the ability to make EVs cost‑competitive and convenient for end‑users.
Several Asian nations have openly supported the roll-out of electric vehicles (EVs) by implementing at least one EV policy. Some are at the onset, and others who have done it prior are setting an example for other countries to follow suit.
Mainly, most of the countries aim to meet their climate change goals. And yet, the apparent developments in certain areas within the EV industry have proved to be much more than expected.
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“A favorable environment for electric vehicle manufacture exists in several Asian nations due to global initiatives to diversify supply chains and the push to adopt green technology,” said Danielle Fallin, Research Associate and Program Manager of the Southeast Asia Program, which promotes linkages between the United States and Southeast Asia.
Movements across Asia
Governments in Asia came up with initiatives such as policies that could alter the adoption of EVs. Such covers from manufacturing to the roll-out of the said vehicles.
For example, Japan is slated to subsidize EVs and may ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) by mid-2030. Such a move can help the country reach net carbon neutrality by 2050.
On the other hand, China plans to ban the sale of ICEVs entirely by 2035. The Chinese government has mandated that all newly produced cars sold within the country must use "new energy" by the same year. Half of them should be hybrids, while the other half must be electric, fuel cells, or plug-in hybrids.
Exploring the ASEAN initiative
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“If there is no energy shift, the transport sector, the second-largest after manufacturing, will continue to use oil. Luckily, there are ways to green the sector. ASEAN member states are beginning electric mobility in addition to biofuel mandates,” said Mr. Muhammad Rizki Kresnawan, technical officer of modeling and policy planning at the ASEAN Centre for Energy.
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