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The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), together with the United States Agency for International Development Southeast Asia Smart Power Program (USAID SPP), United States Department of State’s Global Climate Action Partnership (implemented by the United States National Renewable Energy Lab [NREL]), and the United States Department of Transportation partnered with the ASEAN Land Transport Working Group (LTWG) hosted an ASEAN-US Workshop: Integrated Approaches to Scaling Up Electric Mobility. Held in Bangkok, the four-day workshop aimed to accelerate the electric vehicle (EV) transition in ASEAN, highlighting the crucial need for collaboration among electric utilities and EV manufacturers to fully harness the potential of electric mobility. The workshop successfully gathered over 150 participants from multiple ministries representatives from eight ASEAN countries, notably ministries of energy, transportation, environment, and power sector regulators and utilities.
The workshop began with a cordial welcome by Yusuf Nugroho, Head of the Vehicle Testing and Certification Center within the Directorate-General of Land Transport at the Ministry of Transportation of Indonesia, recounting the previous workshop and highlighting the aim of this workshop.
Rizky Aditya Putra, Senior Officer of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) at ACE, highlighted the potential role of electric vehicles in ASEAN’s journey towards energy security and achieving carbon neutrality. Noting energy demand in the ASEAN region is expected to quadruple, EVs are considered as one of the measures to address challenges related to oil dependency. Rizky also emphasized the importance of regional cooperation, emphasizing strategies for a green value chain ecosystem, interoperability of infrastructure, and power trading to leverage ASEAN’s resources and manufacturing capabilities.
The four-day workshop concluded with a panel discussion on regional road mapping, expertly moderated by John Bruce Wells, Chief of Party at USAID SPP. The panel featured Beny Irzanto from the ASEAN Secretariat, Phat Pumchawsaun (James) from the ASEAN Centre for Energy, Sanjini Nanayakkara from NREL, and Minta Poowatanavong from DEDE Thailand as panelists. Delving into necessary approaches, the discussion centered on formulating a comprehensive regional roadmap to facilitate the integrated and expanded deployment of electric vehicles throughout Southeast Asia. The panel emphasized the importance of clear and inclusive planning, effective monitoring, and coordinated actions to ensure the success of such a regional roadmap.
During the panel discussion session, Pham Pumchawsaun (James), SPP Manager at ACE, offered insights into EV road mapping, highlighting five key points essential for success. Firstly, he emphasized the importance of establishing clear goals and objectives, which should be agreed upon by all ASEAN Member States (AMS) and accompanied by a well-defined timeline for implementation. Secondly, he stressed the need for alignment between regional objectives and national plans, ensuring that each AMS-specific circumstance is taken into account. Thirdly, James highlighted the significance of fostering complementarity and cooperation among AMS to maximize benefits, such as shared resources like testing laboratories for energy efficiency. Fourthly, he underscored the necessity of cross-sector engagement, advocating for the involvement of stakeholders from various sectors such as energy, transport, and the environment to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. Lastly, he emphasized the critical role of establishing a robust system for monitoring and evaluating progress, citing examples such as the successful achievement of standards in the regional policy roadmap for energy efficiency in air conditioners and the ongoing update of the roadmap to meet new market goals.
For more details regarding the workshop agenda and its outcomes, please refer to the ASEAN-US Workshop: Integrated Approaches to Scaling Up Electric Mobility Summary Report. This report, written by USAID SPP and produced by the Global Climate Action Partnership, offers a thorough overview of the workshop’s results, outlining future actions required to support government technical experts, regulators, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders to make data-informed policy decisions to facilitate a comprehensive and sustainable shift to EVs.
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ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) is an intergovernmental organisation within ASEAN structure that represents the 10 ASEAN Member States’ (AMS) interests in the energy sector.