Bangkok, Mar 29
The head of Thailand’s biggest gas station network has $1.5 billion that says motorists will soon be stocking up on a different kind of fuel — coffee.That’s the bet that Jiraporn Kaosawad, Chief Executive of PTT Oil and Retail Business (PTTOR), is placing on rolling out thousands of coffee shops at home and abroad, along with other non-oil businesses, as global auto and fuel players gear up for a near future dominated by electric car growth.A month on from Thailand’s biggest initial public offering of the year, Jiraporn’s plans for the Cafe Amazon business — already the no.1 Thai coffee shop chain — present PTTOR’s take on the task facing oil majors from BP to Total: how to maximise profit from fuel networks as drivers of the near future wait for their electrics cars to be charged up.These strategies are dependent on mass-scale take-up of electric vehicles (EV), now being promoted by governments and international organisations as one key to capping and ultimately reducing the emissions that stoke climate change.”Our investments and partnerships have to build on the company’s strength, and align with consumer demand,” Jiraporn told Reuters in a recent interview. “Charging EVs takes about 20 minutes, while you wait you can have a meal, buy things in the service station.”PTTOR’s network now stands at 2,000 gas stations across Thailand: it plans to add another 500 by 2025, and to rapidly ramp up the number that are equipped with EV charging points, to 300 by 2022 from just 30 currently. That surge will come as the Thai government seeks to implement plans to have 1.05 million EVs on the road by 2025, up from current levels of about 200,000.To be sure, PTTOR’s expansion plans beyond oil require heavy investment, with oil business still accounting for 90% of its revenue. Some point out that its dominance within Thailand won’t do anything per se to further its international ambitions.”The retail business has had a competitive advantage in Thailand,” said Maybank Kim Eng analyst, Kaushal Ladha. “This advantage of course will be significantly reduced if it goes to international markets.”
