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Iran war oil shock accelerates Southeast Asia’s EV revolution
Southeast Asia was already going electric. Then war broke out in the Middle East and it started going faster
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A man in a Mercedes drives up to a Bangkok forecourt, cash in hand, ready to buy an electric vehicle he hadn’t planned on owning.
Southeast Asia’s EV revolution has found a new accelerant.
“He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to fill up his car any more,” said Samart Prakotkancharna, managing director of Ratchapruek P Car Centre in Thailand’s capital, describing the scene that played out on his forecourt.
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Cash buyers had been streaming in all week, spooked by rising diesel prices and hunting for second-hand battery-powered cars. “One customer drove up in a Mercedes,” he said. “Ready to buy an EV on the spot.”
The US-Israel war on Iran, which began last Sunday with the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has disrupted the world’s supply of oil and gas – raising the spectre of soaring fuel prices.
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US President Donald Trump seeks to justify striking Iran amid shifting White House account
US President Donald Trump seeks to justify striking Iran amid shifting White House account
Such far-reaching calamities can act as a catalyst, but the longer-term transition was already well under way.
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