Giant Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD, a major competitor to US company Tesla, has plans to open an electric car assembly plant in Cambodia. The facility will have the capacity to assemble up to 20,000 units per year for export, as well as to supply the domestic market.

The project was unveiled during a July 15 meeting between Prime Minister Hun Manet and Liu Xueliang, CEO of BYD Asia Pacific’s Auto Sales Division, at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, according to a social media post from the prime minister.

“BYD plans to build an electric vehicle assembly plant in Cambodia, with the ability to assemble 20,000 vehicles per year to supply the domestic market and export to international markets,” said the post.

No details as to when the plant will be built were provided, but in late June, Manet said construction should start in the near future.

BYD has emerged as one of the world’s most dominant EV manufacturers, overtaking Tesla’s sales volume in the final quarter of 2023. The company sold 526,000 EVs, while Tesla sold 484,500 units in the same period. In terms of total sales for 2023, Tesla remained at the forefront, however.

Hong Vanak, an economic researcher at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, noted that BYD's plans to invest in a car assembly plant in Cambodia did not come about by chance. He believed that the company must have studied the situation on the ground within the Kingdom before proposing the plan, with supplying EVs to neighbouring countries likely to be one of its targets.

He said the establishment of the factory is also in line with government policy, which aims to see major manufacturers produce and export cars from Cambodia.

“If the planned assembly plant becomes a reality, it will contribute to the positive image of Cambodia. It will provide economic benefits through the construction of factories, as well as creating tax revenue for the state and jobs for the people of Cambodia.

Regarding job opportunities and skills among Cambodians, Vanak noted that Cambodia has developed a lot of skilled human resources in the past several years. He noted that although car assembly plants require strong technical skills, the Kingdom’s human resources are capable of both skilled and unskilled work.

“The factories will create jobs in both high and low-skilled technical fields. Therefore, this factory will provide employment to many Cambodians,” he said.

He added that another benefit is that local production or assembly of cars will decrease domestic prices, as costs will be lower than those of imported vehicles.

In the first six months of the year, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) approved 190 investment projects with a total investment capital of approximately $3.2 billion, an increase of 77 per cent over the same period last year. The projects are expected to create more than 168,000 new jobs.

Katta Orn, spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, had high hopes that the opening of the BYD EV assembly plant in Cambodia would increase employment opportunities for Cambodian youth.

“The production of electric cars will contribute to industrial development in Cambodia and provide many opportunities for young people," he said. 

“Many Cambodians will join the company, especially young people who are currently learning technical vocational skills. One of the government’s focuses is to provide young people with a clear skill that will give them the opportunity to find work in factories and enterprises like EV manufacturing plants,” he added.

Last week, the government launched the National Policy on Electric Vehicle (EV) Development 2024-2030, which aims to see 770,000 electric vehicles registered in the Kingdom by 2030, at least 30,000 of them cars and heavy vehicles like trucks and buses.

As of June, Cambodia had just 1,614 registered electric cars, but the number of new registrations in the first six months of the year was more than five-fold the same period last year, with registrations jumping 508 per cent.