Daimler Truck Urges Europe to Scale Electric Truck Infrastructure

Chatpol Sriprathum, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited, or EA, disclosed that the company targets sales of 100 million baht from its palm oil extract business, BIO-PCM, within the next three years, after continuously rising demand from its main customers in the construction materials business in South Korea and Japan. The company began recognising revenue from PCM products last year. The PCM business still accounts for a relatively small share of sales compared with its energy business group, which generates revenue in the billions of baht. Meanwhile, the company's core business structure remains roughly 60-70% power plants, followed by the electric vehicle, or EV, business. As for the earnings outlook, it is expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next three years, as new projects become clearer from 2027, spanning the power plant business, the biodiesel plant, and EV car sales to the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, or BMTA, which will begin delivering vehicles from the first quarter of 2027. The Maha Sarakham 1 and Khon Kaen wind power plant projects will gradually begin commercial operation in 2028-2029, while the waste-to-energy plant in Phuket, with a generating capacity of 8 MW, will be completed in the second to third quarter of 2027. In addition, the company is interested in joining the auction under the new PDP plan, focusing on wind power plants and solar farms, and is also interested in joining the auction for community power plant and community solar projects.

ATP30 Public Company Limited, or ATP30, a provider of employee shuttle services in the industrial estates of eastern and central Thailand, said it has adjusted its route plans and fleet management to maintain continuity of service to customers after flooding forced the temporary closure of some routes in Prachin Buri and Rayong provinces, which fall within its service areas. The company assessed the impact as short-term only and said it would not significantly affect overall operations, noting it can switch from electric buses to diesel buses on routes limited by water levels. Chief Executive Officer Piya Techakul said the company continues to prioritise risk management alongside creating business opportunities. In addition, on 18 September 2026, an extraordinary shareholders' meeting approved an expansion of the company's business objectives to formally accommodate the sale of electricity from its commercial Solar Roof & Smart Charger charging stations, building on the infrastructure the company has invested in and uses to support ATP30's own EV fleet. The company plans to open its first commercial charging service in Nakhon Nayok province in October 2026, with a power output of 120 kilowatts across two chargers, before expanding charging stations to other potential areas such as Saraburi, Lopburi, Chonburi and Rayong provinces within 2027, in order to improve asset utilisation and create opportunities for additional revenue.

Harbinger has received an order from FedEx for 2,000 all-electric trucks, a deal valued at more than $300 million, the Garden Grove, California-based manufacturer announced Wednesday. The trucks are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2027 and will run in FedEx pickup and delivery operations across the United States and Canada, with all 2,000 due in about 18 months. Harbinger calls the purchase one of the largest binding orders for electric medium- or heavy-duty trucks in history, and co-founder and CEO John Harris told Bloomberg News that the company recently finished building its 1,000th vehicle. FedEx placed an initial order for 53 Harbinger electric trucks in November 2025, a mix of Class 5 and Class 6 models, while co-leading Harbinger's $160 million Series C, and FedEx senior vice president of safety and transportation Paul Melander sits on Harbinger's board. The new trucks will replace conventional vehicles one for one, and FedEx is working toward an all-electric parcel pickup and delivery fleet by 2040. Harbinger estimates each truck cuts fuel costs by an average of $20,000 a year versus the diesel vehicle it replaces, which would save about $40 million in fuel a year across the 2,000-truck fleet, or $800 million over 20 years, and avoid more than 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the vehicles' operating lives.

The environmental campaign group Transport & Environment, or T&E, in Brussels, Belgium, has published an analysis report stating that electric vehicle users in Europe pay on average only half as much per kilometre for charging as they do for diesel. The report calls on Europe to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, opposes any reduction in fuel taxes, and recommends targeted support measures for low-income households, alongside windfall taxes on energy companies to fund public transport and vehicle scrappage programmes. The analysis found that diesel drivers must pay 32 euros more, or about 1,216 baht, to fill a full 50-litre tank compared with the start of 2026, with about 16 euros, or roughly 610 baht, of that increase caused by higher refinery profit margins, which the European Central Bank estimates rose from about 0.10 euros, or roughly 3.8 baht per litre, in February to 0.41 euros, or about 16 baht per litre, during the period around 14 September. The analysis is based on average diesel consumption of 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres for a diesel car and electricity consumption of 20.2 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres for a battery electric vehicle, with electricity priced at 0.343 euros, or about 13 baht per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, T&E's study, published on Monday 28 September, found that battery electric heavy trucks have a lower total cost of ownership than diesel heavy trucks in six of the nine main European Union markets, and those six markets account for 46 percent of new heavy truck sales in the European Union.

Huawei Managing Director Yu Chengdong recently said the Maextro SUV developed with JAC Motors is expected to launch in early 2027. Boosted by the news, on September 30 the commercial vehicle concept rose 3.14% intraday, with JAC Motors up 9.98%, Dongfeng Corporation up 4.66%, Shuguang Corporation up 3.27%, Ankai Bus up 2.63%, and Hanma Technology up 2.46%. Southwest Securities research noted that in 2026 the commercial vehicle industry will see domestic sales supported by policy and overseas demand resonating, with large infrastructure projects in Vietnam, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia being released in concentrated fashion, providing sustained support for domestic heavy truck demand. Zheshang Securities research noted that new energy commercial vehicle penetration and battery capacity per vehicle are both rising, with 2025 sales reaching 950,000 units, up 64% year on year, and the sales share rising to 22%, with a projected compound growth rate of 51% from 2025 to 2030.

Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco estimates autonomous Tesla Semis could generate roughly $17 billion in annual software revenue by 2040, a scenario that assumes about 82,000 Semis operating by then and a 13.5% share of the autonomous trucking market. At that scale, the firm estimates Semi software could produce about $7.5 billion in EBIT, roughly 10% upside to its base case. Percoco estimates Tesla could charge roughly $0.85 to $1 per mile for autonomous Semi software, which at about 18,000 miles a month works out to approximately $12,000 to $18,000 in monthly software revenue per vehicle, far above the roughly $100 per month Tesla charges consumers for Full Self-Driving. Morgan Stanley views its 82,000-vehicle assumption as relatively modest against Tesla's manufacturing ambitions, with the company's 1.8 million-square-foot Semi factory in Sparks, Nevada, designed to eventually produce about 50,000 trucks annually. Early Semi customers include PepsiCo, DHL and US Foods, while a recently announced shipper coalition has ordered 2,500 trucks; the $17 billion estimate covers software rather than Semi vehicle sales and excludes potential additional revenue from charging.