In Thailand, a plan to produce low-cost electric vehicles is underway. Rather than buy new electric cars, researchers in the country are converting existing petrol and diesel vehicles to electric power. Martin Lowe has more.

This electric car used to run on petrol. It was converted by a Thai research team. Fitting an electric motor into an existing car costs just over 6,000 US dollars, excluding the battery. That's a fraction of the 35,000 dollar cost of a basic-model new electric car. The Thai government is running a pilot scheme to convert car engines, rather than wait for manufacturers to produce cheaper electric vehicles.

SATHIT KRONGSUT, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ELECTRICITY GENERATING AUTHORITY OF THAILAND "We think modifying existing cars could be the way to encourage electric vehicle use and push Thai transportation forward by using green energy."

The conversion's called an EV kit. The scheme's still at the prototype stage but these test vehicles can run for 200 kilometers on a 12-hour charge. Commercial car workshops are to be invited to join the trial.

SATHIT KRONGSUT, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ELECTRICITY GENERATING AUTHORITY OF THAILAND "We will observe the workshops and look for any difficulties to find the best EV kit available."

MARTIN LOWE BANGKOK "Here on the streets of Southeast Asia, the take-up of electric vehicles has been fairly slow – many think mostly because of price. The Thai government is hoping a lower cost option might tempt more drivers to switch to electric power."

Shifting to electric from petrol and diesel would be a major step in tackling climate change; transportation generates a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. China, India and many European countries are already pursuing legislation to ban petrol and diesel cars in future years. Martin Lowe, CGTN, Bangkok.