Coffee, cookies and electric cars: Thai fuel giant bets billions on gas station of the future

A staff member makes a cup of Cafe Amazon coffee in Singapore's Jewel Changi Airport March 27, 2021. Picture taken March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Dawn Chua

BANGKOK (Reuters) - 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.