Bandersnatch

After some comments I had made on CleanTechnica, I was asked to write an article about my Eco Journey in Thailand. Anyone willing to share their journey in the comments? https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/27/my-eco-journey-in-thailand/

The UK figures in the graph above were an anomaly due to a spike in all EV sales in March to beat incoming EV tax changes. Tesla's April car sales dropped 62% in Britain. Here in Thailand, Tesla sales have always been poor due to inflated prices and poor investment in the Super Charger network. You can buy a 13.5kWh Tesla PowerWall in Thailand for ฿699,000, no wonder nobody is buying them. https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-powerwall-installation-thailand/

Tesla with 2 newly refreshed models for sale in the kingdom selling less than 100 cars must be disappointing

If you want cheap motoring would go for a low mileage used EV. Then you will have low service and repair costs and if you can charge at home about 7km per kWh (PEA/MEA unit)

I have always said that Teslas are overpriced in Thailand. In this example from the Tesla store, they have knocked half a million off the price of a prefacelift Model Y AWD Performance, but it’s still half a million more that the brand new BYD Sealion 7 AWD Performance.

You need to keep to the topic "EVs in Thailand" This is not a general discussion about EVs. @KhunLA has already posted about this directing you and @johng to his discussion https://aseannow.com/topic/1246109-ice-vs-ev-the-debate-thread/ As OP I will report those who try to derail this discussion.

We get it. They are not for you. You don't need to keep posting the same thing again and again. You don't see me on the "Attractive Lady Boys" discussion constantly posting: "You like them and that is great. It is your money to spend as you will. Just that they are not for me" People would probably start saying stuff like: "Then why do you keep hanging out here then?" "Sounds like maybe you're in denial mate"

If you like big SUVs I would suggest test driving a BYD Sealion 7. It costs ฿1,249,900 for the Performance variant and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.5 seconds. The entry-level Premium variant is priced at ฿1,149,900. The CRV is priced from ฿1,419,000 to ฿1,729,000. The AWD models take 9.4 seconds 0-100. The 2025 CR-V Hybrid Sport Touring can achieve the same in approximately 7.9 seconds but it does have a battery and an electric motor.

You came to your carefully considered decision after driving which EVs? What are you driving currently?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8k8dnnp55o "The sisters of a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his car are campaigning for it to be a legal requirement for detectors to be fitted in UK vehicles. Micheal Barnard 36, had been listening to music with the engine running. CO is a silent killer because you can’t detect it. Less than two percent of CO in the air can kill you in under three minutes." Sitting in cars and trucks with the engine running is very common in Thailand and it only takes a small hole in the exhaust and floor of the vehicle to kill you.

BYD dealer contacted me and asked me to bring both my cars in for an update. Anyone hear about this?

Hilux, the stinky things parked at Big C with the engine running while the wife does the shopping? Do I wish everyone drove one? I can't hold my breath long enough for that.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/musk-kamala-harris-salute/

Couple more of my videos for you. I am now only buying devices that work with home assistant

I agree with what @JBChiangRai posted above. Any unused solar production from my off-grid solar setup is curtailed. The screen shots I posted were early this morning - a very dull day here in Surin. Here are 2 more screen shots that I have just taken, one with one of my EVs charging the other without.

I have 4 Growatt SPF5000ES inverters. The ShinePhone app is pretty rubbish so I have have fitted a Raspberry Pi and using Solar Assistant software and a USB hub to link the 4 inverters together I am able to extract data from all the inverters https://solar-assistant.io/ It is possible to push data from solar assistant into Home Assistant https://www.home-assistant.io/ then it is possible to manage smart devices like smart wifi breakers to switch on/off devices based on data from solar assistant. I plan to manage my EV chargers to do that. Here is a video I made a few years ago about smart wifi breakers

I own 2 BYD EVs, the vast majority of the time I charge them at home from my off-grid solar setup. On a long trip like a 900km round trip to BKK which I have done a few times recently I always charge at BYD showrooms which are exclusively for BYD owners. At 8 Baht per kWh they are about 1 Baht more expensive than the average charger so tend to be less popular. I use the BYD app to identify a dealership on my route and can see if the all the chargers are free. The chargers are plug and charge and about 20 minutes each way is all that is required. I can use the customer lounge for free coffee and snacks. BYD has over 100 dealerships in Thailand with more opening all the time. MG has even more. They are the brands that I would recommend if you do a lot of long distant (over 600km) trips.

"A new study conducted by Europe’s largest automobile association has found that electric vehicles (EVs) are less prone to breaking down than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles of the same age, which can suffer two and a half times as many breakdowns as electric cars" This study is based on actual breakdowns rather than the usual survey of owners views of the reliability of the vehicle that they had purchased. https://thedriven.io/2025/04/14/evs-more-reliable-than-ice-vehicles-with-the-best-and-worst-electric-cars-identified/

Re-read your post looking for the crass comments that I obviously missed on first reading 😆

Long Trips I only stop at BYD Dealerships: Plug and Charge: plug in and it starts charging. 24 hours to pay: SCB froze my account while on a trip but sent me messages saying that that I was over the limit on my account and to change the limit at an ATM (they had changed my limit to zero) I was able to charge my car and pay the next day after I called the bank to ask them WTF You can see the chargers on the app to see if they are working/available As you have to register your car with the app they can only be used by BYD owners and therefore more likely to be free 8 Baht rather than the usual 7 Baht means that they are less popular and therefore more likely to be free Fast Charging Never found one not working and if you needed help you can ask in the dealership. Over 100 BYD Dealerships in Thailand.

I signed up for the free Home PV system but haven't got around to incorporating it into Home Assistant yet - thanks for reminding me

I emailed The Electric Viking about the motor show numbers suggesting he could do a video on it and he did.

Thanks No. The cars recognise when a V2L adapter is connected and start sending out power. The ones that come with my cars: BYD Seal and BYD M6. I contacted myenergi in the UK to enquire about buying one of their zappi chargers which can be set to only charge the car when there is excess solar, but it turns out the way it does that is by using a CT clamp to record any power being exported to the grid and diverting into the car, which is no use to me being off-grid. My sytem is pretty dumb and manual apart from my smart wifi breakers: I have Solar Assistant connected to my main solar system and once I get the MQTT integration working I will have access to the information in Home Assistant and might be able activate/deactivate my smart wifi breaker in my chargers depending on the level of solar production.

If your EV has V2H like the Ford F-150 Lightning then it will come with a bi-directional charger that can both charge and discharge. I have 2x7kW EV chargers powered by my main home solar system But on the posts next to each of my EVs I have 2x3kW chargers powered by a smaller backup solar system, together with a V2L adapter which connects to one of the two solar systems.

Solar get's my vote. I have 2 full EVs and I can run the house and the EVs from solar with the EVs V2L (bi-directional charging) acting as backup. I gave my meter back to PEA in 2023