Bandersnatch

Ok you convinced me. No more dithering, just order the Orange Pi 3 LTS with software pre-installed. https://solar-assistant.io/shop

Solar Assistant is still on my to-do-list while I dither about which Raspberry-Pi and screen combo to go for. The Pi will be located in my mechanical room with my inverters, but it would be great to have a screen showing the state of all 4 inverters and batteries, without having to cycle through 4 inverters to get to the information in Watts.

I have the 4 WD 3.8 seconds 0-100kph, now looking for a second car for the wife to do the school run and cart the family around. Also trips to the garden center and we have 3 labradors and a husky all a bit tricky in the seal

Discussions in the Bander Household has been along these lines recently. The Sealion is the most attractive, but it's sloping roof line means that it's actually a smaller boot than our current MG HS PHEV. At BYD today to get our SIM card updated to get GBox for apps. We asked about the Sealion delivery and were told 2-3 months! Atto 3 looks good, but I was put off by the small 60 kWh battery and slow 80 kW DC charging compared to the 82.5 kWh/150 kW on the Seal. Also there is an updated model coming: Atto 3 new model Q2 2025 https://carnewschina.com/2025/01/15/2025-byd-atto-3-update-revealed-in-china-by-regulator/ So we put down ฿10,000 deposit on the 7 seat M6 Extended range in Harbour Grey they had in stock: 71.8 kWh LFP BYD Blade Battery Charging 115kW Cost ฿899,000, the price has recently been reduced from ฿929,000 Finance: 30% down ฿269,970 with ฿629,930 to finance @ 1.98% ฿14,173/month 48 months

Agreed, that is why BYD is currently top of my list.

Test drove the X-Power and loved it, but my wife felt it was too much smaller than the HS

Thanks. We love the V2L on the Seal and want to stick with LFP. It would be great having to BYDs as backup power for the house. Other than BYD we will have to track down dealerships in Isaan.

Thanks

Waiting to hear what BYD will offer, before I decide whether I consider selling it privately.

Funny I only hear these stories from people who don't actually own Chinese EVs! This discussion "EVs in Thailand" has been going for nearly 3 years and has over 9,000 replies. As OP I've not seen one post by a Chinese EV owner saying that they had a faulty battery that meant that their EV was no longer running. I have 2 Chinese EVs and never had a problem. My house is powered by solar and Chinese Batteries, the same battery chemistry as in my latest EV. They have been so reliable, that I gave my meter back to PEA over a year ago. If I were you I wouldn't believe these "stories" as they sound like BS to me.

Starting to slowly look for an EV as my “second car” or “Wife’s car” Currently my 1st car is a BYD Seal AWD Performance. It’s a great grand tourer - got back yesterday from a 900+km trip to BKK where it cut through traffic like a hot samurai sword through butter and left us feeling more relaxed and less stressed than our recent flights to the capital. What the seal is not, is a car for trips to the garden center or for carting 3 labradors to the vets. It’s also not a great baby car. My current “second car” is my 4 year old MG HS PHEV. There is actually nothing wrong with it except it only has a 17kWh battery and only charges at 3.5kW. A sensible person would keep it as a perfectly sensible second car but perhaps I’m not that sensible! Stopped at MG to look at their stock, we like the MG 4 but too small for our needs. At BYD we have already tested the M6, available in 6 or 7 seats not a bad car but not great looking. They had an ATTO 3 (now made in Thailand) in black with a black interior and it looked very smart. Here it is next to my MG HS PHEV The Sealion 6 is a plug-in hybrid so didn't make the cut, so we test drove the fully electric Sealion 7 and it was very nice indeed if a bit pricey for a second car, but maybe the RWD Premium is more sensible as a baby chariot than the AWD Performance. What would be your choice?

@Pib @Andrew Dwyer Yes you are probably right... lost in translation

I was a BYD today and asked about the SIM swap and they said that my SIM would be "updated, not replaced" they are doing it today, I will report back any findings

In December 2024, BYD sold 514,809 new energy vehicles (NEVs), which was a record-breaking number. This was a 50.95% increase from the same period in 2023. So not "nothing sales"

Yes I have the AWD, with reduced range but more "grin factor" Thanks for the insights on the charging curve, my wife was surprised how quick the charge was. I arrived at Suvarnabhumi with 54% SOC which means I can get some km on the clock tomorrow before I have to think about looking for a charger. I will probably look for another BYD showroom tomorrow that I can monitor on the app to see if any chargers are in use and plug and charge for about 20 minutes while sitting in the customer lounge with a hot chocolate. I aim to get back to Surin near empty as charging at home is free. We did a pitstop at about lunchtime at a PTT with a 7-11 and both the chargers were in use.

The drive so far has been very pleasant. After 324km we stopped to charge and swap drivers. I wasn't able to book a charger but as BYD has changed charging from ฿0/kWh to ฿8/kWh all 4 charging stations were available. 120kW was the advertised speed a bit disappointed it didn't match the 150kW charging capacity of my Seal. Actual speed into the car was a bit slower I was able to charge via "Plug and Charge" which seems pretty cool

@grandma did you read the article? Yes just in November (December figures not available at time of posting the article) and yes BYD 2nd in the world not just in China. In China BYD has been the top-selling automobile brand for the last four consecutive quarters.

Yes, you're right I can drive from Surin to BKK without stopping to charge, but will have to on the return. I really wanted to treat it as a road trip and test out the apps, booking a charger, planning the route etc.

I don't charge away from home except for doing a quick test charge when I find a new charging company local to me. I also have the Samsung S24 Ultra so will be testing it with a few charging stations over the next couple of days.

Appreciated, I thought I was missing a trick. As for your charging list, I have all but #5 and I have loaded payment methods into all of them. I took your advice and installed the new version of EV station + app when you posted about it so thanks for that.

Thanks, I will probably use the BYD app purely for charging location suggestions and use ABRP/ Google Maps for navigation

Good point well made. I will be following your suggestion, many thanks

Looking for some advice from roadtrip warriors here. My Seal's claimed range of 580km has proved sufficient for all my trips so far. I did some test charging when I got the car in 2023 but have charged from my home solar since then. Recently took flights Buriram-BKK-Krabi return and it was a really unpleasant experience from the booking, hidden charges, busy airports and cramped seats. I have to be in BKK on Tuesday morning so I have decided to drive from Surin to Suvarnabhumi, park in Long Stay and rail link into the city then stay in a 4 star hotel overnight which is far cheaper than return flights for 2. Was hoping to try out the ReverSharger app or in-car navigation to route plan with one charge stop each way and one stop for lunch ReverSharger gives me a list of charging stations on it's suggested route but when I selected a BYD dealership, it creates a trip to that location and it seems I have to repeat the exercise for my next stop. Is this everyone else's experience?

"The 100% plugin vehicle automaker still has a ways to go to catch Toyota, but it seems inevitable it will do so, BYD is supplying the core of Toyota’s EV offerings in China. Toyota simply can’t compete on its own at the moment in the world’s biggest auto market, which now sees more than 50% of new car sales having a plug." https://cleantechnica.com/2024/12/31/byd-became-2nd-best-selling-automaker-in-world-in-november/

I started this discussion with current prices from Thailand. I have 55 solar panels have been buying them for 7 years. In that time Solar panels have doubled in capacity and halved in price in Thailand.