Gweiloman

Complaints about air quality, particularly in CM are starting to appear on that thread. I hope they are doing their part in helping reduce emissions particularly in built up and urban areas by driving EVs/PHEVs.

Definitely not helped by all those diesel fumes bellowing from trucks and pickups. CM should be made a ULEZ lol

Most people I have spoken to believe that it wasn’t Russia that blew up the pipelines simply because it makes no sense whatsoever. If there is any evidence that Russia did it, it would have been released by now. But because whatever evidence has been uncovered most likely points westwards, nothing official has been released. Don’t waste your time trying to convince anyone else here otherwise. You will merely get trolled and reported.

It’s really hard debating the pros and cons of EV’s with someone who either doesn’t own one or has never driven one. EV owners are in the better position as they would have undoubtedly owned an ICE before purchasing an EV. I am super happy with my PHEV. I have zero range anxiety and used less than 1 litre of fuel over the last few hundred kms of driving. When possible, I charge at a free (yes, free, albeit slow at 10 kWh) CS not too far from my house. It takes about 3 hours but I have complete peace and quiet to watch my downloaded Netflix shows. Good excuse to get out of the house which currently has 6 other adults and 4 dogs :). Non EV owners always mention the point about lack of CSs and the time it takes to charge during long journeys. It has been mentioned countless times that long journeys are the exception rather than the rule. However Bjorn does CM - BKK - CM a couple of times a week and doesn’t seem to have any major issues. I also recently met a tour guide who has driven his MG ZS EV 180,000 km in the past 2 years and he just bought a BYD Atto 3. Obviously, EVs work for him even though he probably drives more mileage than anyone on this forum. It is clear to me that far from being morons, EV owners are quite switched on. If I were to sell my Mazda 2, I would be replacing it with a full EV.

I agree. One pedal driving is a game changer. One of the downsides of the Haval (and Ora Cat, and I believe, MG as well) is that cruise control does not regenerate when slowing down. This makes for less efficient driving, particularly in Thailand where we have to vary speeds quite often, unlike in other countries with proper highways and better drivers.

Correction. Selecting one pedal mode does not allow you to select regen strength. This is good in that the one pedal braking will be consistent all the time.

I put it to you that I will probably spend less time at a petrol station than you will, in a typical month. Reason being that I hardly ever need to go to fill up petrol. I’ve done 3,600 kms and filled up once (car came with a full tank from the dealership) for 1,300 baht. Most of my “filling up” will be done in the comfort of my home. I think it’s a good idea for an EV to make some noise at low speeds. I mentioned this in another post that my Haval has a low humming sound at walking speeds.

PEA Volta has quietly and sneakily (just joking) increased their price per kW to 8 baht. I’m gonna boycott them during On Peak hours lol

To quote Billy Joel, “You may be wrong for all I know or you may be right “. In any case, I will continue to enjoy my ride and if my resale value plummets, I’ll just give the car to someone who needs it. I’m sure there will be no shortage of takers.

Seek and ye shall find. This is a common criticism of non EV owners. I think the reason is because they are not consciously looking. I never had interest in NGV and had no idea how many refilling stations there were. But I know look at every PTT station I pass to see if there is an EV Station sign and am amazed at how many NGV signs I see. For the first time in over a decade. I’m actually turning into PT and Bangchak stations that have chargers. Tip for dog owners: they are much more dog convenient as usually lots more greenery and less people. From my recent trip, lack of CS availability was only an issue between Lampang and Phitsanulok (new CSs are popping up in Uttaradit) and between Lom Sak and Khon Kaen (would be nice if they put in a CS in Nam NAO National Park. EV owners might well stop and spend some money at the various outlets there).

You raise some valid points. First off, not everyone buys an EV or PHEV purely on economic reasons alone. I surely didn’t or I would have just bought a mild hybrid. One of the main joys I’m getting from driving my PHEV is the incredible smoothness and silence of the ride. Having driven fossils for over 40 years, I didn’t initially think it was a big deal by in just one month of ownership, I’m a convert. Even if the range of my battery degrades by 30% after 8 years or so, I will still have a better electric range than most other current new PHEVs. Furthermore, I do also believe that a few years down the road, swapping out batteries will be the norm and those newer batteries will be significantly cheaper as well.

I can confirm that the charger will switch off 5 minutes before the hour, having charged at a few PTT EV Stations. This whole booking system is another fine example of that brilliant Thai logic (similar to 90 day reporting). It will be absolute chaos when demand starts to increase and I shudder to think of the EV charging rage that will inevitably occur especially during NY and Songkran. I notice for a few charging stations that 10:00 - 10:55 and 11:00 - 11:55 as well as the early hours of the mornings are usually booked due to off peak rates. Also, I have been facing a lot of problems with the app not charging my card(s) which means a call the call centre as you are not able to charge again with a payment outstanding.

Yes, there’s 3 regen modes, low, standard and strong. Selecting one pedal mode does not grey out these options but I wonder if it has any effect on one pedal braking. I don’t notice any difference.

Thanks. Problem with one pedal mode is that if you take your foot off the pedal completely, the car decelerates gently. I read somewhere that the deceleration is about 10-15% in order for it to be smooth. This would hardly constitute a strong braking force which means the brake lights might never ever come on. I guess the safest thing to do then is to utilise a bit of left foot braking if there’s a car following behind.

When you switch off EV mode, at what speed will the ICE kick in? I have gone as high as 120 kph in hybrid mode without the ICE kicking in. (In EV only mode, the ICE kicks in at 140 kph)

What I find strange is that Chinese made cars are quite popular in Australia and the Uk but seems to be much more unpopular with westerners living in Thailand. Many here won’t touch Chinese made cars with a barge pole but they sell like hotcakes overseas.

The Haval also has a EV only driving mode as well as a hybrid mode. However, I don’t quite understand why. When hybrid mode is selected, the car still drives on EV mode. It’s only when you accelerate hard that the ICE kicks in. On EV driving mode, the car is capable of speeds up to 140 kmh on pure EV. And when the battery is low, the ICE will automatically kick in so I’m puzzled why there are the two modes. I doubt any GWM salesperson can answer that question as it seems like I knew more of the car than they did at the time I picked up the car from the dealership.

I think the Haval has hit the sweet spot. A 34 kWh battery with a real world range of 150 - 170 km means an actual driving time of 2+ hrs which is a good break time. DC charging gives a charging time from 10%-80% in around 40 minutes which is good for a toilet break and coffee stop. As we have dogs, we would normally stop for no less than 30 mins anyway. A bigger battery would add more weight which means higher fuel consumption when the battery is run down.

It is only the Sat Nav and the Haval Assistant (lite Siri/Alexa/Ok Google) that is in Thai. The rest of the system can be changed to English. I would rate this as the biggest issue for the Haval and would be a dealbreaker if not for the fact that (the wired) Apple CP and Android Auto works well. Google maps and Waze are both better systems than the OEM Sat Nav. Having said that, the built in sat nav is gorgeous looking with extremely clear driving instructions and visual displays. I’m hoping that an OTA update will rectify this issue sometime in the not too distant future.

I believe this setting is saved so you don’t have to reset it every time. If you don’t activate it, then the car will just continue operating on EV mode until the battery has insufficient power and the car switches automatically to the ICE. You don’t have to worry about completely discharging the battery in a PHEV. Unlike a BEV, a PHEV has has ICE that kicks in and the vehicle then merely operates as a HEV (Hybrid EV). The ICE will keep the battery charged and regenerative braking will also continuously charge up the battery. This is what makes hybrid fuel consumption low. The “Power Reserve “ setting (as it is known in the Haval) is designed for city driving in stop and go traffic where battery powered driving is more efficient than petrol ICE and helps keep noise and pollution levels in cities lower. The most important issue about owning a PHEV is to ABC - always be charging, due to the smaller size of the battery compared to BEVs. Most current PHEV batteries are in the range of 12-20 kWh which gives an approximate range of 40-100 km per full charge. This is sufficient for most people’s daily driving but because I like to take long trips, I went for the Haval with a 34 kWh battery and approximate range of 170 kms. The other fantastic feature of the Haval vs other PHEVs is that the Haval is able to rapid charge on DC at 40+ kW. The Mitsubishi Outlander is also able to do that via its Chademo port and I think the BMW and or Mercedes.

Yes and no. There is a setting whereby you can ‘instruct’ the ICE to kick in when the battery reaches a certain level of charge. But the lowest level is 30% of battery state of charge. You can activate this when the battery is at say 15% but then the ICE will power the traction motor as well as recharge the battery to the said 30% SOC. During this time, you can literally hear the ICE working hard and the consumption will of course increase until the battery has reached your specified level. Thus, a certain amount of planning is required if you are say, coming from Chonburi to BKK via Hwy 7. Start off with a full charge, set the hold level at 30%, you will be doing the initial part of the highway travel on battery, the ICE will kick in at 30% battery level while still on the highway and when you hit BKK traffic, you can switch from hybrid to EV only mode and complete your journey on EV power alone. I hope my explanation makes sense.

@Andrew Dwyer Things I dislike about the Haval H6 PHEV: Exterior - black colour, while it looks fantastic, shows up dirt and fingerprints clearly, especially where you touch to close the doors - the charging flap feels cheaply mad and is the size of a dinner plate - no mudflaps provided as standard so during the rainy season, will have dirty undersides Interior - many functions have to be controlled via the infotainment system (setting AC controls, switching drive modes etc) Seating and ergonomics - driver seat doesn’t have tilt. Only has up/down, forward/backwards, recline and lumbar - steering wheel a bit thin, made for skinny Asian hands Driving - one pedal mode can only be set when vehicle is stationary. That means when you have activated cruise control, you won’t be able to activate one pedal driving when you reach city limits unless the car comes to a standstill - not sure when the brake lights activate when using one pedal driving. Would be good to have some indication inside the vehicle so that I know if I need to actually brake in order to warn the usual idiot drivers behind that I’m slowing down - parking sensors are overly excited. I’m used to parking using my mirrors but the warning alarms go haywire when I’m still a couple of inches from a wall or pillar - adaptive cruise control behaves like the typical Thai driver, slowing down excessively and unnecessary at some curves - ICE works overtime and drinks like a fish when battery SOC is low and the ICE is charging up the battery pack Infotainment / Navigation system - the built in sat nav is great in that driving directions can be seen on the info screen, instrument cluster and HUD. That’s where the positives end. System is in Thai; talks continuously, spouting unnecessary warnings like intersection ahead, school zone etc. Setting the destination is a nightmare, almost to the point of being impossible. Doesn’t support English. Unable to edit saved and favourite places - similar story with AI. Thai language only. You can say “bird sunroof”. That works. But “bird windows “ doesn’t work GWM app - you can close sunroof and windows from the app but not open it - you can start seat cooling and turn on AC but not when the car is charging In summary, I’m super satisfied with it. Comfortable, smooth and turns heads.

Realistically, the Haval was the only option for me even though the price was higher than I hoped it would be. I needed a C class SUV as I have 4 dogs to transport around. If I’m not mistaken, only the BMW X5 is a similar size but the price is much more than I’m willing to pay. I’m also not ready to have a BEV as my first car. Other comparable PHEVs such as the Outlander ang MG HS have less than 100 km electric range.

All my life, I’ve only ever driven ICE vehicles so when I first got into the Haval, I was amazed at how quiet and smooth the ride is. I can’t compare it to other EVs and it’s of course not dead silent but with the music at a moderate level, I can’t really hear any road or wind noise. The electric motor does make a whirring/humming sound at low speeds but I heard somewhere that this is intentional to create some awareness for pedestrians. Not sure if this is so or just manufacturer spin for an intrinsic problem lol. At very low battery power, the ICE is working hard and quite noisy as it is also recharging the battery to a certain extent. But once the battery gets up to around 6% or so, the ICE is fairly quiet and you will hardly notice it except for the slight vibration as you would expect when the ICE is operating. Yes, the electric range is arguably the best in the world currently which is fantastic. This makes any kind of trip in Thailand easy peasy as there are numerous CSs dotted around the country and numbers are increasing constantly.

Haha. You’re right. I lost the decimal ????