CLW

Not sure if I wanted the Han instead of the Seal. Boring design and probably geared more towards comfort than sporty driving. Might go ahead with the MG 4. Fits my situation better in many aspects

BYD Han will easily cost over 1 million THB, not within my budget range. MG5 being an estate car not interesting for me. AFAIK also not a dedicated EV platform like the MG 4

Most of it makes sense, but how can 7,5 cm bricks reduce heat or even noise? Heat maybe, since air inside the bricks is a good insulator. But noise blocking only possible by pure density or weight of the stones (or resulting thickness). Just the law of physics....

Where to find rigid foam for insulation? Almost not existing here (same as rockwool by the way...)

DCON (manufacturer of CLC blocks) says, that regular mortar and plaster / rendering can be used since they are concrete based bricks with foam agent and closed cell structure (vs open cells with AAC). Yes, definitely not using those tiny 7.5 cm wall thickness. Already twenty years ago, when energy savings were not a concern, in Germany you used air cavity brickstones with at least 11,5 cm or even more for load-bearing walls (24 cm or more)

Get your point of using less mortar between the AAC blocks. But the special AAC plaster / render is definitely more expensive than for regular brickstones, concrete or CLC.

Most likely yes. The price (or lets say what you get for it) is just unbeatable. Was thinking of Atto 3 but higher price, SUV design and the interior set me off. My favorite still the BYD Seal, for that I would pay more. But given no timeline and probably not coming to Thailand within this year I think the MG 4 will it be.

That's right. Battery or ESS very expensive at current electricity costs. Therefore the tendency to install just small panel to setoff electricity costs during weekends. Waiting for crossy reply, too

Your solar panels cost more than the estimated building costs of my house ????

Thanks crossy for your prompt and informative reply. Appreciate it. Trying to answer your questions below: expected usage: as said, the house will be empty during daytime on weekdays. We plan to have five ac units in total installed. 2 bedroom, 1 office, 1 living room, 1 dining room. I'm quite conservative with ac use and except hot season normally running fans. The house space will be approximately 90 sqm on two floors = 180 sqm. The available roof space for panels I would estimate between 50 and 70 spm. ev charging: I expect to have my EV charged every second day (quite far to commute to work and relatively small battery in the MG 4 with 51 kWh. feed in: Is this possible? I've heard so many conflicting information about this. For example with digital or TOU meter it is not possible anymore to spin the meter backwards etc.... house occupancy: definitely expecting to stay more than ten years in this house and not hoping to have the need to relocate and/or build a second house.

I had a test drive yesterday with the MG4. Confirmed or surpassed my expectations from reviews and YT videos. To me, it is a car you sit in and feel comfortable and welcoming immediately. It starts with adjusting your seats, the steering wheel and mirrors which are not much different from a ten or 15 year old ICE car. The both screens are easy to read and understand. The power in standard mode is more than sufficient for me. Suspension is sporty and stiff but not uncomfortable. The driver assist systems work well, only the lane keeping function could be improved. At this test driving car, the voice assist was set in Thai language and sales didn't know how to change it. But English should be at least offered as second language besides Thai. The speed and reaction of the screen is impressive. However searching for address on the navigation system (1:1 copy of google maps) is bad. This has to do with the known problem of google maps having many business listed in Thai script. However, the MG4 has standard Apple Car Play and Android Auto to connect with your smartphone. One thing that irritated me with the physical home buttons for the screen (1x below and 1x on the steering wheel) is that it leads you the the actual settings screen and not to the home screen. (Compare to Android home button vs. open app drawer). Slight criticism also for the arrangement of the air vents, especially the side ones. They are too low and blow directly on your hands, but not on your body or just into the car interior. Without going into a full review, just giving some differences that I noticed from the MG4 Thailand model and the European version: There is no orange body color available The vents at the front grill have no automatic closing function (EU version close automatically depending on speed and battery temperature) The trunk has no storage space under the compartment for a charging adapter or additional storage room. The side pockets are also not as deep as EU version The left favorite button on the steering wheel can't be assigned to change driving modes. Instead you have to go into the menu on the main screen. This could be subject to software update / pre-production car for test drive.

Short description of the current situation: Planning to build a two-storey house in Bangkok with flat roof, two adults plus one children live in the house. Me and my partner are out for work on daytime five days a week, the son at school until afternoon, we have an EV as only car. Initially, I was thinking to install on-grid-hybrid solar system with feed-in and battery storage. Since I can (and probably will) apply for a TOU meter, at current electricity prices I am questioning the investment of a solar system. Where can I do calculations for this or can anyone speak from their personal experience? As much as I am for renewable energies I don't see a point for the huge investment.

Currently in the process of planning our house in Bangkok together with an architect and general contractor. I would like to insulate the house according to western standards. Cavity wall seems to be red tape for most contractors and they can't or don't want to do it. Therefore I might opt for insulated wall bricks such as CLC (cellular lightweight concrete) or AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) blocks. On the paper CLC seems to have several advantages over AAC such as better cracking resistance under humid conditions, closed surface avoiding mold issues inside the bricks, use of regular anchors for furniture or wall TV mount, use of regular mortar and plaster/rendering. They only thing I haven't researched yet is the price difference. AAC are offered from several companies like SCG or through home stores such as Thai Watsadu or even local building supply stores. CLC from what I've found are only offered from a company called DCON https://www.dconproduct.com/en/products/dcon-block/ Anyone has used either one of the bricks and can tell about his experience? Thank you

Hello, I am looking for a cheap monthly car rental to bridge the gap until my new car has been delivered. From my research, I've found eazycar (subsidiary of bizcar car rental / Thairung automotive group) the cheapest. Their flexi package https://www.eazycar.co/thailand/FlexiPackage starts at 15,900 THB all-inclusive for compact cars. Anyone else knows a cheaper rental, please let me know. Thank you

I don't like SUVs, therefore not much choices at the moment. Also heard about the rust problems with BYD. Even they have quite a long history of building car and batteries, MG respectively SAIC has been building cars with Volkswagen in China for more than 30 years and also in my opinion transferred a lot of knowledge from Volkswagen to their car manufacturing process. Neta cars (all of them) I am afraid will facing the same issues as BYD: after years some issues to come such as rust etc... Was interested in Neta S, reviews said built quality is <deleted>. Mostly a poser car because of its outside look and high performance.

Last weekend I was enquiring at car dealers about my two current favorite EVs, MG 4 and BYD Seal. BYD dealer said they have no information regarding a possible launch date of the Seal. "Within this year maybe", the sales said. BYD will bring the Dolphin to Thailand before the Seal and announce more information at the BKK motorshow end of March. Asking further about the Seal, salesman said he has no information from BYD HQ regarding some updates during motorshow. But he also aware that many people asking about BYD Seal being the only affordable EV sedan in the market. Next off to MG, quite short visit. It's a new dealership and they currently didn't have an MG 4 in the showroom or for test drive. Sales going to call this week to have a look and test drive once they have a show car available. Conclusion so far, MG 4 has received excellent reviews and being named best compact SUV in Europe above class leaders such as VW ID.3, Cupra Born and Renault Megane e-tech. Given to unsure release date of the BYD Seal and don't want to wait until end of this year, I am leaning towards the MG4. If the test drive is satisfying, I am very close to buying it.

so from your experience plus comments on Thai FB groups I would conclude that for on-the-road charging PEA volta and EGAT elexa are probably the best choices?

cane straw probably too high in lignin content, but a good mix of straw and cassava waste could probably work. I'm having also one professor from my uni that works on a research using fast growing tree plantations to feed biomass power plants. Here in Thailand he is using Katinn (Leuceana) trees. I don't know if they are using the dried biomass to fire the power plant or digest it to biogas. Huge benefit of Leuceana being a legume tree is that it doesn't require nitrogen fertilizer. Besides that I could also see other legume crops/grasses or even hemp biomass being suitable for bioenergy in Thailand

Yes, main issue is the trouble with state owned EGAT, PEA or MEA. They won't allow you to feed into the net unless they get a piece of this cake. See issue with solar panel owners that can't feed their power into the net and being rewarded for it (or at least spinning the meter backwards)

From browsing on Thai FB EV groups, many people complained that the EA anywhere chargers are the worst: Not working, frozen UI, can't charge for whatever reason, firmware update of the charger, etc. Anyone can confirm that?

nice report about this project. do you think there is any money to be made growing the napier grass for selling to the power plant?

How about switching to busses? Probably too advanced for this corrupted third world country....

Avoid Rama 2 road during peak periods. It's terrible. Mind this section of motorway 9 is not a tollway but often separate lanes. Still you have to deal with motorcycles and trucks

plant look very poor for irrigated land and all the relatively high tech equipment. Problem about the variety, soil conditions, fertilizer?

Re Koh Chang trip with rented EV. I have installed the following apps: Plugshare: to find charging stations in one app with reviews from user about the current status of each charging station Elexa, EV station pluz, EA anywhere, PEA volta: to actually charge the EV. I set up an account and registered as many information (name, credit card etc.) already. Still I am not exactly sure how the payment for each provider works? PEA volta seems to charge directly from the saved credit card. How about others? Is it easy with scan QR code and bank transfer / PromptPay?