JBChiangRai

I chose this one because it has a Universal socket on it and is rated at 3.3 Kw, most of the other cables are rated at 2 Kw. Also, I thought I might butcher it and screw or solder a 32 amp cable directly to the pins. I think MG say the V2L function is rated at 2 or 2.2 Kw however, in tests in the UK it runs happily up to 6.6 Kw which is unsurprising as it uses the cars inverter for driving the motor which is rated at 125kw. I used to have a 5.5 Kw Diesel Generator in my last house for emergencies and that would run 4 air cons and everything else in the house. On the MG4 you can set the SoC remaining to your chosen percentage to shut off the V2L function. Unfortunately, I already have a solar power installation with batteries, but can't help wondering how 869,000 baht for an entry level MG4 compares to a 50 Kw LFP Battery, Charger & Inverter bought separately for Emergency Power, with the bonus you can go out & about in it! Also. the battery comes with an 8 year warranty, I suspect most solar installations in the UK have a useless warranty or none at all.

It is surprising how much they actually do know. I was questioned about why I had withdrawn 2M baht in Australia with my ATM card. I never gave them any bank details. Fortunately I used an agent and they advised me how to respond to the query.

I bought this V2L adaptor on Shopee for 1,400 baht, works a treat on the MG4

Electrified but not illuminated! I am shocked at such a dim decision.

The grille thing is a trend I like, especially if it illuminates (which I think it does).

I got something in my inbox about the new MG VS HEV having a 100k discount, that would bring the top model down to 819k. What I like about this car is its instrument display, it looks like it's copied from a Benz E-Class, I prefer it to the Jolion it's competing with, especially in Green.

Wrapping a Tesla makes a lot of sense, not only is it cheaper than their colours, it also protects the paintwork and in Chiang Rai only costs 25k Don't forget to change the colour on the Tabien Rod, I did get stopped by the BiB with my blue MG4 asking if it was a wrap, I think they were itching for some Tea Money.

I was in the MG dealership in Chiang Rai chasing my red plate deposit and asked the sales lady about the MG4, they have the entry level model in stock in White, Red & Grey, differences seem to be the iShare app, 360 degree camera (reversing camera only I think), rear angel wings spoiler and additional lights on the rear light bar. I had a look at the Maxus as well, it's very impressive, but with my kids practically grown up it's very big for a single guy like me, I suspect I would end up as designated driver with my friends too often. They did have a very fetching EP+ in metallic red (there is not supposed to be a red in Thailand) sticker price 998k but still available at 771k. The EP+ makes all other BEV's look expensive!

You might get a cheaper price from Roojai, I just checked the MG EP+ and it's 6,250 baht for the year.

I like the Atto 3 a lot, I haven't driven it, but my daughter has. I think the pricing model with 100k difference to get extended range is useless to most people, but what they have done is made much nicer colours in the extended range (blue, green, red) which I think is a clever marketing ploy and it immediately switched my daughter onto the extended range model. I like the sunroof too, though from what I have read, it probably wants a 99% tinted film on it. My Benz had one and at no time did it ever let heat in, I left the opaque screen off most of the time and only opened at night time/early morning and I really enjoyed it at night. Is it worth another 230k over the MG4? I think it probably is if you want more space, I can't say whether it's better to drive, but what I can say is the MG4 is a fantastic drive. Time will tell on depreciation, MG's generally have a reputation of depreciating fast, hopefully not their BEV's. I am less sure that the top MG4 is worth 100k more than the entry one, it does have better lights apparently and historically the first thing I have ever done with cars with halogen headlights is fit HID Xenon bulbs, we did that on my daughter's MG EP+ at a cost of 3,000 baht and it's now much safer. The top MG4 model has good lights. I am sure the entry level MG4 is a better buy than the Dolphin though. Perhaps book a back to back test drive with both cars before you make your mind up?

I paid a deposit on the Dual Motor version a few months back, I get the first one in Chiang Rai.

You have my sympathies, on the plus side, if you put in Solar, your neighbours will all be buying your excess capacity at 6.12 baht per unit, and fully legal, you don't need permission if all the energy is being used on your estate's side of the PEA meter. ROI in as low as 2.5 years then you're in profit.

You might be able to renegotiate it as it's clearly a residential development, a case of Thai Whisky often helps...

I live in a gated estate too, I think you have one 3 phase meter supplied by PEA and then private meters to split the bill according to usage? They are probably charging you a commercial rate. I took a different approach when I developed this estate, we have individual meters outside the estate and within the property we put our own copper cables underground. We do have a small house for the gardener/handyman and that supply also runs the water system and lights around the lake, we split that bill by water usage for the pump part of the bill and we split the rest equally amongst the owners. Our supplies are all single phase and not very strong, I charge at 24 amps during the day and 10 amps at night but only if really necessary. If I try to charge at 32amps, it will do it if the sun is shining, but when it stops charging it crashes the inverters and they reboot.

What do you pay at home? My last bill was 4.04 baht per KwHr inc ft & VAT and unusually large last month because of the hot weather and 2 girls home from university camping in their bedrooms with A/C running 24/7 and that is despite generating over 2,000 KwHr's from solar.

Once you own a BEV you realise that you will never use a DC charger in your home city, what you need are chargers on the road for road trips. Destination charging is also important, but that should be on the periphery of the city on all major roads accessing the city. In a couple of decades the existing petrol stations in cities can be redeveloped into something else. The existing condominiums/apartment blocks need to get their act together and start to provide charging facilities. At least one of my friends canceled his order for a BEV because the condo's he lives in at Rayong, Bang Saen & Chiang Rai won't fit them.

I bought the 969k one, I don’t think it’s worth that much more than the other one, but I liked the colour, the Blue is eye catching.

I don't know, I do feel the discounts on offer have been reduced somewhat with new models, the EP+ got about 230,000 off whereas newer cars are more like 150,000 and who knows what the unsubsidised price really is because they weren't marketed before at a higher list price. I suspect when the subsidy does finish, the price will not increase by the full amount of the subsidy.

Yes I appreciate the difficulty in switching driving styles between cars. You only need to touch the accelerator very gently in the MG4 and it rolls slowly away. The EP+ lurches away which makes parking maneuvering tricky, so much so that my daughter doesn't use it on her car, at least she has a physical button to turn it on and off, it's not buried in a menu somewhere.

I think you need to test drive them both, and maybe compare the sizes of both cars. If you're in Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai, you're welcome to take my MG4 out or my daughter's EP+ and try them.

I didn't notice the make of the tyres on the Atto 3, but I was impressed that the tyres were wide and the wheels looked fairly big. Both the MG4 & EP+ could do with wider tyres, they both struggle to get the power down in the dry. The rainy season might be interesting...

On the MG4 regeneration is called KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), it defaults to maximum. Initially I hated it because it’s a new way of driving and it’s a pfaff to adjust it through the screens. But I have grown to like it, you can drive it in one pedal mode just using the brakes to bring to a final stop at walking speed. You can feather the regen with the accelerator so it’s not such a violent slowdown. I’m not sure where the autohold feature on the infotainment system is, maybe I turned it on a few months ago, but now it is engaged by giving a firm push on the brake pedal when stationary (which seems to be common on German cars), so you can pretty much set it and forget. My daughter MG EP+ has it on a switch, but it’s less useful, if it’s turned on then it’s difficult to maneuver for parking as it jumps off the line and has it turned off all the time. There seems to be a trend on EV’s to remove physical buttons and bury them in pages of menus. I don’t like it much. The Lane Keeping Assist is turned on by default, there is a button on he steering wheel that opens a “quick menu” where you can turn it off with lots of other settings. I don’t like the adaptive cruise control which slows you down on corners, but I have found a work around by setting it to limit mode instead. The lane keeping is not great, you can combine it with cruise control (they call it LJA) and the car will drive itself like a Tesla on major roads, but the car does try to kill you occasionally. Hopefully it will get better with OTA updates. The other issue I have with the MG4 is the tyres, sometimes the car struggles to get all the power down and it’s not unusual to get a few squeals all the way up to about 50kmhr with the traction cutting in and out. Ideally, I would like to replace the back tyres with bigger and better and I’m keeping an eye on the MG BEV forum in the UK to see what tyre combo’s they go for. I sometimes drive it fairly spirited and I’ve had it at the limit a couple of times and it’s quite forgiving, no great drama. I would describe the MG4 as a hot hatchback, reminiscent of the earliest Golf GTI’s. Lots of fun to drive. I don’t know anything about the Dolphin, what did impress me about the Atto was the wheels and tyres.

7Kw

EP+ is also LFP and a crazy price if you can find one.

The other benefit with LiFePo4 batteries is specific to Thailand, they perform well in a hot climate, they are not as good as other chemistries in cold climates, but they are currently the optimum for Thailand. They are also less fussy about charging to high SoC. Given a choice of LFP or other technologies, I would go for the LFP every time, even though their energy density is inferior. The launch date in the UK of the MG Cyberster is announced as summer 2024, pricing is expected to be circa 2.5M baht for the dual motor version, so I'm guessing a bit more in Thailand, though there is no reason it should be.