4myr

Yeah sure, how many times facelifts of Thai BYD models have been diluted from the Chinese and even Australian ones. A big reason is price and positioning. Do you see the Thai Atto 3 EVO being priced higher than the Sealion 7 Premium with 400V technology?

With the low interest rate I am considering in buying short term Thai govt bonds, as they give a better yield and is tax exempted than fixed deposits with the freedom to sell it and get your funds back the next working day. SCB has SCBTMF vs KKP CASH-E. For my wife's retirement fund I am considering to add world stocks [ SCBWORLD vs KKP WORLD-E ] and global bonds [ SCBGLOB vs KKP BND-H-E ] to the portfolio. The latter is hedged against the Thai baht. It also seems that the KKP Save account gives a higher interest rate than SCB or Kbank. Any preferences for either SCB or KKP, due to lower TCO, more reliable app, etc? Or are they almost identical, so if I wanna profit from the low cost E class funds, I just have both SCB and KKP accounts, as these funds are limited to 1M baht per account.

I own the J5 for 2 months now. More than happy with it. It drives efficiently, steering and suspension is fine if you don't drive too fast. There are a few quirks I already got used to: sometimes Android Auto needs a reset to work, the remote fob auto lock/unlock will not always work. Also drive in lowest regen mode and don't trust the lane keep assist, but adaptive stop-and-go cruise control works fine. I did a few DIY improvements, like a rat guard plate to prevent rodents from entering the cabin and extend the AC outlet hose so water will not spread to the metal underbody. The last one took me less than half an hour of work. I noticed that the sea journey from China left some tiny rust spots on the underbody parts. As I live 4km from the coast, I will give the metal underbody, wheel arches and door sills cavities some rust protection treatment [Tuff Kote Dinol]. If you like to drive fast, then I would suggest to do some 3D wheel balancing and lower suspension tuning. I did not have any issues with the car, except one keyfob key did not work, but it was repaired in an hour by Hua Hin service center. But on facebook you will read people stranded, because the software went haywire. So I have a wrench in the car to disconnect the 12V battery to reset the system. Others complain about long wait times for spare parts. I'll keep my ICE car, until this will be resolved. The reasons I bought the car. I would have liked to buy a BYD or MG because of it's popularity. But I drove them it was not to my liking. The same with Deepal S05. AION UT I like driving it, but the company is loosing money. But J5 drove well, price performance is the best, and they expanded their dealerships quite fast. I bought the car at Phetchaburi not knowing 2 weeks later that there was a branch in Hua Hin. The factory to produce J5 in Thailand will start this month. Chery the mother company is expanding fast with new brands/models like Chery, Tiggo, Jetour and Lepas. I just hope they will manage this expansion well. But recently Omoda & Jaecoo admitted that they need to improve on the after sales and spare parts. On facebook there were posts recently from renowned 3rd party EV repair shops, that disassembled the J5 battery and looked at the rear suspension. Overall the quality of materials was good. As J5 can also be bought as an ICE car, they had to make some compromises with the battery layout. The battery is easy to disassemble and is modular, however at the back 3 modules are stacked on top of each other. This makes maintenance, like cell balancing and replacing cells by a repair center harder to do. But the cooling materials are well made.

Thanks for the summary. The point they made that battery degrades faster while dc charging and the owner sits in the cabin and turns on the AC is a good one. This is the case to most EVs, as the AC system loop is shared between cabin evaporator and battery/motor heat exchanger. The point is not the high load of the cooling system, but that the cooling system has a finite cooling capacity, and the battery gets less cooling, if the cabin also needs to be cooled. So best is to turn off the cabin AC and get body cooling in Cafe Amazon or 7-11.

OBD monitoring for EV battery longevity If you are serious with battery health monitoring please read this. This info is the result of some research I have done with the help of various AI chatbots i.e. perplexity, gemini, claude and brave. Note that the recommendations I made here are from these chatbots as I have not yet tested these apps and dongles before. What to monitor Earlier we have learned from chatgpt for longevity of your EV battery, it is best to monitor in real time these parameters: Min/max cell voltage Max cell temperature Voltage delta under load I would like to add also min cell temperature to see if the cooling is uneven. Other parameters like SOH, SOC and power draw are nice to have, but does not tell you much about issues in cooling or that you need to trigger a cell balance. Custom sensors [PIDs] and which apps Parameters like min cell voltage and max cell temperature are not standard OBD2 parameters. You need custom or extended PIDs that are first defined by the EV’s ECU and that can be read out by the app. Therefore the sensor must be provided in the app’s profile database or added and maintained by user communities. Car scanner is best in boiler plate profiles for these custom PIDs, while Torque Pro is better, if there are user communities maintaining these PIDs. For chinese EVs, it is better to stay with Car scanner, because there are hardly any good user community profiles yet. Is your EV supported by Car scanner? You can check here whether your EV has a profile and how often it is updated: https://www.carscanner.info/author/overzealus/. Chinese EVs sold in Thailand that are currently missing in this log are for example GAC Aion, Changan Deepal, Changan Avatr, Geely EX5. Which obd dongle? Bottom line: best is OBDLink MX+ but expensive and overkill. A good value that has all the features is Vgate icar pro 2S. If you don’t need autowake or a fast refresh rate Vgate icar pro is sufficient. In all situations, best is to also have the extension cable with a switch for security. Avoid noname brands without proper specs as they advertise on facebook EV groups, like the Chinese one I mentioned before. Konnwei KW90x as recommended by some has limited ISO-TP support and may struggle with reading reliably custom PIDs. Here the gory details of the aspects needed for a OBD dongle: 1) for reading custom PIDs the dongle must support UDS (service 0x22) and ISO-TP for robust flow control. Also good firmware updates are needed to ensure quality. Good support for 0x22 and firmware updates are: OBDLink xx, Vgate xx, Veepeak BLE+. Note that the Konnwei KW90x has limited ISO-TP support and may struggle with custom PIDs, while Vgate icar pro has full support for custom pids. Chatbots confirm they are different products and not the same white label product. 2) in some situations you want to read out the parameters fast enough from the EV. For example when accelerating, your CAN bus might be busy with loads of data and the dongle must have a good speed. For a good sample speed of 3-5Hz for about 10 custom PIDs while the EV is accelerating, it is then best to get a dongle that supports Bluetooth 5.x. Top of the line is OBDLink MX+ but overkill. Vgate icar pro 2s is good enough. Vgate icar pro and Veepeak BLE+ may struggle when CAN bus is busy, because of lower BT4.0 support. 3) Not necessary for battery health monitoring. An autowake is a very good feature that you need if you want to monitor and log intermittent issues. Some dongles have issues with autowake with an EV, like some reddit users reported on Vgate icar pro. Good candidates: OBDLink MX+, Vgate icar pro 2s. 4) If you don’t need to log intermittent issues, you can buy an extension cable with a switch. This switch will prevent autowake issues and will also prevent any remote access, when you are leaving the car. 5) If you want to have good charger trip planning connected with realtime SOC data, you could use ABRP with a dongle. Best is to have the same dongle for ABRP and battery health monitoring. Good candidates reported by users are the same mentioned before: OBDLink xx, Vgate icar pro xx, Veepeak BLE+

So I told chatgpt I wanna be bold and push the envelope. In 10 years time I wanna change EV, as sodium ion will reach nirvana level and solid state will pass early adopter stage. So my questions are: 1) how many km more I can drive to end with 70% soh after 10 years, and how IR degradation will be 2) instead of driving more, I wanna use the EV as home battery at night by discharging V2L or V2H. How much extra kwh I can discharge to reach 70% soh and how about IR degradation BTW. I estimated both DIY V2L vs V2H installation cost. My house uses 90 kwh per month, during the day I sell surplus kwh to PEA. A simple DIY V2L installation that will supply my home during power outage or just on turn of main breaker switch costs below 6k baht. V2H is much more expensive and not worth the investment in Thailand, between 100-150k, as I need a bidirectional dc-dc charger, a hybrid inverter and extra 500v+ solar array, if I wanna charge dc. Besides I will loose my PEA FIT contract. ✅ Option A — More driving LFP rough rule in warm climate: Every +10k km/year ≈ +1.5–2% extra loss over 10 years Annual km 10-year SOH Notes 10k 82–85% ✅ current baseline 15k 78–81% minor difference 20k 72–76% ✅ hits target band 25k 68–72% comfortably at 70% goal ➡️ 20–22k km/year will typically land you at ~70–75% SOH ➡️ Still reasonable in Thailand if charging mostly at night ✅ Option B — More V2L/V2H discharging Baseline 10k km driving = ~2,000 kWh/year cycling To reach ~70% SOH, add ~50–60% cycling: ✅ Add ~1000–1500 kWh V2L per year That’s: 3–4 kWh/day (1000–1500 kWh/year) Similar to running small appliances every night Extra V2L annually 10-year SOH effect +500 kWh Small impact (84→82%) +1000 kWh 80–78% +1500 kWh 75–72% ✅ target +2000 kWh 72–70% ➡️ Daily V2L for home consumption = enough to hit ~70–75% SOH I also wanna know the cost of extra wear and tear of V2L/V2H discharging in terms of charging pins and internal electronic equipment ✅ Total Longevity Comparison System More Driving (20k) V2L Heavy (10k + 4 kWh/day) Battery life (to 70% SOH) ✅ same ✅ same DC/AC charge port wear Low High AC + cooling system wear Low-medium Medium-high Drivetrain Medium wear ✅ Very low wear Overall cost impact Neutral +10k–30k THB over 10 yrs 🔍 Bottom Line Recommendation If you want 70% SOH after 10 years and also want: Priority Best choice Lowest long-term maintenance cost ✅ Drive more (20k km/yr) Highest utility from car energy ✅ V2L nightly usage Lowest stress on mechanical parts ✅ V2L path Lowest stress on EV electronics ❌ NOT V2L (connector + AC wear) Even though the electricity cost gain in 10 years [45k baht] is higher than the wear and tear cost, there is discomfort, if the EV cannot be used due to extra wait & repair time. So better use V2L for your home moderately.

I wanted to know how my EV battery degradation will fare after 10 years with 10k km per year: 60/40% between AC and DC charging parking home at 30-35C ambient in shade I am willing to keep the good habits in terms of driving, charging and preventive maintenance but I don't want to wait for EV to cool down before DC charging and DC chargers in Thailand are in the open hot sun 60kwh LFP chemistry, 2C fast charging, performance new: 0-100 km/h in 7s, top speed 160 km/h I asked chatgpt for a very short summary. I noticed that chatgpt is a bit more conservative on the habits in terms of: more frequent AC condenser cleaning lower SoC window charging and driving lower voltage delta to start cell balancing ✅ 1️⃣ Realistic Battery Aging Outcomes After 10 Years / 100,000 km Parameter New After 10 Years Consequence SOH (capacity) 100% 80–85% ~10–15% less driving range Internal Resistance (IR) Baseline +25–35% increase Slower fast charging at high SOC + minor performance reduction 📌 What this means in daily use: Range: ~15% reduction → if new = 400 km, later = 340 km typical DC fast charging: Peak 120–130 kW new → 80–100 kW later More tapering above 60% SOC Performance: 0–100 km/h +0.5 to +1.0 sec slower High-speed power slightly reduced (hill climbing still fine) Still no “end of life” → that’s around 70% SOH 👉 So: battery remains usable and practical after 10 years if cared for properly. ✅ 2️⃣ Required Habits to Achieve This Long-Term Battery Health ✅ Good Driving & Temperature Behavior Avoid repeated hard acceleration in >35°C weather If parked in sun: use sunshade and cabin pre-cooling Prefer Eco mode when possible Keep battery ≤45°C during most use ✅ Safe Charging Habits Charging Best Practice DC fast charging Keep to ≤40% of all km (you said ~40% → ✅) Charging window 20–70% daily use target High SOC avoidance Avoid >85% unless needed for trips Never leave at 100% Drive shortly after reaching 100% Home AC charging Prefer low/medium power (3.5–7 kW) Hot battery after highway ~10–20 min cooldown before DC if possible 📌 If you cannot wait → okay, only occasionally when BMS warns high temp. ✅ Parking Recommendations Duration Best SOC Notes Overnight 50–70% Standard Multi-day 45–60% Best for longevity Weeks/Months 40–50% Plug in if >4 weeks ✅ Preventive Maintenance System Action Frequency Battery coolant Replace OEM fluid Every 40,000 km AC condenser Clean + check airflow Annually Leak check AC system integrity Every 2 years Cabin filter Replace for airflow Every 6–12 months ✅ Monitoring with OBD Track: Min/max cell voltage Max cell temperature Voltage delta under load Trigger cell balancing: When voltage spread >20–30 mV Charge to 80–90% and hold for 1–2 hours ✅ Overall Conclusion for You Under your usage: 📌 The EV will likely remain reliable, safe, and practical for 10–12 years 📌 No major performance or charging limitations expected

Wanna share this video in Thai/English AI voice over on "why EV insurance companies make losses and why premiums increase". Title: Deep Dive into the EV Insurance Crisis: Exclusive Interview with Anon Wangwasu, Thai General Insurance Association. I've asked chatgpt to make a summary: ✅ Why EV Insurance in Thailand Is Losing Money (Expert Arguments) 1️⃣ Low number of vehicles per model → High uncertainty Many EV models have only a few hundred to a few thousand units on the road. Insurers need 10,000+ units per model to build a reliable claims-risk profile. Without data → insurers must assume higher risk → raise premiums. 🔎 Example: A small batch of claims on a rare model can already cause >100% loss ratio. 2️⃣ Repairs restricted to brand service centers To keep the battery + powertrain warranty, repairs must be done at official dealer workshops. No secondary repair market → zero price competition. Labour + parts cost increase significantly. 📌 Chery, BYD, MG all enforce strict “authorized center only” repair rules. 3️⃣ Spare parts extremely expensive EV design is high integration → replace entire module, not small components. Full parts control by brand → premium pricing. “Spare parts margins for some Chinese EV brands are higher than vehicle margins.” (Thai EV repair experts comment) PS. On X I read a post about Chery making 20% margin on spare parts, 5% on EVs and 15% on ICE cars 4️⃣ High total loss rate Battery = 60–70% of vehicle value Any damage near the pack (impact, fire risk, flood) → insurer declares total loss These claims are very expensive → loss ratio spikes 5️⃣ Higher accident rate among EV drivers In Thailand, EV buyers are often new drivers (especially younger users) High instant torque → quicker acceleration → more hit-and-run/collision incidents Regenerative braking feel takes time to adapt → rear-end accidents more frequent Insurance companies confirm higher claim frequency vs ICE cars for similar ages 6️⃣ Fast depreciation + uncertain long-term value If a car is totaled after 2 years, the battery still costs almost new price Insurer pays high claim → resale recovers very little Risk grows if brand exits market (warranty + service collapse) 📈 Result: Premiums must rise All insurers now adjust pricing to reflect real costs: Premiums going up every year Some insurers stop covering certain EV models More policies require: ✅ higher deductibles ✅ battery exclusion or sub-limits ✅ tracking and telematics ✅ official service centers only

It has it's own Chinese app. The problem with shopee is you have to login. That's why my original post contains the screenshots of interest to me. I don't know if Car Scanner [Pro] supports most of the Chinese EVs that they sell in Thailand. I have asked chatgpt if this is the case and answer was negative. While the shopee link says it supports "BYD, AION, CHANGAN, XPENG, OMODA, ZEEKR". The parameters I'm interested in are the following, which I can put on a dashboard, if Car Scanner can show them: 1) min and max cell temp 2) min and max cell voltage. I am not interested in a dashboard with all cell voltages or cell temps and I have to figure out min and max values.

Is anyone using this OBD scanner of an unknown Chinese brand? https://shopee.co.th/product/764543968/27360481115 Why? Because I was triggered by this comprehensive battery health report or dashboard it can generate. I don't know if it can generate this for all the Chinese EVs it supports, like BYD, AION, CHANGAN, XPENG, OMODA, ZEEKR, and more. With this report I can know if I need to start cell balancing or that I need to worry about uneven cell cooling or battery overheating.

I agree that the Magazine Battery is module repairable and that one of the GAC centers in Bangkok has a battery repair center. However I am hesitant with lifetime warranty statements in general. I have read MG's document, and it states only "lifetime warranty" but not what it covers. And most of the text describes when the warranty is void. In normal battery warranty docs you would read about capacity degradation below 70% will be covered, and hopefully also performance degradation [ IR value ]. One more note, GAC's top years were 2022 when they were succesful with Aion Y Plus, but they are on a downward trend in terms of sales, negative cashflow and loss. They are in a similar situation like SAIC that the ICE joint ventures with Toyota and Honda have less and less revenue, while NEV sales does not want to pick up so fast to compensate. I follow these investors on X who report on EV automakers' profitability, @glennluk and @alojoh. @glennluk's prediction is still on target

The charger has been installed. If you choose to have it installed, note that the ct sensor is huge.

Has anyone tuned and improved the factory installed suspension for their car? This company in Lampang has a secret I don't know. However I am not willing to go so far to Lampang. Here are some testimonies: Hyptec: https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1BFCZjce91/ Deepal: https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1FGQ45ww2r/ As far as I know factory McPherson struts are not tunable. In general you will buy after market coil overs. So I asked perplexity how do they do it. I can't judge if perplexity is just hallucinating here: "The secret to tuning factory-installed McPherson strut suspension for better high-speed stability, despite these struts typically being non-tunable, lies in subtle geometry and hardware modifications that can adjust camber and damping characteristics. Key methods include: Adjusting camber by modifying the lower control arms length or angles, if adjustable, to achieve better tire contact and reduce understeer. "Kicking" or tilting the strut relative to the spindle by using aftermarket or modified mounting bolts and brackets to increase negative camber; some systems allow replacing bolts with slotted or eccentric ones for fine tuning. Using specialized camber plates or adjustable top mounts that allow changes in static camber and caster angles, which improve tire grip at high speeds during cornering. Upgrading to tuned springs and shock absorbers with tailored damping rates that enhance stability and control for the specific vehicle and driving conditions. Ensuring that these adjustments maintain correct wheel alignment geometry and manage wheel clearance, especially when wider tires or altered offsets are involved. While McPherson struts don't inherently have tunable damper or camber settings, these mechanical tweaks and aftermarket components enable tuning for improved handling and stability at high speed. The company you referenced likely uses such techniques and hardware modifications to achieve better dynamic control on the EVs they service. This approach balances enhanced performance with the limitations of standard McPherson strut design, focusing heavily on camber management and damping adjustments through carefully selected parts and alignment settings." So I'm looking for a shop that can do those tricks of Lampang, but closer to Hua Hin or Bangkok.

Has anyone tuned and improved the factory installed suspension for their car? This company in Lampang has a secret I don't know. However I am not willing to go so far to Lampang. Here are some testimonies: Hyptec: https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1BFCZjce91/ Deepal: https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1FGQ45ww2r/ As far as I know factory McPherson struts are not tunable. In general you will buy after market coil overs. So I asked perplexity how do they do it. I can't judge if perplexity just garbles some random statements here: "The secret to tuning factory-installed McPherson strut suspension for better high-speed stability, despite these struts typically being non-tunable, lies in subtle geometry and hardware modifications that can adjust camber and damping characteristics. Key methods include: Adjusting camber by modifying the lower control arms length or angles, if adjustable, to achieve better tire contact and reduce understeer. "Kicking" or tilting the strut relative to the spindle by using aftermarket or modified mounting bolts and brackets to increase negative camber; some systems allow replacing bolts with slotted or eccentric ones for fine tuning. Using specialized camber plates or adjustable top mounts that allow changes in static camber and caster angles, which improve tire grip at high speeds during cornering. Upgrading to tuned springs and shock absorbers with tailored damping rates that enhance stability and control for the specific vehicle and driving conditions. Ensuring that these adjustments maintain correct wheel alignment geometry and manage wheel clearance, especially when wider tires or altered offsets are involved. While McPherson struts don't inherently have tunable damper or camber settings, these mechanical tweaks and aftermarket components enable tuning for improved handling and stability at high speed. The company you referenced likely uses such techniques and hardware modifications to achieve better dynamic control on the EVs they service. This approach balances enhanced performance with the limitations of standard McPherson strut design, focusing heavily on camber management and damping adjustments through carefully selected parts and alignment settings." So I'm looking for a suspension tuner that can do those tricks of Lampang, but closer to Hua Hin or Bangkok.

What you are looking for is a more flexible DLB [dynamic load balance] charger that has 2 CT sensors, one sensing your solar inverter output and the other one sensing the house load. With the charger app you can set your own threshold for these 2 sensors then, whether you want to charge pure solar or hybrid. Unfortunately I only found this charger from NZ that can do it. There are probably more but not available in Thailand or Aliexpress. Link: https://smartevchargers.co.nz/shop/wall-mount-ev-chargers/smart-ev-wall-charger-with-dlb-and-wifi/ Next week EV Easy Thailand will install a DLB charger at my house. Unfortunately no 2nd CT sensor to sense my solar inverter output. The reason I bought this, because I don't want to have another ugly second circuit grid cable for the charger. I will connect the charger to the primary house circuit, so house and EV charger loads will be shared. I will set the threshold at around 40A. If I schedule my charges in the night, I can have the full 32A capacity for charging, as my house load will be minimal. Links: https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1FyxdhBQzW/, https://www.lazada.co.th/products/pdp-i5857746810-s24957098494.html UPDATE: I can do some tricks and experiments if I want to charge pure solar, by having the CT sensor sense the solar output in reverse and put the threshold at 0A to do pure solar and higher to charge hybrid