matchar

So 165 hydrogen stations in the whole of Japan compared to 40,000 petrol stations... https://thedriven.io/2023/06/23/nothing-can-compete-finkel-concedes-battery-electric-beats-hydrogen-cars/

PR news...AKA puff piece. And that's just a prototype, it will never become mainstream. How many EV charging stations are there in Thailand right now? A lot more than 1 and rapidly increasing.

Except that hydrogen is a gas and it needs to be stored in heavy high pressure cylinders 350–700 bar [5,000–10,000 psi] tank pressure. It also needs high pressure pumps at refueling stations...

So instead of a large heavy battery you have a large heavy cylinder of hydrogen (or two) under high pressure that can only be refuelled at specialised hydrogen stations...of which Thailand currently has 0 and even in Japan I believe they are few and far between. Also the cost of hydrogen is much higher than petrol especially "green" hydrogen made from renewable energy. Elon Musk called them "fool cells" and for once I agree with him. Toyota was betting big on hydrogen fuel cells but now they've had to u-turn to EVs and are playing catch up...

You mean you earn "creator tokens" and sell those tokens for USD cash? How many hours does it take to earn that $10?

No it's not April fool's... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-67005620

Not to mention 20% VAT compared to Thailand's 7%.

Looks nice, a shame about the Lithium Ternary (NMC) battery though.

And that's why electricity has been so expensive. The dispute meant domestic gas production massively declined and Thailand had to rely on more imported gas. Massive Prayut own goal and consumers are paying the price.

Yes they are a bit late to the party but Thailand is a very important market for Toyota. My 22 year old Toyota ICE still runs fine and I'm happy to wait for the right time to upgrade to an EV. If I needed one right now I would choose MG but I still have some doubts about how well they will hold up after 20 years.

Yes I would take their solid state battery claims with a pinch of salt but there are plenty of Chinese CATL batteries available that they can use for their next EV model (just as Tesla does). The reason the bZ4X is so expensive in Thailand is because it's made in Japan and subject to import duties unlike the Chinese rivals. Give it a few years and I expect Toyota will have a decent reasonably priced EV made in Thailand probably with a Chinese battery.

I could be wrong but I'm betting even after the subsidies end the prices will stay the same or fall due to increased competition. Battery prices are coming down and EV prices are still trending downwards in China after the subsidies ended.

More than enough batteries to go around right now: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Caixin/Chinese-battery-makers-brace-for-price-war-to-supply-EV-producers PS if you reach the limit for free articles clear your cookies or open in an incognito tab.

Don't be so quick to write off legacy carmakers such as Toyota. They have the means to catch up with the Chinese and first movers can actually end up at a disadvantage if technology rapidly improves since they have invested a lot in R&D and may end up with stranded assets that are made redundant. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Toyota-gigacasting-prototype-cuts-production-from-hours-to-minutes

Yes I'm still waiting for further price cuts. The competition is just heating up and China has a massive oversupply of batteries. The fear of the Thai government subsidies running out soon might be driving sales in the short term but I don't think the car companies are passing on the full subsidy to the customers anyway.

It's cheap but you get what you pay for. I think the MG 4 is better value for money (based on specs) although I haven't tried either yet.

The answer is obvious...because they don't want to start a nuclear war.

Until they start hogging all the public chargers in Bangkok...

This topic is bound to cause a lot of debate but I think the batteries in electric cars are designed and tested to be much much safer than the cheap batteries in cheap no name scooters.

And even better, MG is nearly half the price of the Volvo. I can't blame the Chinese for using British soft power for marketing purposes. Buying the MG brand has worked out very well for SAIC...shrewd business IMO.

Not sure if this has been posted already but here's an update: https://www.nationthailand.com/special-edition/ev/40030792

This is the test drive form in Thai. I'm not sure if it's the same for all dealers.

Has anyone been for a test drive with MG? I had booked one for today but they just told me there's no insurance and I have to sign a contract for liability in case of any accident so I think I'm going to cancel. Too many uninsured drivers around in Thailand...

Has anyone been for a test drive with MG? I had booked one for today but they just told me there's no insurance and I have to sign a contract for liability in case of any accident so I think I'm going to cancel. Too many uninsured drivers around in Thailand...

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/byd/seal