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See weblink below for full 29 Nov 2024 news article. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/motoring/2911231/thai-investigation-clears-byd-over-discounts Thai investigation ‘clears BYD over discounts’ Consumer Protection Board concluded Chinese EV maker did not break advertising law, say sources The Consumer Protection Board in Thailand has cleared the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD of wrongdoing over discount practices that prompted complaints from BYD owners and a subsequent investigation, two sources familiar with the matter said. The government in July launched an investigation into BYD’s local distributor, Rever Automotive, after a complaint alleged they had told buyers that vehicle prices would rise after a discount campaign ended, but instead they cut prices further soon after — by as much as 340,000 baht.

BYD Vehicle Promotion Prices during the 28 No -10 Dec 2024 Motor Expo Show.

While I have no doubt that any EV parts/components "actually made in Thailand" would cost more than EV parts made in China I doubt a lot of EV parts/components are actually "made" in Thailand at this time. Instead, currently EV production in Thailand like the BYD new factory in Rayong Thailand is predominately an "assembly" factory where parts/assemblies made elsewhere (like in China) are shipped to Thailand and then "assembled" in Thailand. To get more technical the BYD plant in Thailand is really a "CKD" factory at this time where CKD stands for "Completely Knocked Down" where the vehicle is "assembled" from parts/assemblies made elsewhere like in China. https://www.wapcar.my/news/byd-opens-first-ckd-plant-in-south-east-asia-in-thailand-celebrates-with-price-cuts-for-atto-3-dolphin-of-up-to-rm-44k-80348 BYD opens first CKD plant in South East Asia in Thailand; celebrates with price cuts for Atto 3, Dolphin

Above where I talked the SIM and firmware upgrade I asked the dealership if they would also give me a "State of Health (SOH)" reading for my traction battery since it supposedly just involves them taking a reading with their "high end" OBD2 tablet which can read all data the BYD maintains in its BMS, ECUs, etc. The answer was a quick and definite "no as they will only do that for an apparent problem with the traction battery." I expect they do not want to go down that rabbit hole with customers unless there truly is possible problem with the traction battery. I was hoping they would give me a SOH reading to see if it matches up with my own SOH measurements using OBD2 data I can read with my cheapie OBD2 adapter and app. Basically to determine your own SOH reading you basically take the "Accumulated KWH Charge" and associated "Nominal State of Charge (SOC)" readings which comes direct from the EV OBD2 data...do that with as low of SOC as possible to increase the accuracy of your measurement/calculations. Since the Accumulated KWH Charge reading only reports in whole KWHs to get the most accurate SOH reading you need to start charging and watch for the Accumulated KWH reading to increases by 1 KWH....note that reading and also immediately note the Nominal SOC reading which will be to a tenth of a percentage...your EV display only shows whole numbers but the OBD2 data shows to the tenth of a percent. It's important to take these two readings as the KWH reading increases by 1KWH to significantly increase the accuracy of your measurement/calculations since each KWH can represent close to 2% depending on your traction battery size...like my Atto's 60.5KWH battery each 1KWH represents 1.65% SOC. If my Atto battery size was say 50KWH tenth each KWH is 2% SOC. It's just important to take the OBD2 Accumulated KWH Charge and Nominal SOC readings at the moment the KWH increases by 1KWH. Now, continue charging....you need to take you next Accumulated KWH Charge and Nominal SOC readings around 95 to 97% SOC because once the EV charges to 98.5% per OBD data reading (which will shown as 99% on your car's display) it will stop displaying a tenth of a percent increase above 98.5%...or at least it does with my Atto OBD data....that is, OBD data will not display 98.6, 98.7. 99.6%, etc.,)...and once the BMS determines the battery is 100% charged then the OBD reading will jump from 98.5% to 100% along with your car display now showing 100%, With those beginning and ending Accumulated KWH Charge and Nominal SOC readings you now "extrapolate that data to represent a charge from 0 to 100% (and be sure to adjust for the approx KWH in the battery when beginning the charge and the approx KWH after your last reading. I've probably lost a lot of you with this math. Anyway, I've done several of the SOH measurements over the last few months and my readings and math result in a 97.6% SOH after owing the Atto for 13 months and almost 26,000 kilometers. P.S. The OBD2 app I is use called Car Scanner Pro which does have a battery "SOH Calculated" which is a bogus reading (95.88% for my Atto) since it "not" a direct SOH reading determined by the BMS because I expect the software coding to extract the real-world SOH reading is most likely proprietary BYD data...or maybe the BMS don't even make a specific SOH determination as that's left up to different ways to determine SOH. The app developer knows EV owners really want to see a SOH reading so the author "calculated", repeat, calculated a SOH reading by looking at two pieces of OBD data that is directly available from the BMS....the High Voltage Battery Pack Factory Amp-Hour Capacity of each battery cell (152AH for my Atto) and the High Voltage Battery Pack Factory Nominal Capacity (145.73AH for my Atto). These two pieces of OBD data are hard coded at the Factory and never, repeat, never update as the battery ages. Divide 145.73 by 152 and you get a "Calculated SOH" according to the Car Scanner Pro app of 95.88% which is what Car Scanner Pro reports in "SOH Calculated' readout in....BUT as already mentioned this "calculated SOH" is based on two OBD2 data elements that are hard coded into the battery BMS at the Factory and never change...and will still report 95.88% next week, next month, next years, 10 years from now. So, to get a real-world SOH reading a person needs to do some KWH beginning and ending measurements along with some extrapolation math like I've talked above. Yeap, best I can figure my Atto's real world traction battery SOH is around 97.6% after13 months and 26,000km which also sounds about right based on LFP battery SOH data I've found on the internet.

See weblink below for full 28 Nov 2024 news article...partial quote from article also below. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/motoring/2910632/car-trade-in-plan-deemed-insufficient Car trade-in plan deemed insufficient Industry skeptical that incentives proposed by government will revive slumping auto sales A government plan to launch a car trade-in programme is meant to revive domestic car sales, but car manufacturers and industry observers say it might not be enough, requesting more new measures to end the long slump. They are hopeful for improved car sales during the 12-day Thailand International Motor Expo, which starts on Friday. Industry Minister Akanat Promphan acknowledged automakers’ concerns over the nosedive in domestic sales as he presided at the 41st annual car event, being held at Impact Challenger in Nonthaburi. ....

And typically price discounts during motor show events also apply at any dealership in the country.....no need to actually attend the motor expo to get the discount.

Who's to say the pricing in China will not continue to drop which is turn drive continued price cuts outside of China like in Thailand? And these price's cuts on the BYD Seal are HUGE!!! If I was a person who bought a Seal over the last few months I would be livid!!!!

Looks like the Atto promotion/price reduction does "not" include a free wall charger with installation which is worth around Bt25K (or more depending on installation costs).

The way many people have become addicted to the "use of mobile phone apps" car manufacturers now many people want to have "plenty of apps" on their car system regardless of car being a BEV, ICEV, or Hybrid. And I think some folks have had their mobile phone surgically attached to their hand to ensure they can always access some app(s). It's quickly getting to the point car manufacturers know they "must" provide car infotainment systems that will mimics a person's mobile phone otherwise many potential customers will just go buy a vehicle from a manufacturer that does include a whiz infotainment system which includes lots of apps.

Based on BYD's past "limited time only" price reductions/promotions" (which turn out to be much long running promotions or even lower prices) I wouldn't be surprised to see this promotion pricing become the new baseline price after 10 Dec....or another "year end sale" promotion is announced maintaining the price. Can sure make potential customers gun-shy in buying an EV due to continued price cutting.

Seems the cut throat pricing and price war is still in full swing.

My guess is you will "not" receive the SIM upgrade unless you ask (press) for it...and it might not be a bad idea to visit the dealership over the next day or two that's doing the one year checkup to say you want the SIM upgrade done also just in case they need to order the SIM and/or adjust the appointment window length of time. And supposedly some folks have run into resistance from their dealership in doing the SIM swap/upgrade too many months before the 2 year subscription of the original SIM ends.

I also just noticed with the firmware upgrade that was part of the SIM swap/upgrade the Atto Navigation System (i.e., built-in map) is completely different....settings menu, appearance once opening, icons on the map, etc. Will need to play with it more over the coming days to see if this new version is better than the old version as the old version could definitely stand some improvements. But at least my Saved Locations were still in the map. I also noticed the firmware upgrade triggered a notification there was updated Voice Command software for English (American) and Thai ready for download/install which I did successfully via Wifi connection. Yeap...the SIM upgrade comes with a firmware update that goes beyond just "SIM stuff." I expect I'll find more changes over the coming days BUT I'm pretty sure I have already discovered (stumbled across) all the major firmware changes/updates.

Got the SIM upgrade/swap for my Atto today....it took the dealership about two hours to complete considering the associated firmware update, paperwork, and washing the car. Totally free. When the dust settled the original SINGTEL (Singapore Telecon) SIM was replaced with a True-H SIM....and a firmware update which included the G-Box app. The G-Box provides a virtual machine environment which allows a person to download/install Google apps within the G-Box virtual machine environment from the Google Play store. Same 2GB monthly data allotment for the new SIM and the original 2 year SIM subscription is extended by 3 months...end result is a 2 yr 3 month subscription from the date you originally took possession of your BYD vehicle. So, if you want to consume LOTS of data....like watching Youtube a lot....you'll need to use a Wifi connection/mobile HotSpot setup like you do now or you will quickly eatup all of your monthly 2GB allotment. I did use G-Box to logon to Google Play and install Youtube and Google Maps just as a test....install and startup of the two apps went fine. In Google Play the device appeared as a Google Pixel 5. It appears there are many, many apps a person can install. I then deleted the two apps and logged out of Google Play as I wanted to start from scratch again when I have adequate time to properly tinker. See snapshots and associated notes below for more info. And the BYD app continued to work fine with the new True SIM "although I did need to completely logon of the BYD app" and then log back in with password to establish a new connection due to the SIM swap in the car...then the BYD app and car were communicating again. Before swap-out of SingTel SIM for True-H SIM. After swap of SIM from SingTel to True-H G-Box App on Page 3 Below is what appears after tapping on above Gbox app icon. It show two pages of "recommended" apps but I expect you can do a search on Google Play and install many more apps if desired. As mentioned earlier after logging onto the installed Google Play app with one of my Google accts I then tapped on Youtube to install it...and then tapped on Google Maps to install it....those two apps then appeared under the "Installed Apps" area. When I deleted them they disappeared from the Installed Apps area and reappeared in the Recommended Apps area. Before deleting Youtube I checked to see if it would continue playing once putting the car in Drive for about 5 seconds and it did continue playing vs stopping....before when running Youtube without GBox, Youtube would stop playing and give a pop-up message saying it can only viewed while the vehicle is in Park.

Probably due to the different style of seating between a "SUV" type vehicle (like the Sealion 7) which typically offers a higher setting feel compared to a "sedan/saloon" type vehicle (like the Seal) which typically offers a lower setting feel. What's your approx height?

Great you arrived...no electrons shortage. Where you say "...ignore the apps..." surely you don't mean the actual charging network apps like the PTT and PEA apps as without the chargers showing on those apps you wouldn't have been able to use those chargers.

UPDATE to above post...I succeeded in adding my foreign card: Although the automated responses from my card issuing bank where they said my card is good-to-go now since I confirmed it was indeed me attempting to add my card to the net PTT app I decided to "call" my bank to confirm since PTT rejected my card again...and I didn't even get to the receiving the security code part of the process. I have had these a few times over the years where you respond to the card-issuing bank automated texts/emails asking if it was indeed me or not attempting a transaction and that always cleared things up....the card was indeed good-to-go again. But this time I decided I wanted to call and confirm with my bank since I wanted to try to determine if it was just PTT rejecting the card but making it appear it was my card issuing bank...OR was my card issuing bank indeed causing the issue....the card was really not-good-to-go again. When I called my bank they just asked again if it was me who attempted the transaction and I said Yes. The rep then said she refreshed the card and I can try again. I then talked to the rep about, Does the automated process/replies I gave saying it was indeed me...asked does that automated process really work or not? The rep said Yes it does but sometimes it "takes a little time." Anyway, the rep said I could try again....I said thanks...have a nice day...and ended the call. I then tried adding the card again to the new PTT app and this time I once again got to the prompt to receive the security code....I received the code...entered the code to hopefully complete the PTT card addition process and this time it was a success!!!!---card was accepted and added as a payment option in the PTT app. So, the new PTT app "will" accept foreign cards.

I did try one of my foreign (U.S.) credit cards...a card I had added in another Thai charging network app....but when trying to get it approved in the PTT app it failed. I thought it was going to work because during the process of adding the card I had to receive a security code/one time passcode from my credit card issuing bank just like what happened when adding my Bangkok Bank debit card. I did get that code from my card issuing bank...but after then entering the code to finalize the process the addition of the card as a payment option failed. And then I also got email/text from my card issuing bank saying the transaction had been "declined" as possible fraudulent transaction and also asked to to confirm if it was me attempting the the transaction. I responded with a Yes it was me who attempted the transaction...and then my bank said now good to go and can try the transaction again. I did try to add the card again in the new PTT app but now the PTT app would decline it right up front...not even go thru to process to have a security code sent...said to contact my card issuing bank. I figure what is going on is since the card payment option addition process failed once/the first time that PTT don't even want to try a second time. Maybe others have added a non-Thai credit/debit card in the PTT app with success? Anyway, I'm not going to try any of my other foreign cards...will just go with the one payment option (the Bangkok Bank debit card) which I did get added successfully.

In my above post I mentioned PTT EV Station Pluz responded to my query about no charging stations showing right now in the new app...below is a quote of that response which gives a little more detail on the downtime between the currrent/retiring PTT Pluz app and the new/incoming PTT Pluz app. From 2 Dec at 7pm till next morning/3 Dec at 8am the apps will be doing their handoff and you will not be able to use either app. So, if you were planning on using a PTT charger during above apps switchover dates/times you might want to adjust your plan.

Got an email today regarding the current PTT Station Pluz charging app being retired 2 Dec 2024 at 7pm Thai time and being replaced on 3 Dec 2024 with their "new" app. Below is a google translation of the email and I also added Google Play and Apple Store links to the new app which became available today/26 Nov. You can "now" download/install the new app and have it all setup for 3 Dec when it goes fully operational. I did install from Google Play and got registered OK....I used my foreign passport to register. I also was able to add a payment method....only payment method allowed is via credit/debit card payment just like on the current/being retired PTT Pluz app. I used my Bangkok Bank debit card (Mastercard)....during this payment setup process where "one" baht is debited from my bank acct account to finalize/confirm the payment method. I may try later to see if it will accept a foreign card which supposedly the old app would not...had to be a Thai credit/debit card. Based on memory when I added my debit card over a year ago under the current, soon to be retired app it also made a debit for a few baht and it was refunded about 3 weeks later to my bank account. Anyway, I was able to setup my Profile, payment method, EV to be charged, etc., in the new app. However, currently the new app does "not" show any charging stations. I figured this is probably due to the app not going fully operational till 3 Dec. I sent an email to PTT Pluz customer service about this and they responded about 30 minutes later saying full use of the app to charge "and display of charging stations, booking stations, etc., " would not occur until 3 Dec. So, if you install the app before 3 Dec you can still get everything setup and ready to go but charging stations will not be displayed until 3 Dec. Google Translate Snapshot.

Elon's tax return is probably bigger (i.e., number of pages declaring tax write-off/deduction/credits) than all the tax returns "combined" by all LTR applicants to date. And when the dust settles Elon's tax bill is probably close to zero....pretty much like Donald's....which as you said might not allow him to qualify for an LTR visa.😜 But Elon is not worried....he would just fork out Bt5M in pocket change for an Elite Reserve 20 year visa if he wanted to spend a lot of time in Thailand and have an army of tax CPAs/lawyers ensuring he paid no tax in Thailand.

The LTR website does say 2 years for a Work from Thailand visa but there have been posts of 1 year being enough depending on the nature of the person's finances/employment. Plus, I thought you wanted to try for the Work from Thailand visa by using only 4 months of financial data which wouldn't fly. 1 year's worth will possibly fly depending on the nature of the finances/person's situation, but 2 years is indeed what the BOI says they want to see. Now, if going for a LTR pensioner visa then they will ask for only 1 year of tax returns and since some pensions are not taxed at all or only partially taxed (i.e., not even reported on a tax return) that where other financial docs is critical such as a pension benefit letter/certificate saying you are paid X-amount per month/quarter/year....and just to repeat an amount that may not even be reflected on a tax return depending on tax laws/regulations which vary from country to country. And if you just started a pension(s)/some kind of passive income that takes you over the minimum financial requirement but it could be a year (or more) before a tax return would possibly reflect such then a tax return might not even be required if your pension docs clearly show you just started a the pension like says some type of govt pension that BOI is sure will continue. And a short memo explaining your pensions such as not being taxable/partially taxable, just started, etc., will help prove/show you do meet the required income requirements although a tax return might show you falling a little short.

The Sealion 7 is a bigger and heavier car than the Seal. Sealion 7 Seal

Probably not going to fly because Nov-Dec of previous year thru Jan-Feb of the following year is only 4 months max of financial data; not the required 12 months of data. Proof of income doesn't have to cover the calendar year period of Jan-Dec....it can be any 12 month period like say Oct 2023 thru Sep 2024, etc., but you'll need the financial docs to prove it like for those Jan-Sep months since you will not have an income tax return for those 9 months. This may require you to provide more than 12 months worth of proof like maybe your previous year income tax return "and" part of the current calendar year you are currently in thru the use of bank/brokerage statements, pension statement, etc. Can keep in mind the "type" of LTR visa you are applying for will determine the "type" of income BOI will accept. For example when going for a LTR "Pensioner" visa BOI is looking for unearned/passive income; not income from wages/employment.

If you feel the proof has already been provided then upload it again "with a short memo" which you feel will help explain the proof and/or point out where the proof is stated/provided Although you may feel the proof provided is clear as the nose on your face maybe it's really not that clear to the BOI reviewer and you need to gently & politely resubmit the proof "with memo." Throughout this l....o.....n.....g thread there are many posts where additional proof/docs were requested....the applicant then resubmitted the same proof/doc initially provided....and this time BOI was made happy. So, submit the requested docs/additional proof....if you don't your application will just gather cobwebs in the BOI "awaiting applicant to provide additional docs" box. Good luck...and just the fact BOI is already seriously reviewing your application after on a few days is a good thing. When the LTR program first kicked off several years ago sometimes it would take BOI over a month just to do a "first look" of your application.