Pib

On the Atto 3 the maintenance reminder menu/screen can be set/changed by the dealership or the owner. The owner just goes into the Infotainment maintenance/service reminder area and enters a date and/or kilometers till the next service. It's just a reminder just like setting a calendar reminder on your smartphone, computer, etc.....change it, turn it on, turn it off, etc.

Wanting some more details on exactly what took down so many Windows-based systems my googling revealed it was due to a defective update of Crowdstrike's Falcon Platform software which integrates with a Windows-based system. Basically the Falcon software is a fancy anti-hacking/anti-virus program. See Crowdstrike technical explanation and key to note it mention of its Falcon software. https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/technical-details-on-todays-outage/ So, if you were some business that didn't use Crowdstrike's Falcon system you would not be affected which is why many businesses have reported they were not affected which means they were not using the Falcon software...hopefully using some other anti-hacking/anti-virus software....or maybe they simply were not using any anti-hacking software.

During the telephone interview Manila will basically talk/confirm the data/info you would put on the online application form. Stuff like confirming your address/contact info, basic info on your spouse (if married)....basically just covering what you submitted on your online application. The call will proabably take about 15 minutes. I've went thru 4 of the calls over the last half dozen or so years....one call for me, one for my wife, and two for a couple of my dual citizen (American/Thai) neighbors. Since you are citizen by birth they may not require you to send them your current U.S. passport or certified true copy (you can get a certified copy from the US Embassy Bangkok and maybe the US Consulate Chiang Mai by inperson visit or by mail. They will want to know which bank you want your monthly benefit direct deposited to and may require a copy of the Direct Deposit form. I highly recomend that your DO NOT mail your original passport to avoid the possibility of it going MIA in the mail system going or coming back...instead, send a certified true copy if it is requested. But if your are brave and do send your original use FedEx as it will arrive Manila in approx two business....faster and cheaper than using the Thai Postal EMS system which also ends up going thru the Philippines Post System. After the interview Manila will submit your appliation back to HQ SSA in Baltimore for final approval. Payment will be based on the month/year you requested your pension begin when you submitted your online application. Any back payment due should arrive your bank acct within a few weeks of application approval....then your monthly payment will begin....payment is on the 3rd of each month for anyone using a foreign address such as Thailand. You can ask questions about Medicare and even begin the signup process thru Manila but they will point out Medicare is not useable outside the U.S....but if you still want it for whatever reason(s) they can sign you up. The Medicare payments would be deducted from your monthly pension payment.

I know the medical certificate is good for 1 month only, but I'm asking about how long the eDLT QR code is good for which to the best of my googling is 3 months BUT it may now be 6 months.

I have two Thai licenses...one for car and one for motorcyle...they both expired at at the same time which is end of Dec 2024. I have three questions I hope someone can answer/carlify for me Q1: Do I need to do separate online E-DLT tests/videos which means getting two difference QR codes? Q2: If I have to do a test for each (car and motorcyle) does this mean I need to registered twice? Q3: How many months in advance can I complete the tests/get the QR code...that is, how many months is a QR code good for? Thanks in advance.

Since most Thais finance their new vehicle buy and since such financing can many times drag-on for months and months depending on the finance company/bank (i.e., wanting more income proof, wanting a guarantor, waiting on the applicant to respond to finance company requests, etc) until the finance company approves the loan the dealership can not go to DLT to actually start the regristration which only takes a few weeks when all the correct docs are provided. I've watched a couple of my in-laws go thru a new vehicle and home loan application over the past year and the financing company/bank wanted lots of income proof, a guarantor, etc., and it took a while (months and months) for these in-laws to provide what was requested but they got it done and loans approved. When I bought my Atto last Oct 2023 here in Bangkok (I paid cash) the regristration/issue of the blue book/issue of white license plates was done in approx 3 weeks. AND that included approx a one week delay where the main DLT in Bangkok (Chatuchak area of Bangkok) just had to personally see, touch, smell my passport versus accepting all the certified copy provided by the dealership. So, the dealership made an appointment at DLT for them to see my passport, the dealership picked me up, drove me to the DLT where the DLT saw, touched, smelled my passport & made their own copy that I signed. They gave me back my passport in approx 15 minutes later....they were now happy....then in less than a week the regristration was completed....I had my vehicle blue/registration book and white license plates in hand. I know DLT has often caught heat about being slow in completing regristrations....like sometimes taking months and months. But I expect MANY times this is really caused by the whole story not being told and the financing process which can often get bogged down which is not DLT's fault or incompleted paperwork provided by the dealership, but DLT incorrectly gets blamed for the delay. Now I'm sure DLT can probably sometimes get anal in processing some regristrations like rejecting or wanting more docs, but I believe the great, great majority of the time if all the paperwork is in order registrations can go pretty fast. But maybe not fast enough for a dealerhip/manufacturer who may not get fully paid until the regristration is completed...like getting paid the EV subsidy from the govt which doesn't occur until regristration is completed. Yea, the lag between a sale and regristration can be delayed for many reasons especially when financing is involved....but regristartion can also process quickly such as just a few weeks when the ducks are all lined up.

Little out of my price range with the U9 estimated to cost 216K Euro (approx 8.5M baht). At that price we will not be seeing many on Thailand roads if it comes to Thailand. It's definitely an awesome looking car with tons of horsepower. BYD is definitely producing some powerful vehicles.

No doubt a few protentila truck buyers are probably waiting until EV pickups become common, but since Toyota and Honda dominate the pickup truck market in Thailand and since Toyota/Honda don't have any EV trucks now...if fact, they are just now beginning to dip their toes into selling hybrid pickup trucks I don't see "waiting to buy an EV truck" as a significant reason for the pickup truck sales slump. I see it predominately as Thai personal/business debt level and tougher financing requirements....banks have really been tightening up on car/truck financing requirements. Additonally, I think there is a continuing slow transition from pickup trucks to cars as more people slowly move from rural to city locations, move from rural jobs to city jobs, move from having a phyical storefront to instead just an online storefront, etc.....just less need and/or desire for a pickup truck. Now I don't know what DLT vehicle categories AutoLife used for its article numbers (several categories I expect to include RY3 and RY1) but if just looking at the main category for pickup trucks which is RY3, pickup truck sales have been in a slump all year. The RY3 category is basically "two" door (i.e., no back seat, no extended cab, green letters/numbers license plates). Per DLT public stats registrations for RY3 in 2024: Jan - 11,291.......Feb 9,303.....Mar - 9754.....Apr 8,033......May - 8995....Jun - 8,544. See the DLT RY3 definition below....seems to be for predominately 2 door pickup trucks used to carry out business...and just needing enough seating room that a front seat provides for a driver and maybe a helper or two. Now 4 door pickups used for "passengers, having a back seat, and having 4 doors are part of the RY1 category which is also the category for passenger cars that most of us drive, do our Lotus/Big C runs in, etc. RY3 Definition per DLT

As you said there is a small difference between the DLT stats and the AutoLife chart regarding the number of EVs registered in the RY1 category for June. DLT reports 5,657 while Autolife reports 5,773 which is a 116 difference. Autolife and DLT agree exactly on the total number vehicle registered in June as 43,157, but don't agree on the number of EVs registered (i.e., that 116 difference). So, 5657 divided by 43,157 leaves us with a 13.1% based on DLT stats and 5,773 divided by 43,147 leaves us with 13.4% based on the Autolife chart. I thought maybe Autolife actually may have added in some EV numbers from some of the RY categories (i.e., RY2, RY3, RY6, etc...etc...etc) but when looking at all the other RY categories I can't find any combination that equals that 116 diffreence Now several months ago the Autolife EVs numbers once again did not agree with the DLT stats...had a small difference again. But I could exactly match that difference by counting EV numbers from three other RY categories to add to the RY1 category although Autolife implied they only used the RY1 category. But that 116 difference is a mystery to me...I gave up trying to figure where the disconnect is. However, if the Autolife number is in error on the number of EVs registered (if we accept the DLT registered number as the gospel) at least the error is small.

Yea....brain fart (typo) on the month....they are indeed July articles. The titles vs the dates are the key to finding them on the Bangkok Post.

Regarding ongoing EV price cuts, a news article in the 8 June 2024 Bangkok Post titled, "Chinese EV Price Cuts Get TCCT Green Light" says the Trade Competition Commission of Thailand (TCCT) has determined the price war amoung EV manaufactuers/dealerships does not violate Thailand trade competition law but rather fosters competitioin. Summary: the Thai govt is OK-fine with the ongoing price war and those complaining about their vehicle they bought over the last year or so "now" being sold new at a much lower price will have no basis in law in filing a complaint. Edit: and I just noticed there is a 6 June 2024 Bangkok Post news article titled, "BYD Urged to Shield EV Prices" which talks a meeting between Prime Minister and the BYD Chief Executive (a Mr Wang) on 5 June where better management of customer expectations about pricing was discussed. MR Wang was visiting Thailand and paid a courtesy visit to the PM. Mr Wang gave assurances future pricing would be appropriate and the company would find ways to help affected customers. Sounds like a happy talk meeting where nothing will change.

And for NETA, ORA, and DEEPAL BEVs per June 2024 DLT stats. Total of 437 for June 2024 Total of 342 for June 2024 Total of 765 for June 2024

And since we talked Wulin BEVs a little, below is how many were RY1 category "registered" for June 2024....a total of 34. Per June 2024 DLT stats

And below is the model breakout of the 1,823 BYD BEVs registered in June: Atto-819.....Dolphin-754......Seal-249.......E6-1 For June 2024...partial snapshot of DLT stats

Well, 4 of the 5 men in the picture must thing it's a GREAT idea as they are giving it the thumbs up. Although the 5th guy did give a thumbs up (or down) he is smiling like it's a great idea. Yea, PEA or MEA don't seem to make it easy, cost-effective, and/or desireable for the typical solar user to feed enery into the grid. I'm not expecting Thailand to become a "hub" of home solar to grid anytime soon...or even in several decades. Plenty of sunshine year-round but very little to no monetary incentive for the average Thai to make such a solar investment. I know here in my large Bangkok moobaan of around 900 standalone homes owned by middle to high income folks that only a handfull have any type of solar, some solar panels on the roof, etc. I guess there is just no monetary incentive to do such. But I do expect to continue to see the occassional media release trying to convince the public that the Thai govt and some organizations fully support such.

Yea...I know you can power your home (ie., Vehicle to Home)....but feeding the energy back into the grid by going to a V2G station seems to be something very, very, very few people would have the time or desire to do.

Some BEVs are getting cheaper & cheaper and Wuling is offering an AC Level 2 charger only model--that is, it does "not" include DC Charger capability. Or for an additional Bt30K they include the additional hardware for DC Charging capaibliyt up to a 50KW rate which would charge the battery from 30 to 80% in 35 minutes. Personally, I would never buy either of these models but I can see people buying them for an "in-town/local car use only" when the person does have home charging capaiblity (i.e, a wall charger). https://www.wulingthai.com/booking/model Below is a partial snapshot of brochure of above Wuling models. Notice there is a "AC" model which only uses Level 2 charging (i.e., like a home 7KW wallcharger) and a "DC" model that has both AC Level 2 and DC Charger capability at 50KW.

For folks such as @Bandersnatch @KhunLA who use solar to charge their BEV, help me out in how below idea (an AutoLifeThailand article) has a chance of providing any singificant energy to to the grid since few folks have solar in Thailand (I'm not counting farmers who run a field water pump with a solar panel).....and I simply can't image that someone would want to go plug their BEV into a V2G station for say 30 minutes to an hour to feed energy into the grid and probably only get paid/credited approx half of the current going rate for home electricity grid use (i..e, home electricity cost approx Bt5/KWH which includes Ft, tax, meter fee). Maybe this will create electricity smuggling....somehow figure out how to get free electricity from a commerical DC Fast Charger (hack it for free charging maybe) or maybe have family/friend that let's you use their home wall charger for free and then drive your BEV full of free electricity to the nearest V2G station to upload it to the grid with maybe recieve a credit/payback of Bt2.5 to Bt3 per KWH as the company has to make a profit thru resale of the electricity. https://autolifethailand.tv/nissan-join-hands-with-3-partners-to-launch-vehicle-to-grid-project/ Nissan partners with 3 agencies to launch a test project to use electricity from vehicles back into the power grid (Vehicle to Grid) BySirote Petchjamroensuk At the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, V2G study for sustainable energy management Recently, Nissan Motor (Thailand) together with project partners including Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and Haupcar Co., Ltd. launched a project to test the use of electricity from cars back into the grid or Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) by using the bi-directional charge capability of Nissan LEAF which can be used for more than just a vehicle to study sustainable energy management in the future together. This project is part of Nissan's commitment to create a pollution-free society and improve people's travel and lifestyles through electric vehicles and technological innovations under the Blue Switch project, which was initiated in Japan in 2018. Currently, the Nissan Leaf is one of the first electric vehicles with technology that transfers energy from the vehicle to the grid, which can use the electricity from the vehicle to use in buildings, homes or charge everyday electrical appliances. ********************

DLT registration stats for RY1 category for June 2024 show a total of 43,147 registered with 5,657 (13.1%) being BEV.

I don't think so....I think Thais still like BYD vehicles....when they think EV they probably think BYD in the same thought out of the 35 manfuacturers which have sold BEVs in Thailand in 2024 according to DLT stats. But of course people are not happy about big price reductions for most all BEVs (regardless of the manufacturer) when they bought at a higher price thinking the price would "not" go any lower except "maybe" a little bit for some models especially since the history of vehicle cost in Thailand has generally been the price has either stayed the same or went up a little every year.....but this way of thinking has been driven by ICEVs for decades...the Toyota, Honda, and Isuzu's which rule the Thailand vehicle market...has set the prices for many years. It really good news overall that BEV prices are going down (and at a much faster rate than ICEVs)....but if you bought at a higher price you are probably not going to be too happy about it...can pis$-off person. But people also need to undestand we are undergoing a HUGE technical logical shift in vehicle technolgy...the shift from fossil fuelled vehicle to electric fuelled vehicles....IMO it just like the shift from horse & buggy to fossil fuelled vehicle that began around a century ago and took about three decades to do most of that transition. But back to current day. Of the RY1 category vehicles (i.e, private vehicles with no more than 7 passengers) of the 5,657 BEVs (100% electric) registered in June 1,823 of them were BYD BEVs....a little over 32 percent of the total. Almost 1 of 3 or almost one-third of all RY1 BEVs In February it was a little over 30%, in March it was almost 24%, in Apr was a little over 22%, in May it was almost 38%, and as already mentioned in June a little over 32%. Monthly variations....but the average of those five numbers gives a little over 29%. And I'm must going to ignore the January number which was 7,880 BYD BEVs regestered out of the 13,314 total RY1 BEVs which equates to a little over 59%. Ignore that since it's spike resulting from End of Year craiziness and fear of the govt subsidy for BEVs being reduced...maybe BEVs prices heading north a little in 2024, etc. BUT, if I didn't ignore January then regristrations for January-June a total of 36,397 RY1 BEVs registered of which 14,665 (or 40.3%) were BYD BEVs. BYD is still definitely the biggest pig at the Thailand BEV trough...and maybe no longer a 1,000 pound guerrila but stil at least a 800 pound guerrila in the BEV market.

Congrats. Glad it worked out easily. Since you switched from a Non O "Marriage" extension maybe you could overview what BOI/Chamchuri Sq Immigraiton required to cancell that Marriage Extension just before issuing you the LTR Pensioner visa. Was it a fresh Kor Ror 2 (i.e., marriage registration) to confirm you are still married/lived up to that requirement for marriage extension, a copy of your pretty Kor Ror 3 Marriage Certifcate you got when getting married (and maybe they wanted to just see that original also), and a copy of your Thai spouse ID card. All of these signed by you and wife except the Thai ID just required the spouse's signature. Of course taking along the wife is good "if easy to do" but not required with the signed docs. Just what did Chamchuri Sq want to see to cancel your current marriage extension. Congrats again.

Why reference such an old article that didn't even talk how many had been reserved/sold. 1 million, 10,000, or maybe just 1,000, 100, etc.. When I started googling on the subject I found numerous articles talking about the Land Cruiser over the last several years like below Dec 2023 article talking it selling out in Germany....but it was only 1000 Land Crusiers. Kinda sounds like Toyota gives individual countries a low allotment just so they can say they sold out in country XYZ in 30 minutes....sounds more like an Toyota sponsored advertising technique/media release. https://www.carscoops.com/2023/12/first-1000-2024-toyota-land-cruisers-in-germany-sold-out-in-just-30-minutes/

Sure did. And if you call SSA they probably say they can't see anything onfile but also say they can't see everything....I say that based on numerous posts over the years where people did call SSA or email Manila trying to find out if their 7162 arrived Wilkes Barre. And if it doesn't arrive SSA will send your another in the Sep/Oct time frame....and if they don't get a response to that in Jan SSA will send you a notice of suspended payments until they receive a 7162 response.

That's a two and half years old article from Jan 2022

While many make EV sales predictions (and rants) have been based on bad or good months/quarters (like the 1st quarter that is typically down) we should really be focusing on what the long term trend is such as year-over-year....and it's up, up, up...see the blue long term trend I drew in....I'm such an artist.