Pib

Too expensive and dangerous to do so! 😄

I can tell you one Voice Command that don't work as I tried it numerous times yesterday when the wife and I went on our long drive...and that ignored command is: "make my wife stop her back seat driving." 😁

I took my V2L thingie out of it's plastic bag today to see if it works....plugged it into the car and then plugged a hand grinder into it...the grinder powered-up full strength. Back into it's little plastic bag it goes. Then with me-being-me about a half hour later I think I wish I had also checked the voltage level. So, out of the bag the V2L thingie comes again, plugged into the car, and I do an unloaded voltage check with my pretty accurate digital voltmeter (+/-0.5% DC/AC) and it gives a voltage reading of 219.3VAC....pretty much a double bullseye in terms of voltage level output. Back into the bag the V2L adapter goes to hibernate awaiting for some emergency.

This morning after the granny charger got the Atto Extended Range back to 100% charge when setting the range setting to Dynamic the range displayed 503Km...and when switching to Standard it displayed the 480Km NEDC rating. Will be interesting over time as the battery ages and I drive more to see how these two range display settings change. The standard setting will probably continue to display 480Km when at 100% charge but I expect the Dynamic may change significantly from battery aging, driving habits, etc....but I'm just guessing right now.

Yea, the AseanNow font size on the computer browser "and mobile" was fine up until a few days ago. They both now use a font size that needs to be bigger....like it was a few days ago. My browser font viewing/zoom size is set to 100%. When viewing other social media type sites the font size is fine at 100%. It's just over the last few days something changed regarding AseanNow. Other things like a person's rank/status disappearing, etc...Support's answer for that was that can occur during the re-indexing....but it didn't occur during the first 50% of the re-indexing. This font issue in on the AseanNow end; not on a person's computer/phone end.

Congrats...you having that new car smell high right now!!!....enjoy it!!!! This morning I stopped by my dealership to ask a insurance question before starting my 137.6km drive and I noticed the black Seal they normally had on display in the showroom was missing. The showroom normally has one Seal, one Dolphin, and two Atto's on display. The Dolphin normally on display was also missing. I asked the salesperson why so few display models and he said they sold them due to high sales (especially for the Seal right now). He said they should getting more Seals, Dolphins, and Atto's very soon...within days...and one shipment today. I was really surprised they would sell their "only" Seal and Dolphin models on display...expect some HiSo insisted on getting his black Seal "now!!!"...and maybe even that HiSo also wanted a Dolphin now!! When the wife and I was returning from our trip this evening we drove by the dealership and an 8 vehicle carrier truck was unloading Atto's...there were 6 gray Atto's still on the carrier....don't know if it arrived fully loaded with 8 vehicles....maybe all Atto's...maybe one or two Seals and/or Dolphis also. White and gray seem to be the most popular Atto colors based on seeing them in the wild...green is pretty popular also.

Yea...the Atto comes with a vehicle-to-load adapter which takes battery voltage and converts it to 220V to power your TV, fan, laser cannon, etc., during picnics. I doubt I will ever use it unless there is an extended power outage for hours and hours (extremely rare for me here in Bangkok) and I need to power my refrigerators, fans, recharge the smartphones, recharge some battery lanterns, etc. But it feels good I have a BIG battery setting in my carport to power some stuff in my home if needed during an emergency....hope I never have to use it.

Yea...a neighbor on my soi got his Atto about 5 days ago and every time he leaves and comes home he has to drive by my house...the sound is just freaken annoying "to me" at least...maybe just a case of still having good hearing and just not liking the spaceship sound even even a little bit. But as mentioned, I'm now silent running in my Atto.

Oh, one more thing to add. If I had done above 137.6Km drive in my Fortuner 3.0L Diesel (which I've done at least once weekly over the last 15 years) the trip would have cost me Bt396 in B7 diesel fuel. But in the Atto the electric fuel cost is Bt125....a 68% savings/cost reduction.

As mentioned earlier picked-up my Atto yesterday midday...rest of the day was just a few short drives in my immediate area...and just tinkering with the car. But today the wife and I did our first drive leaving the safety of our immediate area as we did our weekly visit to the Thai mother-in-law to show family the car, gets some car blessings by three lovely old ladies that also blessed our Fortuner 15 years ago. Since the Fortuner still looks and runs great after 15 years I figure those lovely ol' ladies blessings may have helped and we wanted the Atto to start off with the same blessings. I will continue to maintain the car well over it's lifetime to assist the blessings. 😄 Now for a quick review of the drive which went from western Bangkok and almost all the way thru the neighboring province of Nakhon Pathom where the MIL lives. Mostly on road #4/Phet Kasen Road with some on a rural two lane road. We started with a 100% battery charge level. It was mostly highway speed driving at around 80-90KmH but some very slow, stop-and-go, congested driving when still in Bangkok. The ride was very smooth and quiet. No wind noise even at 95KmH....all you heard was the normal tire noise. The air con worked great...nice and cool when set at 23C. I had the car in ECO mode which still provided plenty of power/get-up and go. Will be leaving it in ECO mode for the first 2000Km break-in period as recommended by the manual. Got to tinker with the infotainment system while driving which helped a lot to better understand/experience it...the camera system on the car is very good...so is the GPS map system. The voice command system (a.k.a., Hi BYD) really works great and greatly reduces the need to actually tap the screen to change some setting, switch to different functions/apps, etc. The roundtrip was 137.6Km...charge level went down to 74%...it's been plugged into the granny charger since getting back home to bring it back to 100%. Will be nice to get the wall charger so recharge/top-up can happen a lot faster....but the granny charger will easily suffice until we get the wall charger in a few weeks. Now, 137.6Km divided by the 26% charge used equals 5.2923 Km for each 1% charge used. If multiplying 5.2923 by 100 (for 100% charge) that gives a range of 529Km vs the Atto's advertised 480Km NEDC range. HOWEVER, BUT such a calculation assumes the Km per each 1% power used would be linear from 0 to 100% which is unlikely. But it does gives me a warm-fuzzy indication that after more driving the car's real world range should be at around 400Km....if more--great....will have to wait and see over the coming months. Yeap, PIb's long test drive went just fine. Another couple of hours on the granny charger and the car will be back to 100% charge...fully mission capable for tomorrow's mission (driving). Cheers.

I can't figure out what you guys are talking about as the font is too small to read.

Don't buy an OBD2 adapter...problem solved.

Here's my quick review. I got the Atto yesterday afternoon. This morning I plugged in the above approx 50 baht OBD2 adapter I got off Lazada and it worked fine...started showing all kinds of data...way too much for me to grasp at this time. Was was using the Android app "Car Scanner ELM OBD2" free version...and Pro version is also available for around $5. I literally only played with it for a a couple of minutes just to see if it works. Below the Google Play snapshot below I added 3 snapshots I took while using the app. I then turned the car off and unplugged the adapter as I don't have time today to play seriously with it...learn the app...get the app fine tuned for my use like setting up a dashboard of measurements I want to see versus the many, many possible measurements available. Summary: this particular 50 to 60 baht OBD2 adapter being sold all over Lazada, Shopee, and other online sites seems to work just fine. Sure beats playing thousands of baht for some supposedly brand name adapter. Snapshot from Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ovz.carscanner&hl=en&gl=US Some snapshots I took on my phone when using the OBD2 adapter using above free app...I was just setting in the driveway parked with the car turned on....having used the adapter and app for the first time...totally unfamiliar with the app right now....like a kid learning to ride a bicycle.

From quickly watching the first video I noticed at about the 27:40 point in the video the Seal has a healthy spaceship sound (i.e., the pedestrian & soi dog warning sound). Gosh, I understand the intent of the sound but both the wife and I find that sound to be annoying. I guess all the BYD models have that sound below 30KmH unless the little sound box behind the radiator gets unplugged not that I would ever do that.

About an hour ago (around 9pm Thailand time) both the wife and I were able to logon to our acct as normal via the legacy acct method. The 2FA code is sent to our email addresses. Since your application has been referred to Manila that means Manila plans to schedule a telephone interview...will probably do nothing more than ask you some questions that you already answered on your application...ask to confirm certain data.....probably take 10 minutes. I have been involved in three such interviews over the last half dozen years.....mine, my wife's and a neighbor. And right now I'm hand-walking another neighbor thru the application process...a dual Thai-US citizen who has very low smartphone/computer use skills. Anyway it was back in early July when we started his application by asking Manila to accomplish the application via telephone interview. You can do an application via telephone interview or online application....Manila confirmed that in one of their email responses. Well, in years past when you submitted a request to Manila for application via phone interview which works very well as they take all required data to build an electronic application, Manila process it and forwards it to Baltimore for final review/approval, and also tells you during the interview what docs you may have to mail Manila. Like for a dual citizen you typically must mail a certified copy of your US passport and/or Naturalization Certificate (can get at US Embassy for free by in-person appt or by mail) unless you are brave enough to mail the originals and hope they find their way back to you when going thru the Thailand and Philippines mail systems...or DHL/FedEx. OK, Manila has been asked in early July. and then over the next few months there were a couple of back and forth emails/enquires separate by 2 to 3 weeks with Manila which made a person feel like Manila was very understaffed, had trainees doing all the work, etc. After a few months of back and forth with Manila finally saying there are no available telephone appts right now (they are full up), but they will hopefully get back with the applicant in 60 days with a telephone interview date. I convince my neighbor to submit and online application vs waiting any longer for a telephone interview date/time....or said another way, me and him set down in front of my computer and submitted it. OK, come the last few days of Sep the neighbor gets an email from Manila saying Baltimore had asked Manila for assistance in reviewing his application (i.e., Baltimore had passed it to Manila) and Manila gave a telephone interview date for a specific date/time during the first week of Nov. So, the neighbor is now marching in place awaiting the scheduled phone call from Manila...but he's happy he now at least has a interview date...knows the application has been received and "slowly" being processed. Summary: application which require Manila involvement now take a LOT longer than 3 to 4 years ago....why?....I don't know. Thank goodness a SS pension application is only a once in a lifetime event. Your application taking months and months and months is not uncommon when Manila involvement is required. They are just much slower now for whatever reason(s). And my neighbor who has a sister in California who is also applying for her SS pension said she is 3 months into her application still being reviewed/processed by the SSA...now she is a dual citizen also so that probably has something to do with the slow processing even with the U.S....no Manila involvement. Regarding the residence and mailing address thing, I expect for "application processing purposes" they may only want to use your residence/physical address but may use your U.S. mailing address "after" the application is approved. Expect that is a question you need to ask Manila "whenever they get around to setting up a telephone interview with you. Watch our email inbox (and spam box) closely...that is how Manila will most likely contract you regarding the interview date/time. As mentioned that's how they contacted my neighbor....I thought he would probably get something via snail mail also but so far nothing and its been about a month since Manila emailed him with the interview date/time. Good luck with your application. You might want to send Manila an email/inquiry regarding your application...when are they going to call? Once your application is approved you are "officially" an ol' Geezer. 😉

These two Youtubes show what I literally did within the first 10 minutes of arriving home with my Atto to get rid of the space ship sound (i.e., noise for pedestrians, soi dogs, etc.) Took about 30 seconds to unplug...I'm silent running now. You can not deactivate the sound in the infotainment center...only change the sound of the space ship...so, I opted to implement a silent running solution instead. I'll just blow my horn when I get close to a pedestrian or soi dog. 😜

Below is my total knowledge of the BYD Free Charger and Installation....my knowledge consists of a couple of snapshots from the BYD Rever website, a picture of the wall charger given to me today when picking up my Atto, and what the sales people told me. I was also given the "granny" charger which I'm using right now to top up...it plugs into a regular 16/20A three prong outlet...has a 220V/10A (2.2KW) rating and according to my main circuit box ammeter it's pulling exactly 10A right now as I top-up from 96% to 100% The 7.4KW wall charger given to me today was a ZHIDA part number ZDA4-DC1-C12E. I figured the installer would bring the charger, but no it was given to me today to hold for the installer. I was told the installer will call in around 3 days to start the process but the installation would probably be a few weeks down the road...need to wait for the installer call for more details. Picture of wall charger below. Also below are are few snapshots from the BYD Rever website talking the free wall charger and installation. Wall Charger From Rever Website

Houston, Tranquility base here...Pib's Atto has landed in his driveway. Pib is now accomplishing Infotainment system checks....trying to figure out how to use all the possible settings....he's hoping he doesn't accidently trigger some type of James Bond injection seat. Arrived home from the dealership with a 99% charge remaining and the "granny" charger is now hooked-up....correction, granny charger has topped the charge back up to 100%....granny charger just unplugged. All systems are a Go. Tranquility base out.

I just completed my morning dog walk and briefly talked to a Thai neighbor that lives a couples of blocks away from me....he speaks very good English as he was some type of engineer before retiring. We probably have a couple hundred words of conversation every year since I walk by his house almost everyday...and sometimes he's outside as I walk by which usually results in a few minutes of conversation. Today he stopped me to give me some fruit from one of his trees as we stood in his driveway. Anyway, he's the kind of person who keeps his cars for a "long" time....buys them new and just hangs onto to them. He has some kind of 2000 Honda model and some Nissan model around 20 years old. I told him I've always admired him as someone who keeps and maintains his cars for a long time---the same thing I do. Heck, before I moved to Thailand I had a Pontiac Firebird for 25 years (only sold it because of moving to Thailand).and now my Toyota Fortuner for 15 years. He then said he is seriously thinking about getting a new car...."a BEV"...a Nissan Leaf. He likes Nissan. I said, Gosh, I'm getting a BEV also...in fact picking up a BYD Atto today. I then asked him why he's going straight to a BEV vs maybe a Hybrid. He said he didn't want to have a mixed drive system....combustion and electric...just more to go wrong with multiple drive systems and generally a Hybrid didn't increase fuel efficiency a big amount. He expressed the same feeling I have about Hybrids. Don't me wrong Hybrids are nice vehicles...it's just I would prefer to go straight to BEV technology vs Hybrid technology.....just have an "electric" drive system to worry about vs a Hybrid electric and combustion system....and of course the much increase fuel efficiency. We also talked the ongoing BEV subsidy. It didn't seem that the subsidy make a big difference to him in preferring to got with a BEV vs Hybrid. I think a lot of people are seriously considering jumping over the Hybrid generation for their next car and just going all the way to a BEV...make the reason for visiting a fossil fuel station the need to buy some food/take a bathroom break vs pumping some fossil fuel into their vehicle. This thinking is one reason I thing BEV growth/sales is so rapid right now (in addition to the subsidy).

Yea...the govt pretty much has always focused on reducing diesel price with little to no relief for petrol users although there are LOTS and LOTS of petrol cars on the roads...practically every small to mid size car. My wife's sister called today happy about the 2.5 baht/liter reduction because she drives a petrol car.

OK, I pickup my Atto at 1pm tomorrow/25 Oct....took a little over a month to get primarily because I switched from wanting a white Atto to a red Atto about a week after booking. Rounding-up a red Atto took almost a month; I could have got a white/blue/gray/green Atto in less than a week. And I'm proud to announce I have just competed reading the entire 202 page Atto 3 Users Manual...a day before vehicle pickup. I've also watched about a thousand (it seems like) Youtube videos talking the Atto. I'm now pretty sure I will be able to open the door by myself, position the driver's seat, start the car, and drive home (slowly) without hitting any Grab motorcyclist. Wish me luck.

BYD can't seem to do anything wrong right now in terms of popularity of the models it offers in Thailand right now: the Atto, Dolphin, and Seal. The Atto and Dolphin comprised 53% of all registered sales for September....3231 of the 6,099 total Sep BEV registered sales. Since it takes a month or two for a sales to be registered with the Dept of Land Transportation it will probably take until Nov registered stats come out that the full strength of Seal sales can be seen....Oct registered stats for the Seal will probably be suppressed somewhat. Kinda like when the Dolphin first went on sale in July with Aug registration stats being suppressed but full strength showing by Sep. It wouldn't surprise me to see BYD capturing 60% of total sales come Nov stats...and maybe for Oct stats. See below chart I stole from KhunLA post a little earlier. And with concern the current BEV govt subsidy will be reduced come Jan 2024 or maybe even a slight chance of it going away I expect sales for Oct thru Dec to spike. Plus with the Revenue Dept rule change to tax funds remitted to Thailand beginning Jan this may motivate some farangs to transfer money in this year to buy a BEV this year. But farang buys probably only represent 5% of total BEV vehicle buys if even that much. Yeap, expect BEV sales to spike Oct - Dec.

For me on 22 Sep which is when I initially booked an Atto 3 here in Bankgok I was offered the following 5 insurance companies: Tipaya, Bangkok, LMG, KSK, and Navakit. Now I have been with LMG for many years for my Fortuner but I called my insurance broker of many years to ask which of the 5 companies is probably best for the Atto 3 buy. The broker said Bangkok followed by LMG in terms of ease of dealing with, claims, etc. So I told my BYD dealership I choose Bangkok Insurance Co. And just the other day I reconfirmed that the one they are lined-up for me....I pickup the Atto tomorrow afternoon.

No doubt that for l....o......n.....g trips such as Phuket-Bangkok the drive time is going to be longer due to the required recharging....simply can't compare a 5 minute fossil fueling to a 1 hour hour electric DC Fast Charge fueling. Now while some people have no problem/prefer to drive non-stop if possible...even if it means 6 or more hours setting behind the steering wheel I'm not sure most people (especially families) drive that way. Instead, breaks/stops every 2-3 hours is probably more the norm. I sure know my Thai family/friends seem to take much longer to get where they are going on a long trip and when I inquiry as to why it took so long rarely don't they say heavy traffic but say it was due to a good amount of bathroom and eating stops along the way. I have some family members that simply can't go 2 hours without a bathroom stop But yea, long trips are going to take longer with an BEV compared to an ICEV for anyone who has been use to few and brief stops along the way in their ICEV. One positive of long drives using a BEV is the bigtime fuel savings....around half to two-thirds. Fuel cost for my 3.0L diesel Fortuner round trip Phuket-Bangkok (1,700Km) would be apprxo Bt4,900 compared to approxBt2,000-2,500 for an EV (assumes higher DC Fast charging station cost/KWH). And then when back home and able to use my wall charger for day-to-day driving around 1,700Km of driving would only cost around Bt1,600...a two-thirds fuel savings which really adds up over time. Regarding the recharging...as to how much to recharge to...up to 80, 90, 100%. Recharging up to 80-90% is indeed going to occur faster due to the nature of battery recharging...and that final 10-20% is going to be slower/take longer....probably twice as long per each 1 percent charge per unit of time. However, if you have a BEV with "LFP" lithium type batteries such as BYD vehicles you can charge them to 100% with no negative short or long term effects...gives more range between stops on long trips.. However, "NCA/NMC" lithium type batteries which many EVs use routinely charging to only around 90% is considered a good thing for extended battery life purposes....but more and more studies are beginning to show that even NCA/NMC type batteries show little negative effect from "frequent" DC Fast Charging and no negative effect from occasional DC Fast Charging. So, all lithium batteries are not created equal. https://zecar.com/resources/what-are-lfp-nmc-nca-batteries-in-electric-cars I don't think there is a BEV on the Thai market that can do 850Km non-stop....maybe a few in other countries but they would cost a LOT of money for the BIG battery. Now over the near term (next couple of years) I expect average BEV battery range will probably go up around 20% because bigger batteries in BEVs will become the norm as customers demand more range....not a huge jump but still very significant. And when "solid state" batteries start coming to market in mass probably in around 5-7 years that's going to offer at least 20% increases in range while reducing charge time by a lot. https://electrek.co/2023/06/13/toyota-claims-solid-state-ev-battery-tech-breakthrough/

Not an issue for trips....PLENTY of chargers in Thailand already...at fuel stations, malls, just lots of places, etc. Just go to any website/use any app that shows charging locations...like the "plugshare.com" which is a crowd-based website to show charging locations. Or use some of the charging station apps used to operate charging stations to see where chargers in that network are located. Now this is not to imply you may not have to wait a little while to use a charger if it's already in use...or drive a few kilometers to another charger....but the apps used with chargers typically show whether a charger is in use or broke before you arrive which allows to to detour to another available charger. And yes, with "some" of the charging apps you will need a Thai ID 13 digit number to register (farang Pink ID OK or even 13 digit number issued to document COVD jabs is fine) and need a "Thai" debit/credit as a charging payment option....but the majority of apps are happy with a passport number...and you can also pay via QR code with most apps, etc. After getting registered with the key apps which only takes around 5 minutes and maybe another 5 minutes to setup a debit/credit card payment option....you are good to go. I registered with four charging apps (PEA Volta, PTT EV Station Pluz, EA Anywhere, and EGAT Elexa) which gives me access to 91% of the DC Fast Chargers around Thailand (i.e., can fully charge in around 1 hour) which are typically located located along roads people take for long trips. If I remember right I had to use my Thai debit card as a payment option for two of the four apps as QR payment was not supported (yet)...but the other two apps were fine with QR payment....no absolute need to also setup Thai debit/credit card payment. At first I thought getting registered and setting up a payment option would be a major issue for me---one each farang---but it turned out to be a non-issue. But what can be an issue for a person is "day-to-day driving/keeping you EV charged" if you do not have easy access to a charger at/close to your residence like maybe living in a highrise and that highrise's parking area does not have any (or few) chargers forcing you to go visit a paid charger away from your residence for at least an hour or more periodically...possibly multiple times per week depending on how much you drive. Then you have to dedicate some time each week to go spend time at a charging location which does take effort and time. But if you have a residence where you can install a Type II Wallcharger in your parking area then keeping your EV charged for day-to-day driving is a non-issue. BYD (and others) provides and install a free 7KWH wallcharger which is worth around Bt10-20K. A Type II charger is typically a 7KWH charger (but can be a higher power) which can fully charge from 0 to 100% in approx 7 to 10 hours depending on your EV's battery size. In the unlikely event you arrive home with 0% charge left say at 9:30pm....plug the wall charger into the EV and by around sunrise the EV is fully charged...all done while you sleep. Now what is more likely say you are drive a BYD Atto 3 Extended Range (just for example) which has a 60KWH battery with 480Km advertised range (but more like 400Km in real world driving) which equates to 6.67Km per 1 KWH using 400Km range as your reference. So, say on the average you drive 50Km/day...that would use a little less than 13% of charge each day....after a week/7 days of average driving you have used 91% of your charge...you have approx 9% remaining...getting close to empty. To get the EV back to 100% full charge you plug-in your 7KWH wallcharger and about 8 hours later you are fully charged again....good for another week of average driving. But why chance getting down to around 9% after a full week of driving with no charging?....why not just plug the wallcharger in every night or every other night to stay close to be being fully charge....only takes about 15 seconds to plug the charger to the EV....not much longer than plugging a USB charging cable into your smartphone. Heck, if only plugging in every 3 days your charge would have only dropped to around 60% of full charge...still have over a half tank of electric fuel. Yes, if you have easy access to a charger....like a wallcharger at home....charging is a non-issue for day to day driving. And for long trips where you have to recharge along the way, then there are already a lot of DC Fast Charger (i.e., fully charge your EV in one hour or less) and also plenty of Type II chargers which can give you around 15% charge/hour--not to imply it's as easy & fast as a 5 minutes fill-up of diesel/petrol into a ICEV. But being to charge during a long trip is not even remotely close to be a show-stopper....just requires an hour or so time being mated with a DC Fast Charger typically at fuel stations and other locations. Getting very common for fuel stations along road to also have a big EV logo sign just under their main sign like how PTT station do it...and other fuel stations. EV charging will not be an issue for many people. But an EV is not for everyone as it depends on how they use their vehicle, charging access, etc. In closing, I currently have a 2009 Fortuner which costs me 2.88 baht per kilometer in fuel cost....when I get my Atto 3 (hopefully tomorrow) my electric full cost per kilometer with be 0.92 baht....as 68% savings and I will do my Atto fueling from the wallcharger in my home carport vs a fuel station. But I'll still be visiting fuel station some as I'm keeping my Fortuner which still looks and runs great...it will just be used a lot less....become my 2nd vehicle. Gotta go...need to go to the bank to get a cashier's check cut to pay for my Atto tomorrow afternoon.