Pattaya Smart City enters the digital era with electric "baht buses"

 

 

Pattaya's mayor met with a senior executive from Toyota at City Hall to work on a pilot project to promote the use of electric vehicles.

 

Mayor Sontaya Khunpluem said this was all part of his digital vision for Pattaya as a "Smart City" modernizing things like transport, traffic and helping the environment. 

 

 

So he was working with Suraphoom Udomwong from Toyota on the xEV Demonsrtation project that is expected to get underway come April next year. 

 

Toyota will supply three kinds of vehicles for the pilot: song thaews (that the expatriate locals call baht buses) will be used to ferry tourists around, buses from the airport (77 khaoded did not mention which one) to Pattaya will use hydrogen technology and courtesy cars used by some hotels will be eco friendly electric ones. 

 

The project will be ratified in November when further details are expected. 

 

Source: 77kaoded

 

 

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But how will they charge these electric baht buses. No suitable plugs at home.

maybe we will be seeing many wires  from power  poles into the vehicles!

Edited September 10, 20206 yr by ianezy0

Good.

That´s smart!

20 minutes ago, ianezy0 said:

But how will they charge these electric baht buses. No suitable plugs at home.

maybe we will be seeing many wires  from power  poles into the vehicles!

they come with a 22km long cable.

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

The project will be ratified in November when further details are expected. 

 

When the finer details of who gets what kickback have been agreed. 

I assume this will mean there have to be dedicated EV Songthaew Charing stations stationed around the city or we’ll find abandoned EV Songthaews that haven’t been charged. 

 

Will arguments ensue as Somchai in his diesel songthaew parks in an EV charging spot?

 

 

Has the tram idea been shelved? I can't see 10 baht baht bus owners buying these, as soon as the cost goes up thais won't use them

9 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Has the tram idea been shelved? I can't see 10 baht baht bus owners buying these, as soon as the cost goes up thais won't use them

15 baht including free papaya salat.

It should all be city sponsored. They cannot expect the songtaew owners to invest, nor maintain. And this is NOT about the digital age. This is about the year 2020. Let's get with it guys. Thailand is way behind the electric/hybrid curve, to the point of being embarrassing. If the officials only had any pride. 

Urgent need of Electric buses to ferry non existent tourist around Phuket obviously. 

i hope they will also remove the horn on these vehicles

it would be a great improvement for the sound environment

these idiots horn non stop as soon as they see a foreigner 

even if he is walking on the other side of the street and going

on the oposite direction

1 hour ago, ianezy0 said:

But how will they charge these electric baht buses. No suitable plugs at home.

maybe we will be seeing many wires  from power  poles into the vehicles!

DRIVERS of said electric buses......take the battery home and charges it.....along with  a spare battery......( I am a clever ***tard am I NOT ????)

Musk E. on his way. He throws in a few Teslas and get's the deal.

1 minute ago, kingofthemountain said:

i hope they will also remove the horn on these vehicles

it would be a great improvement for the sound environment

these idiots horn non stop as soon as they see a foreigner 

even if he is walking on the other side of the street and going

on the oposite direction

they are horny.

3 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

Urgent need of Electric buses to ferry non existent tourist around Phuket obviously. 

At 200 baht for the first metre.

27 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Has the tram idea been shelved? I can't see 10 baht baht bus owners buying these, as soon as the cost goes up thais won't use them

the tram idea got kicked out......now it is thee monorail that is going to start to be constructed in 2024......have you not read about this???

7 minutes ago, essox essox said:

the tram idea got kicked out......now it is thee monorail that is going to start to be constructed in 2024......have you not read about this???

Getting hard to serarate the fantacies from the realities.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

Toyota will supply three kinds of vehicles for the pilot: song thaews (that the expatriate locals call baht buses

Electric vehicles are known for silent running so unless they want to top the table for pedestrians mown down they need a clattering engine noise and the driver toot , tooting every 30 secs .. oh and a cloud of black smoke belching out the back will keep it nostalgic .. 

3 hours ago, ianezy0 said:

But how will they charge these electric baht buses. No suitable plugs at home.

maybe we will be seeing many wires  from power  poles into the vehicles!

Surely that's a trolley bus.

I can’t see the songthaew drivers switching to electric songthaews any time soon.  They’ll need city wide quick charging stations. 
   Nothing wrong with the regular songthaews.. like the Isuzu ones. 
(I’ve never called them “baht busses” like some foreigners do. Even after my first four months in Thailand, I only heard them called “songthaews” so that’s what I called them. The first I heard them called “baht busses” was here on Thai Visa... and at first I was wondering what the heck is a “baht bus” and how come I’ve never seen one? LOL ????)

Edited September 10, 20206 yr by Catoni
Correction

It is a great idea to change them to electric vehicles. But in the end ideas mean nothing and Pattaya had very many of them already. Many never materialized. Perhaps they could start with fixing many sidewalks and traffic lights for pedestrians. Just an idea... 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Mayor Sontaya Khunpluem said this was all part of his digital vision for Pattaya as a "Smart City" modernizing things like transport, traffic and helping the environment. 

Maybe they should offer "virtual vision specs' to all visitors, and as they walk around they don't see the real pattaya, just a vision of what could be !

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Getting hard to serarate the fantacies from the realities.

They have realities?

Great Idea !

Its time to get rid of the present Baht Bus Mafia, and for the City Hall to buy / Lease all the new Electric Vehicles  and then for them to rent them out.

Something must be done about the suffocating pollution !! It’s a huge problem especially in cities that have ancient , poison spouting tour buses and baht buses . Ban the tour buses from inner cities for a start. Get those *smart* baht buses on the road as soon as possible.

???? Big deal.  The 13 million people city of Shenzhen has a full fleet of electric buses and charging stations.  Most of the taxis are electric now and a good number of private cars and delivery vans are too.  All motorcycle delivery services are electric.  Thailand, who manufactures auto parts, has yet to build their own car brand.    

I will pay 20 baht for an electric ride. If they charge more, forget it. 

6 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I assume this will mean there have to be dedicated EV Songthaew Charing stations stationed around the city or we’ll find abandoned EV Songthaews that haven’t been charged. 

 

Will arguments ensue as Somchai in his diesel songthaew parks in an EV charging spot?

 

 

These will be diesel-electric vehicles, you know......like the trains, and dare I say it - Submarines!

4 hours ago, Catoni said:

I can’t see the songthaew drivers switching to electric songthaews any time soon.  They’ll need city wide quick charging stations. 
   Nothing wrong with the regular songthaews.. like the Isuzu ones. 
(I’ve never called them “baht busses” like some foreigners do. Even after my first four months in Thailand, I only heard them called “songthaews” so that’s what I called them. The first I heard them called “baht busses” was here on Thai Visa... and at first I was wondering what the heck is a “baht bus” and how come I’ve never seen one? LOL ????)

Okey you’re very special for using the word Songtheaw ????