Why Chinese electric cars are causing a buzz in Thailand

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, relax33 said:

You are right, battery replacement cost is expensive too
Only hope that hydrogen will turn up to be safe n not morph up to be another Hindenburg disaster

Human error will always make catastrophe from anything possible, but hydrogen for motivation has been used for a very long time already.

BTW I haven't heard of any space stations blowing up ( they use hydrogen fuel cells ), or nuclear submarines exploding ( they separate hydrogen from water to make oxygen ) recently.

[Eric Loh]

8 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I guess the truck makers didn't get that message, and note the refuelling time- I scorn battery EVs for long distance travel. Fine for a toy car in the city, but useless for real transportation IMO. Also, not even stopping pollution when the electricity is generated by coal. Hydrogen rules.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/122636171/zeroemission-hydrogen-heavy-trucks-to-hit-kiwi-roads

The first heavy trucks powered by zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cells are set to be hauling freight on New Zealand highways as soon as early next year.

......................................

FCEV trucks have the benefit of being an electric vehicle, but with comparable weight and power to diesel-powered trucks, and have a similar refuelling time of around 15-20 minutes.

Truck makers have their technical reasons to go hydrogen especially heavy long haul trucks. The weight of the batteries alone substracts too much from paylaod.

 

[RafPinto]

Compared to the SUV they build (Haval), this little thing is completely overpriced.

 

At this price, you can have a nice MG.

 

This little bug priced at 600k would be ok but not at around 1,000.000

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, Purdey said:

It comes as no surprise to me that China is taking a lead in future products. Wealth through commerce will help tone down militarism going forward. No one needs a nuke on their manufacturing.

As for plastic use, all modern cars use a lot of plastic. Generally, 75% of volume and 10% of weight per vehicle. Lowering the weight is why EVs can go so far. The electric cars of a hundred years ago were made of steel and wood and went 30 to 80 miles on a charge. 

If Chinese EVs go far and are low cost and comfortable then people will buy them. If they break down often, then they will disappear or be improved. Almost a million baht for one certainly make it too pricey today. Mind you, I remember the first small, chrome-covered Japanese Datsuns and people laughed their socks off. Where is the British car industry today?

I think the British unions had more to do with the loss of the British car industry than the products. Those early Japanese cars were rust buckets.

[relax33]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

BTW I haven't heard of any space stations blowing up ( they use hydrogen fuel cells ), or nuclear submarines exploding ( they separate hydrogen from water to make oxygen ) recently.

Hope it stays that way  . .. 
For me, I will still avoid even taking hot air balloons though they are really fun n utilitarian ...

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Truck makers have their technical reasons to go hydrogen especially heavy long haul trucks. The weight of the batteries alone substracts too much from paylaod.

 

IMO it's the battle between Beta and VHS all over again, and the less good product won then. Beta is a superior system, but the big money was on VHS.

[relax33]

4 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Compared to the SUV they build (Haval), this little thing is completely overpriced.

 

At this price, you can have a nice MG.

 

This little bug priced at 600k would be ok but not at around 1,000.000

Hopefully prices will come down as more Chinese EV manufacturers target the Thai market but have a feeling there will still be a premium to mainland Chinese prices due to the need to account for the cost of doing business in amazing Thailand ...

[n8sail]

3 hours ago, vandeventer said:

So, where are all the charging stations? I would hate to get stuck in traffic half way home and then the batteries die, then have to push it the rest of the way home.

 

Everywhere, literally.   PEA have started a network of 40kilowatt fast DC chargers every 100km along all major routes in the country.  I just used one out in the middle of nowhere in Chantaburi.  Worked perfectly.

But I have a charger at work and one at home.  This does 99% of my charging needs.

And my Chinese MG EP is less than half the cost to run as my 2.2l manual transmission Ford Ranger.

 

Right now is golden time for EVs in Thailand if you can manage home charging.  No waits at public chargers and even cheap EVs like mine accelerate WAY faster than other cars on the road, so zipping through traffic is easy.  Once 50% of the population has these cars, traffic deaths will get even higher as they are insanely fast, faster than even most hopped-up motocys on the road.   Only real sports cars or truly well-tuned "Isaan-ferarri" trucks can keep up off the line.

[n8sail]

1 hour ago, Denim said:

Or a VW Beetle had sex with a Porsche and this was the result.

That's because it was DESIGNED by an ex-Porsche designer, Emanuel Derta.

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, relax33 said:

Check you tube, there are several videos of folks driving EVs from Chiangmai to Bangkok more than 6 months ago, they even have  chargers in Samui now

You appear to have messed up the quoting... I did not write that. 

[tonray]

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

I'd love to be able to generate my own hydrogen at home from renewables and use it to power my home and car. Refueling can be done alot quicker than a recharge too. Hopefully not to long to wait.

I'm waiting for the helium car...floating above traffic jams on Kanchanpisek Road...and laughing in a silly high voice at the same time

[tonray]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

You appear to have messed up the quoting... I did not write that. 

This forum does that a lot....I am almost afraid of quoting anymore...let's hope this one works !

[jacko45k]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think the British unions had more to do with the loss of the British car industry than the products. Those early Japanese cars were rust buckets.

They didn't help, along with the mining industry....  but let us be honest, most of the cars were awful.

[hansnl]

3 hours ago, Denim said:

I agree entirely with what you say and am aware of how impossible it is to totally avoid Chinese products.

 

Nonetheless, I am not going to make things any easier for them by giving up and just buying a Realme phone and to hell with it. Dito with all other products. Chinese components are in almost everything we use but not use bending over a table and presenting our sphincter to them. Do what you can because its all you can do.

 

As for other regimes I dont like I treat them the same way. Never buy anything from Israel either.

Never buy from Israel?

Then don't go to any hospital when you have medical problems, good chance the machines and medicines are Israeli inventions, don't drive any car with chips in it, don't step in a plane, do away your mobile phone and lots of household electrics and most of all don't depend on your homeland security and army.

Most of these have Israeli inventions in it or are made in Israel, or use Israeli technology.
No need, really to show your jewhate in an article about Chinese products.

 

 

[Kinnock]

3 hours ago, malathione said:

I'd rather ride a bicycle than drive something called a "Good Cat".

They should have called it the 'Nice Pussy'.

[n8sail]

2 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

They should have called it the 'Nice Pussy'.

I expect to see some 'nice pussy' driving around in the top model version once all the Somchais start buying them for their kiks.

Top one comes in pink color, has massaging seats, app for control, literally all the fixings a self-important, pasty white-skinned 25 years old Thai beauty could want!   All for 1.2 million baht...

https://www.autostation.com/car/review-ora-good-cat

[JustAnotherHun]

4 hours ago, Denim said:

Wouldn't buy a single chopstick from China at the moment until such time as they stop saber rattling and threatening Taiwan

Really?

Do you have a computer? A mobile? Face masks?

[Cake Monster]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

● With its pretty looks, at

Looks more like Noddy,s Car to me.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

They didn't help, along with the mining industry....  but let us be honest, most of the cars were awful.

Indeed they were. Badly designed, awful to fix ( Mk 1 Landrovers were really bad to work on, and as for Bedford trucks aaaaarghhhhh ), but Japanese cars weren't any better IMO.

Having said that, they had character, unlike the soulless computer designed clone cars of today.

BTW, I had a Hillman Hunter that lasted over 30 years before I left the country and it got left under a hedge to die quietly. Had I stayed I'd probably still be driving it, though the body would be more bog than steel.

[Pattaya Spotter]

6 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

South China Post posts pro-Chinese article ? Who'da thought it

I find a lot of their reporting more factual than the woke writing found in most Western press like The New York Times, BBC, et. al. And it's very true that the Japanese automakers, who bet on hybrid technology, are waaaay behind the Chinese and Koreans when it comes to electric vehicles...in fact name one pure ev Japanese model available in Thailand (or anywhere else).

[thaibeachlovers]

35 minutes ago, n8sail said:

so zipping through traffic is easy. 

LOL. I've known Thai traffic for a long time and "zipping through" Bkk or Chiang Mai traffic in a car at most times of the day was not something that comes to mind, which was why I opted for a m'bike.

[edwinchester]

46 minutes ago, relax33 said:

You are right, battery replacement cost is expensive too
Only hope that hydrogen will turn up to be safe n not morph up to be another Hindenburg disaster

Yeah, the Hindenburg was very bad publicity for hydrogen 555 but being realistic properly designed gas tanks are infinitely more safe than cloth storage bags. People just need to be reminded that they've been driving around in their cars with a tank full of liquid explosive a few feet away for over a hundred years now.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I find a lot of their reporting more factual than the woke writing found in most Western press like The New York Times, BBC, et. al. And it's very true that the Japanese automakers, who bet on hybrid technology, are waaaay behind the Chinese and Koreans when it comes to electric vehicles...in fact name one pure ev Japanese model available in Thailand (or anywhere else).

IMO one would have to be barking to drive a pure ev in Thailand at the moment given the lack of infrastructure for charging. Anyway, who wants to be stuck for ages while they charge?

[JustAnotherHun]

3 hours ago, Denim said:

As for other regimes I dont like I treat them the same way. Never buy anything from Israel either.

But you have no problems buying your fuel from middle eastern hardcore dictatorships that support islamistic terrorism?

"Never buy something from Israel" sounds a bit like the Nazi-slogan "Don't buy from Jews"

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Yeah, the Hindenburg was very bad publicity for hydrogen 555 but being realistic properly designed gas tanks are infinitely more safe than cloth storage bags. People just need to be reminded that they've been driving around in their cars with a tank full of liquid explosive a few feet away for over a hundred years now.

 

The Hindenburgh did use new technology cloth as gas storage, but interestingly previous airships used the outer membrane of cattle intestines! https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/hindenburg-design-technology/

[JustAnotherHun]

I wonder, where all these car batteries will end up, especially in Thailand.

[n8sail]

17 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO one would have to be barking to drive a pure ev in Thailand at the moment given the lack of infrastructure for charging. Anyway, who wants to be stuck for ages while they charge?

One sentence:

Try it before you knock it.  I'm telling you, I thought they were a terrible idea before as well.  Then I drove one and discovered the infrastructure, and ease of use.

I'm not barking.  Although my girlfriend does refer to me as a 'dog' sometimes, I don't think it's because of my EV views though  ????

And I've been here for 13 years, you couldn't triple my salary to live in poo-hole Bangkok.  I'll stick to Eastern Seaboard with all its engineering expertise, factories and, yes, roads that can for all but 1.5 hours of the evening be zipped around on very easily.

Edited November 29, 2021 by n8sail

[Stargeezr]

Until there are charging stations all over, the car owners will have to work pretty close to where they live.

  People will find that the range is not that far if they have to use air conditioning all the time, plus I guess it is

good that the price of electricity is so cheap in Thailand.  Even Canada is now doing some research on

whether the electricity grids will be good enough for all the eventual electric cars that will exist in 

Canada.  Just saying..

[vinci]

here's my take on electric car, I believed that China will bypass every other country on electric car, combustion engine need to be engineer to perfection, many moving parts, many manufacture parts, China doesn't have the capability to deal with combustion engine, that is why they steal idea, but electric motor is less complex, all you need is a motor and battery and you're done, there is nothing special about an electric motor, we use it everyday and everything have a electric motor, with that in mind they (China) can produce same or even better electric car as any other country.

[Burma Bill]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Chinese electric cars first caught his attention.