Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Bandersnatch]

10 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

BYD Buriram are not sure if our car will be ready for collection today (paperwork) and tomorrow is an "Unlucky Day"  😠

Car not available today but ready for collection from 2pm tomorrow- surely that makes today unlucky and tomorrow lucky 🤔

[Pib]

14 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

EV subsidies in Thailand to be continued but at a greatly reduced level

 

For the EV 3.5 measure, the Thai government will provide subsidies for electric cars, electric pickup trucks, and electric motorcycles. By type of car and battery size as follows

     1. In the case of electric cars priced no more than 2 million baht with a battery size of more than 50 kWh, they will receive a subsidy between 50,000 - 100,000 baht/car. For a battery size of less than 50 kWh, they will receive a subsidy between 20,000 - 50,000 baht/car.

     2. In the case of electric pickup trucks priced not more than 2 million baht with a battery capacity of 50 kWh or more, they will receive a subsidy between 50,000 - 100,000 baht/vehicle.  

     3. In the case of electric motorcycles priced no more than 150,000 baht with a battery size of more than 3 kWh, they will receive a subsidy between 5,000 - 10,000 baht/bike.

 

https://www.posttoday.com/business/701455

 

 

 

Here's a Board of Investment (BOI) English version not requiring translation from Thai.

 

https://www.boi.go.th/index.php?page=press_releases_detail&topic_id=134676&_module=news&from_page=press_releases2

 

 

[Peciacake]

22 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

Latest update on my White BYD Seal Premium Performance.

 

BYD Buriram are not sure if our car will be ready for collection today (paperwork) and tomorrow is an "Unlucky Day"  😠

Will tomorrow be a good enough day?

[KhunLA]

 

Appears I was correct the first time ... it is a Chinese vehicle

Edited November 3, 2023 by KhunLA

[steve187]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:34 AM, matchar said:

They are just for show and completely impractical. My condo of around 800 units has two 7kW chargers but you have to book a slot and it's 50 THB/hour with overtime fees of 100 THB/hour.

my son has 2 dedicated parking spaces in his condo in Bangkok both with dedicated charges one for a mg maxus and one for a bmw i4

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

my son has 2 dedicated parking spaces in his condo in Bangkok both with dedicated charges one for a mg maxus and one for a bmw i4

 

 

Good to hear. Sold my condo in BKK years ago and I'm not up to date on the state of play.

 

Saw the MG Maxus 9 at the BKK motor show very impressive, ideal if you have a driver to go with it.

[Bandersnatch]

3 hours ago, Peciacake said:

Will tomorrow be a good enough day?

 

Family negotiations went on without me, but lunch and a day out in Buriram was enough to turn today from unlucky into a lucky day

[Pib]

52 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

Family negotiations went on without me, but lunch and a day out in Buriram was enough to turn today from unlucky into a lucky day

"Sooner the better" overrode suspicion 

.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Don't plan on selling your EV.

 

[Pib]

52 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Don't plan on selling your EV.

 

 

 

 

Here's background/explanation of above graph.  Gas prices, competition, price cutting, etc.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/26/new-and-used-ev-prices-have-dropped-but-dont-rush-to-buy.html

 

[Pib]

On 10/30/2023 at 4:48 PM, Pib said:

OK, the wife just took a call...from Rever she thinks.  The only question the caller had was what was our electric service size....our answer was 100A. The wife was then told the installer will call in 1 to 2 days.   I expect once that call occurs we'll have better idea when the installers will actually do the installation.

 

If it follows the neighbor's install process the actual installation would be about a 7-10 days after that initial call with the installer.  Time will tell.  Just glad I now know the installation process is indeed underway versus possibly being stuck in the mud maybe because my dealership hadn't forwarded all required paperwork yet to get the ball actually rolling.

 

Update on wall charger installation:  We picked up the Atto 25 Oct/Wed and the dealership said once again a wall charger installer will call in 1 to 3 days to schedule installation.  Call didn't come.   We started pinging the dealership again by phone.  After pinging the dealership again we then got a call from BYD Reves on 30 Oct/Mon saying wall charger installer would call in 1 or 2 days---but no call came. It's now 1 Nov....7 days after car pickup....still no initial contact from the installer....just a BYD rep saying the installer will call.

 

On 1 Nov/Wed started pinging the dealership again via phone...more excuses...dealership "acting" surprised call hasn't come yet...but I expect that was an acting job.     Today/3 Nov/Fri morning we go to the dealership to get facetime on this issue.  Once again....surprise...excuses...calls to be made to Rever to see what's going on.  We go home with another promise the dealership will follow-up on the delay and call us before 5pm today.

 

Finally at 1:30pm today the charge "installer" finally makes initial contact.  Asked a few questions such as size of electric service (we have 100A single phase) and confirmation of our address.  Installation is now scheduled for 6 Nov/Mon morning. 

 

Hopefully it will indeed be an installation team vs a scouting team to checkout what they will need for later installation.  But the call indicated it would be "installation."  If installation does occur it will have taken 12 days BUT with us having to ride the dealership hard on why no contact from the installer.  Time will tell.  Granny charger still working well.

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Pib

[Pib]

Oh almost forgot....while at the dealership today here in western Bangkok they had Dolphins setting everywhere....dozens in the garage area and parking lot behind the dealership.   Just a lot more than normal and I have visit this dealership about a half dozen times over the last six weeks. Also a good amount of Atto's and a few Seals.  We saw one blue Seal being delivered to the happy owners when walking into the showroom.  The showroom has enough room for 4 vehicles....they had two Atto's and two Dolphins on display.  No Seal on display like they had last week...expect it got sold and someone didn't want to wait in a Seal delivery queue.  

 

I bet when October  EV sales registration stats come out in a few days that the Dolphin will once again be at the top...closely followed by the Atto..and with the Seal starting to show good numbers.  I'm going to guess the Seal will easily be within the top 10 even though the Seal didn't go on sale until late Sep.   But since the stats is based on "registrations" vs bookings with the Seal only going on sale in late Sep I expect a big bunch of Oct sales haven't completed the registration process and will not appear in bigger numbers until Nov registration stats come out in early Dec.

 

And with EV3.0 ending 31 Dec 2023 (although registration completion by 31 Jan 2024 is allowed) this means a reduced subsidy amount kicking off 1 Jan 2024 under EV3.5.   I expect EV sales to really spike for Nov and Dec...maybe even Oct...in order to get the higher subsidy...the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) will be shown in full glory.     

[Bandersnatch]

BYD Seal Customer Collection

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

13 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

BYD Seal Customer Collection

 

 

 

Congratulations, looks amazing.

[Bandersnatch]

11 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Congratulations, looks amazing.

 

I believe you mean the car and not my video which was a real rush job, unscripted and done in one take

[macahoom]

28 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

BYD Seal Customer Collection

 

 

 

 

Well done!

 

By the way, the buttons on the door are NOT for the seat memories.

[Andrew Dwyer]

9 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

I believe you mean the car and not my video which was a real rush job, unscripted and done in one take

Yes I meant the car  ….. and not your hairy forearms !

 

What are the boot liner and floor mats like ?, not expecting top notch but good enough to save me buying any ?

[Bandersnatch]

11 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Well done!

 

By the way, the buttons on the door are NOT for the seat memories.

 

Then my sales girl lied to me 🙄

[Bandersnatch]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes I meant the car  ….. and not your hairy forearms !

 

You can see more 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

10 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

What are the boot liner and floor mats like ?, not expecting top notch but good enough to save me buying any ?

 

Boot liner looked good actually. Mats are fabric material not the sculptured 3D plastic jobbies - won't stand up to much wear and tear but add to the carpeted opulence of the car 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Bandersnatch

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 minute ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

Boot liner looked good actually. Mats are fabric material not the sculptured 3D plastic jobbies - won't stand up to much wear and tear buy add to the carpeted opulence of the car 

My current car came with black carpet type mats with a small logo on and I find these to my liking rather than the ones I have seen online.

Nobody gets in my car with muddy shoes though !

[matchar]

8 hours ago, steve187 said:

my son has 2 dedicated parking spaces in his condo in Bangkok both with dedicated charges one for a mg maxus and one for a bmw i4

Good for him but I'm guessing that's a luxury condo as most condos in Bangkok don't even come with one allocated parking space. Usually it's a free for all with only enough parking for around 35% of rooms and double parking everywhere.

[MangoKorat]

For me, the biggest concerns about buying an electric car anywhere is the environmental costs, real world carbon foot print, the future value, taking account of battery replacement costs and battery warranty worries.

 

It may well be that even after taking account of the issues I've raised below, an EV is the better choice for you - especially if you are producing your own electricity to charge it with (as I know the OP does). I'm simply saying that there are things to consider in Thailand as there are in any country, that you may not be aware of.

 

Environmental Costs - there's growing evidence that the mining of rare earth metals used in battery production are causing environmental 'disasters' in parts of Africa and elsewhere.  In Congo, apparently thousands of acres of Rain Forrest and natural habitat have been destroyed by such mining. In some cases, the chemicals used/produced are also poisoning water sources and the soil in general. Remember, Rain Forrests are natural carbon sinks and they are not limited to Brazil! As usual, it seems that profit over environment has taken over - we seem to have learned very little and are possibly trading one environmental disaster for another - albeit - tucked away out of sight in Africa and China etc.

 

https://earth.org/cobalt-mining-in-congo/

 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rare-earth-mining-renewable-energy-future

 

Carbon Footprint - I'll try to find the article I read where an EV's real world environmental costs were compared with a combustion engined car over the long term and including everything - production costs, mining of battery materials etc. etc. I seem to remember that the EV didn't fare much better than a conventional car.

 

Future Value/Battery Replacement - I have serious concerns regarding the cost of battery replacement and even if you decide to sell before they need replacing, people will be aware of the cost and the value will fall accordingly.  I've seen various cost comparisons between combustion engined cars and EV's and none of them included battery replacement costs.  When comparing costs (real world) you need to take account of this.

 

Battery Warranties.

 

I'd like to study some battery waranties and look for any potential 'get out clauses'.  Some manufacturers are offering 10 year warranties on batteries now.  Having acted as an expert witness for a guy who got caught out by the scandalous behaviour of BMW over their notoriuos 2.0L diesel cam chain fault - I know how slippery car manufacturers can be. Be aware also that Thailand's consumer laws may not be as robust as those in your home country.

 

I'd be very wary that any manufacturer will behave properly 9 years from now.  Remember also that if for example you get 9 years out of a set and they go faulty with a 10 year warranty - the manufacturer is unlikely to fit a new set of batteries - they'll most likely just cover the year that's left and that will take account of replacements AT THEIR PRICE.  In the BMW case I mentioned above, many owners were offered a % of the repair costs which could only be carried out at a BMW dealer at BMW PRICES. Many found that they could actually get a better deal by paying 100% of the costs at an independent repairer.

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, MangoKorat said:

that the mining of rare earth metals used in battery production are causing environmental 'disasters' in parts of Africa and elsewhere. 

Please be aware that this a 4,000 post discussion with many members here owning one or more EVs. You really need to check your facts before posting as you are in the presence of experts and will be called out for posting rubbish 

 

I regularly see posts claiming that REES are used in large quantities in modern EV batteries but that is incorrect. They were is used in Nickel–metal hydride batteries in older hybrid cars, but that is no longer the case.

 

“ Ce and La are important as catalysts, and are used for petroleum refining and as diesel additives”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element

in the paragraph about REES you quoted Cobalt,  Cobalt is not a REE

The 2 biggest EV manufactures are BYD - 100% lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) - and Tesla whose best selling models by far are the standard range model 3 & Y  that now mostly use lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Ford has also moved to LFP All LFP batteries do not use Cobalt.

 

My house battery and EV have no cobalt.

 

You might not know that Cobalt helps to clean petroleum of sulfur impurities that interfere with the refining of liquid fuels

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Bandersnatch

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, MangoKorat said:

For me, the biggest concerns about buying an electric car

Most of what you have posted is unsubstantiated rubbish. You are clearly not interested in buying an EV.

 

If you want to discuss EVs v ICE then do it in the EVs V ICE discussion. 
 

This discussion is about EVs in Thailand

 

If you persist I will report you for attempting to hijack this topic

[Bandersnatch]

8 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Don't plan on selling your EV.

 

You did not post anything about the price of EVs in Thailand.

 

This is off-topic. Start your own discussion somewhere else.

[matchar]

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

You did not post anything about the price of EVs in Thailand.

 

This is off-topic. Start your own discussion somewhere else.

To be fair I think this is a valid point even for Thailand. As the battery technology improves, older EVs will become less desirable.

 

I think someone recently mentioned they sold their 4 year old MG ZS EV for 560k which must have been less than half of what they paid for it.

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, MangoKorat said:

 

Oh and by the way - in another reply you make claims such as Lithium Ion batteries don't contain cobalt.  The articles below seems to suggest they do and there are plenty of other sources.  There are also other damaging elements in all types of batteries plus the way they are mined can be extremely damaging.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impacts_of_lithium-ion_batteries

 

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lithium-batteries-environment-impact

 

https://earth.org/lithium-and-cobalt-mining/

 

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/01/18/the-paradox-of-lithium/

 

There are also valid concerns as to whether batteries are in fact recycled or not.

 

 

Understand the difference between Lithium Ion and Lithium Iron Phosphate ( LFP ) batteries.

 

https://www.here.com/learn/blog/lithium-ion-vs-lithium-iron-phosphate#:~:text=Lithium iron (LiFePO4) batteries are,applications such as electric vehicles.

 

 

[KhunLA]

17 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

 

Understand the difference between Lithium Ion and Lithium Iron Phosphate ( LFP ) batteries.

 

https://www.here.com/learn/blog/lithium-ion-vs-lithium-iron-phosphate#:~:text=Lithium iron (LiFePO4) batteries are,applications such as electric vehicles.

Sad people are still that ignorant of so many things in the 21st Century, with so much info available.  His reply is just one ignorant statement after another.

[JBChiangRai]

Just over 2 weeks ago I ordered The BYD Seal Performance in Space Grey. I was 7th in the queue then and I am currently 4th in the queue for that model/colour, there are 22 in the queue for the mid model in that colour which seems to be the most popular.  Hopefully, I will get it later this month.  I too have the BYD camera sat in a draw waiting to be fitted.

 

My youngest daughter hardly ever drives her car (a Suzuki Ciaz) and doesn't want an EV which suits me because she parks her car in the sun and doesn't move it for weeks on end.

 

My eldest daughter wants to take my MG4 which frees up her Grey Metallic 13 month old MG EP+ with 11,000km on it.  I will probably be advertising it later this month.  I haven't a clue what to ask, it cost 771,000 in October last year, is immaculate, has dashcam and both dip & main beam bulbs upgraded to Xenon HID. MG wall charger still new in the box.  What do you think it's worth?

Edited November 4, 2023 by JBChiangRai
Spellong