Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, motdaeng said:

 

it depends on how you interpret the numbers. 

another way to look at it is that they've lost a significant number of customers

who are now buying electric cars instead of choosing vehicles from brands like Toyota or Honda!

 

It's going to be interesting to see the breakdown of registrations during 2024.  There's no doubt this industry has been well & truly disrupted.

 

[Gweiloman]

17 hours ago, Pib said:

Wow...I didn't know Havel had a PHEV with that much range/that big of a battery (34KWH).  Paired with a 1.5L engine.   I'd been so use to seeing PHEV's spec'ed at less than 100Km electric-only. 

 

 

 

One of my challenges is to make sure I run the ICE regularly in order to prevent the fuel from becoming stale. The car has two modes; EV and HEV. Even in the HEV mode, it defaults to pure electric driving unless I step more aggressively on the accelerator pedal to engage the ICE. I haven’t put in any petrol the last few thousand kms.

[Melpomene]

3 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I think Legacy auto makers must be $hitting their pants.

 

Agreed it's the pace with which people are changing their views that's fascinating.

 

I've gone from thinking I'm years away from owning an EV, to picking one up next week in the space of about 4 months. Was out with some friends a couple of months ago and mentioned I was considering an EV.  Their view at the time was "WHY??".  Caught up with the same friends about a month later and two of them are now thinking buying a Seal !

 

The legacy automakers really need to up their game...

[Bandersnatch]

Interesting video by a Japanese channel about Chinese EVs in Thailand

 

https://youtu.be/-2qamAo9EWY?si=IiDAh10pN7MOtQ34

 

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Day 5 reservations at Motor Expo 

 

[Bandersnatch]

At least the CyberTruck has got V2L

but not sure what it’s doing on the Tesla Thailand page.

 

https://www.tesla.com/en_th
 

[mistral53]

This is one of the really good developments for a big city like BKK - more electric taxis!

 

Now lets go for motorsai next.........

[Pib]

3 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Day 5 reservations at Motor Expo 

 

 

 

Here's another view of Day 5 reservations.

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

A question for the electrical types on here:

Have been granny charging my Seal for a few days now on and off. It starts without any issue.

Unlock to open charging port then lock car, plug granny charger into wall and then into car, car starts to charge ramping up to 1.8 kw .

To stop I unlock car to allow unplugging from car, remove from wall socket and lock car.

 

All hunky dory until a couple of minutes later the associated breaker drops out, feels hot to the touch and won’t stay up for about 5 minutes.

 

 This happens every time, can charge for hours but shortly after stopping charging it drops out.

 

Anything I should do differently or any reason for this ??

[JBChiangRai]

9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

A question for the electrical types on here:

Have been granny charging my Seal for a few days now on and off. It starts without any issue.

Unlock to open charging port then lock car, plug granny charger into wall and then into car, car starts to charge ramping up to 1.8 kw .

To stop I unlock car to allow unplugging from car, remove from wall socket and lock car.

 

All hunky dory until a couple of minutes later the associated breaker drops out, feels hot to the touch and won’t stay up for about 5 minutes.

 

 This happens every time, can charge for hours but shortly after stopping charging it drops out.

 

Anything I should do differently or any reason for this ??

 

It sounds like a faulty breaker, you're doing everything right.

[Pib]

10 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

A question for the electrical types on here:

Have been granny charging my Seal for a few days now on and off. It starts without any issue.

Unlock to open charging port then lock car, plug granny charger into wall and then into car, car starts to charge ramping up to 1.8 kw .

To stop I unlock car to allow unplugging from car, remove from wall socket and lock car.

 

All hunky dory until a couple of minutes later the associated breaker drops out, feels hot to the touch and won’t stay up for about 5 minutes.

 

 This happens every time, can charge for hours but shortly after stopping charging it drops out.

 

Anything I should do differently or any reason for this ??

 

The granny charger will draw approx 10A.  If you have it plugged into a circuit, say a 16A/20A circuit (a typical wall outlet) with 16A/20A breaker, and say that circuit is already drawing say 10A because it's powering an air conditioner on the circuit or just some other piece(s) of electrical equipment then make sure you are simply not overloading the circuit when the granny charger is plugged in. 

 

"I know" you said the breaker doesn't trip until a few minutes after unplugging the charger which would lower the amperage draw on the circuit which should prevent the breaker from wanting to trip but sometimes electrical components can act in the strangest ways....even opposite to the way the should act especially if they are defective, going bad, or when interacting with some other electrical device on the circuit.   And if the breaker is a RCBO type then than can throw even more "strangeness" is what might happen. 

 

So, you might want to check as to what other electrical devices are on the circuit (if any) all the time and if their amps draw when combined with the approx 10A draw of the granny charger is taking that circuit/breaker to it's limit which could cause that breaker to trip "and even do strange things of tripping after the amps draw has been lowered below the tripping point."   

 

 And like like JBChiangRai said it may just be a defective breaker.  Breakers in the 20A ball park are dirt cheap....you could replace it to be sure, but you really should know how much the circuit/breaker is carrying with the granny charger plugged in as even with a new breaker you don't want to be running a circuit at it's max all the time as it will heat up....and that breaker could get very war if the circuit is running at or above it's max.

 

 

 

 

 

approx 

[Gweiloman]

11 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

A question for the electrical types on here:

Have been granny charging my Seal for a few days now on and off. It starts without any issue.

Unlock to open charging port then lock car, plug granny charger into wall and then into car, car starts to charge ramping up to 1.8 kw .

To stop I unlock car to allow unplugging from car, remove from wall socket and lock car.

 

All hunky dory until a couple of minutes later the associated breaker drops out, feels hot to the touch and won’t stay up for about 5 minutes.

 

 This happens every time, can charge for hours but shortly after stopping charging it drops out.

 

Anything I should do differently or any reason for this ??

Agree with JbChiangrai and Pib. What sort of meter do you currently have? 15/45 or 30/100? If the former, you can either upgrade or have PEA fit a 2nd meter, like I did, for your wall charger. If you go down this route, it’s not a bad idea to fit another two electrical outlets for extra power points. My consumer unit has 4 fuses. A 40A for the wall charger, 2 x 20A for 2 electoral sockets and a spare one for the fun of it.

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

42 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

The granny charger will draw approx 10A.  If you have it plugged into a circuit, say a 16A/20A circuit (a typical wall outlet) with 16A/20A breaker, and say that circuit is already drawing say 10A because it's powering an air conditioner on the circuit or just some other piece(s) of electrical equipment then make sure you are simply not overloading the circuit when the granny charger is plugged in. 

 

"I know" you said the breaker doesn't trip until a few minutes after unplugging the charger which would lower the amperage draw on the circuit which should prevent the breaker from wanting to trip but sometimes electrical components can act in the strangest ways....even opposite to the way the should act especially if they are defective, going bad, or when interacting with some other electrical device on the circuit.   And if the breaker is a RCBO type then than can throw even more "strangeness" is what might happen. 

 

So, you might want to check as to what other electrical devices are on the circuit (if any) all the time and if their amps draw when combined with the approx 10A draw of the granny charger is taking that circuit/breaker to it's limit which could cause that breaker to trip "and even do strange things of tripping after the amps draw has been lowered below the tripping point."   

 

 And like like JBChiangRai said it may just be a defective breaker.  Breakers in the 20A ball park are dirt cheap....you could replace it to be sure, but you really should know how much the circuit/breaker is carrying with the granny charger plugged in as even with a new breaker you don't want to be running a circuit at it's max all the time as it will heat up....and that breaker could get very war if the circuit is running at or above it's max.

 

 

 

 

 

approx 

Thanks, it’s a 20A breaker feeding a lounge/dining room, no air con, but tv, wireless router, lights, ceiling fan, floor fan and a fridge ( yes, I have a fridge in my dining room ! ).

 

Maybe the fridge is tipping it over the edge ?, I might try and put the fridge back in the kitchen as this granny charging is only a temporary thing ( wall charger and 2nd circuit TOU meter to come ).

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Thanks, it’s a 20A breaker feeding a lounge/dining room, no air con, but tv, wireless router, lights, ceiling fan, floor fan and a fridge ( yes, I have a fridge in my dining room ! ).

 

Maybe the fridge is tipping it over the edge ?, I might try and put the fridge back in the kitchen as this granny charging is only a temporary thing ( wall charger and 2nd circuit TOU meter to come ).

 

The fact it's tripping some minutes after you stop charging the car is odd, the current will have dropped by 10amps and it shouldn't trip.  It's getting hot too and seems to be tripping as it's cooling down which suggests it's a faulty breaker.  It's also possible it isn't seated right, or the cable isn't making a good contact with the breaker, either of these would cause it to heat up, it still shouldn't trip as it cools down.

[Andrew Dwyer]

4 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Agree with JbChiangrai and Pib. What sort of meter do you currently have? 15/45 or 30/100? If the former, you can either upgrade or have PEA fit a 2nd meter, like I did, for your wall charger. If you go down this route, it’s not a bad idea to fit another two electrical outlets for extra power points. My consumer unit has 4 fuses. A 40A for the wall charger, 2 x 20A for 2 electoral sockets and a spare one for the fun of it.

 

 

Thanks,
Currently on a 15/45 but will get a TOU ( 2nd circuit ) meter when the wall charger is installed , PEA already authorised.

Definitely plan to put another couple of sockets for those weekend barbecues !

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

The fact it's tripping some minutes after you stop charging the car is odd, the current will have dropped by 10amps and it shouldn't trip.  It's getting hot too and seems to be tripping as it's cooling down which suggests it's a faulty breaker.  It's also possible it isn't seated right, or the cable isn't making a good contact with the breaker, either of these would cause it to heat up, it still shouldn't trip as it cools down.

Agree, I need to get it looked at anyway.

This week is hectic, having film fit now, hope to squeeze the rear view camera fitting in and also have a retirement extension to look forward to Thurs or Fri !

[JBChiangRai]

I visited our local BYD dealer yesterday, I am now number 2 in the Seal, Space Grey, Performance queue.

 

They said I may not even get it this year, I ordered 19th October.

[Pib]

Regarding charging of of your EV, I have an Atto 3 and its manual recommends a full charge (i.e., up to 100%) from a low SOC (<10%) every three to six months.    I expect this helps with balancing the battery (maybe helps the Battery Management System (BMS) possibly accomplish "bottom-balancing" which can only occur at a low SOC...or maybe just to recalibrate the BMS to more accurately display the percent of charge like how most laptops recommend charging from a very low SOC periodically to recalibrate the battery charge percentage indicator.  I'm pretty sure that the Atto primarily uses "top-end" balancing which balances the battery at a high state of charge.  I've had the Atto about 6 weeks now and have around 2,200Km on it. 

 

Although I haven't had the car for 3 to 6 months yet I wanted to accomplish below recommendation for a couple of reasons:

- Curiosity as to what might be displayed when reaching 10% and below SOC 

- See if the percent of charge remaining and remaining kilometers on the range guessometer stay fairly linear....or might it suddenly drop from say 9% to 5% versus dropping from 9 to 5% in a linear manner (I was concerned about this based on a few youtubes I've seen for various EVs)

-  I just wanted to see what happens when getting down to 10% and less.   I've included a few pics below to help explain what happened.  Note:  Ignore the Trip Meter kilometer readings as they do "not" represent the actually range I got on the trip since I had did an interim charge of 15% or so and forgot to reset the trip meter to zero.  

 

Snapshot from the manual

 

Pic 1:  Here's what my display showed while driving along and I hit 10% SOC.  A battery warning image with the word's "Please recharge" appeared.  A 55km remaining range shown.

 

 

 

Now a few pics as I drop below 10%...I did not take a pic of every 1 percent drop....but the drop was pretty linear kilometers-wise which is a good thing.

 

At 7%

 

 

At 5%

 

 

At 3%

 

 

 

At 2%...and if I remember right I took this pic just a moment after it reached 2% vs a kilometer or more later.  So, at 2% I still had 12km of juice left "with the Range Mode set to Standard, repeat, with the Range Mode set to Standard.  When switching to Dynamic mode it showed a little more range left.

 

 

 

 

2% remaining when set to Dynamic Mode...it shows 13Km left where the Standard Mode showed 12Km  I have found that the Dynamic Mode showers a little high range remaining throughout the charge percentage such as up to 15km higher in the 90-100% ballpark but as the charge percentage decreases the Standard and Dynamic Ranges get closer and closer to indicating the same...like at 2% remaining the Dynamic says 13Km left while Standard says 12Km left.  

 

 

OK...I'm now home....I'm not going to drive it down to 1% or even a crazier 0% just to see what happens.  I plug in my 7KW wallcharger and below is what displays.    It's around 6pm in the evening...I just leave the charger plugged in an go to bed because charging will not complete until around 3am next morning.   The charging starts of at 6.0KW for a few minutes, then climbs to 6.1KW, and then to 6.2KW where it remaining for the bulk of the charge cycle based on my experience...but it will reach 6.3KW near the end of the charge cycle (say in the 80 to 100% range)...and even hit 6.4KW for a few seconds just before completing the charge cycle/getting to 100%/charge cutting off.

 

 

OK...it's now morning....charging complete.  Below is what shown on Standard and Dynamic Modes

 

Standard Mode...480Km range with is the advertised NEDC 480Km range.

 

 

 

Dynamic Mode....shows 495Km range fully charge...I have seen it as high as 503Km but usually it 495Km when at 100% charge.  Dynamic range is based on the "individual's" driving habits....light footed, heavy footed, air con, no air con, etc.  For me the air is "always" on and I probably a light footed driver.

 

 

 

Just FYI.  My curiosity satisfied...and I know when I drop below 10% charge what's going to happen in that I still have around 50 to 55Km left to find a charger.  Cheers.

 

[macahoom]

7 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I visited our local BYD dealer yesterday, I am now number 2 in the Seal, Space Grey, Performance queue.

 

They said I may not even get it this year, I ordered 19th October.

 

There are positives if you have to wait until January.

 

1) It'll be a 2024 car.

2) You'll have learnt even more fascinating, riveting and intriguing tips and info from the BYD Seal tips, tricks and help thread.

[macahoom]

Wrong thread.

Edited December 5, 2023 by macahoom

[JBChiangRai]

57 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

There are positives if you have to wait until January.

 

1) It'll be a 2024 car.

2) You'll have learnt even more fascinating, riveting and intriguing tips and info from the BYD Seal tips, tricks and help thread.

 

I had already agreed with the dealership that they won't register it until January, but obviously the warranty starting this year would be the giveaway.

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

Incidentally, charging speed (Kw) is linked to voltage.  The car will draw up to 32 amps but not more, so if you have a voltage drop to (say) 200 volts, the most you will get is 6.4Kw conversely, if you're on solar and you wind the voltage up on your inverter to 240 volts you will perhaps get the full charging speed they get in the UK.

[Melpomene]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

What sort of meter do you currently have? 15/45 or 30/100? If the former, you can either upgrade or have PEA fit a 2nd meter, like I did, for your wall charger.

 

How would one know what sort of meter they have ? Just looked at ours and there's nothing to indicate to a layman like me whether it's 15/45 or 30/100 (not that I know the difference anyway, got so much to learn 😅).

[Rotweiler]

Came across an interesting article (from a reputable source) about the negatives of electric cars.  Well worth the read (watch - it's a video).

 

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-myths-about-electric-vehicles-busted/video-67587929

 

[mistral53]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Incidentally, charging speed (Kw) is linked to voltage.  The car will draw up to 32 amps but not more, so if you have a voltage drop to (say) 200 volts, the most you will get is 6.4Kw conversely, if you're on solar and you wind the voltage up on your inverter to 240 volts you will perhaps get the full charging speed they get in the UK.

BYD seal in Europe charges with up to 11 kW:   https://www.byd.com/eu/car/seal.html

Edited December 5, 2023 by mistral53

[mistral53]

1 hour ago, Melpomene said:

 

How would one know what sort of meter they have ? Just looked at ours and there's nothing to indicate to a layman like me whether it's 15/45 or 30/100 (not that I know the difference anyway, got so much to learn 😅).

This is what you are looking for (e.g. our meter)......... it's on all meters in one form or another

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by mistral53

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, Melpomene said:

 

How would one know what sort of meter they have ? Just looked at ours and there's nothing to indicate to a layman like me whether it's 15/45 or 30/100 (not that I know the difference anyway, got so much to learn 😅).

As said above, should be on the meter, mine was (15/45).

[Melpomene]

Got it - thanks. I can now see ours is 5/100A. Which from a quick Google search tells me these newer electronic meters are more a one size fits all so it between 5 & 100A. Which suggests it should be ok to add a charger onto this. 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Latest reservations from the Motor Expo 

 

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Melpomene said:

Got it - thanks. I can now see ours is 5/100A. Which from a quick Google search tells me these newer electronic meters are more a one size fits all so it between 5 & 100A. Which suggests it should be ok to add a charger onto this. 

 

 

 

On electric meters when you see a number like 5 (15), 5 (100), 15 (35), 30 (100), etc.,  the number within parenthesis  represents the maximum amperage that meter can handle/accurately measure and an electric company will match the service going to your residence with the proper sized meter. 

 

The first number which is not in parenthesis is called the basic/calibration amperage which will be in the general ballpark of what a typical residence might normally pull amperage-wise which would typically be one-third or less of the max amps.  And for calibration checks a key calibration point is approx one-third of full range. 

 

The two numbers printed on an electric meter can vary greater depending on design, quality, specs required by the electric company, etc.

 

Like a residence with a single phase 100A service here in Thailand would usually have a 30 (100) meter installed but it could very well be a 5 (100) meter...all depends on the electric company.  A 5 (100) meter will be a higher quality/more sensitive meter than a 30 (100) meter....both are rated for 100A service  And although they would probably be pulling less than 10A without any high current devices running (like air cons) when they do turn on one or two larger air cons they could approach around 20-25A....or maybe turn on an electric water heater or clothes drier then the current is going to probably be up around 35A which is about one third of the 100A max service.