Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Gweiloman]

On 1/19/2025 at 11:39 AM, josephbloggs said:

So many EVs in my soi now, including a lovely MG Cyberster. Anyway, my opposite neighbour has a Haval Jolion. It makes so much noise, even when parked (I've never heard the ICE running, he only uses it in EV mode) it makes this whining noise. It is so loud I can hear it from inside my house.

Just wondering if this is normal or if there is something wrong with his? I've never heard any PHEV or EV make this loud whining before. Just curious. @Gweiloman has a Haval if I remember correctly. Does yours make this noise in EV mode?

Sorry for late reply. I went to start up the Haval and no sound. It does make a whining sound when I start driving but only at low speeds.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Sorry for late reply. I went to start up the Haval and no sound. It does make a whining sound when I start driving but only at low speeds.

Even no whining when the inside of the cabin is hot?  Like it has been setting in the sun making the cabin fell like inside a oven.....or it's just simply hot weather even in the shade (not to be confused with the cool weather we have right now).    

 

And what temp do you keep you A/C set to?   If like something around 26C (which some of my Thai in-laws prefer) then an electric A/C compressor will rarely have to work hard..."spin fast" which can cause a whining noise since scroll type compressors (vs a piston type compressor) can have a whine when working hard/spinning fast.    But set the A/C to something like 22C or lower the electric compressor will have to do more work/spin faster "if" the cabin temp is hot.

[Pib]

On 1/19/2025 at 3:10 PM, josephbloggs said:

Thanks to you and @Andrew Dwyer - curiosity sated. Seems like that is what it must be as it does go up and down in pitch. It is so loud though, even when it is in his driveway I can hear it in my house with windows and doors closed and A/C running.

Sometimes the loudest and pitch of a sound greatly depends on your location in relation to the source of the sound.   You can be in one spot and a sound is loud/high or low pitch and move just few meters and the sound may very significantly change.   

 

Heck, just last week when my neighbor directly across from me was doing his annual cleaning of his driveway with his high pressure washer that sound from the high pitch sounding washer would come across the soi "between" my house and my adjacent neighbor's house and then bounced off the fence wall behind my house making it sound like my home water pump close to my back wall was constantly running when in fact the water pump was not running.

 

It was really strange how that high pressure washer's sound was being amplified a little as it was focused between my house and my adjacent neighbor's house and then being bounced on my back fence wall....made the sound louder and also a higher pitch than if I was standing in the soi  much closer to the actual source of the sound--the pressure washer. 

 

A similar thing happens occasionally when some one a couple hundred meters away plays a music source loudly with a LOT of low frequency bass which most Thai just love...that is a lot of low frequency bass that can rattle your bones.  When that occurs just me moving a 5 or so meters to the left or right can make a big difference in how loud the sound is..  I expect it's because of where the echoes of the sound reinforce or suppress each other depend on where the echoes happen to meet as those echoes bounce away. 

[Rimmer]

I purchased an electric vehicle a few days back, obviously for use in the garden but can drive it on the road if you want, no tax no registration, here it is being delivered and another of it being pressed into service straight away.

 

 

[Pib]

Well, it's not a BYD Seal that can accelerate to 100KmH in 3.8 seconds and impress high maintenance women, but at least it's a start into the EV world.  😜😁😉

 

And I was really surprised that little 1/2 ton pickup truck's front wheels didn't leave the ground when lowering your red machine to the ground.

[Gweiloman]

6 hours ago, Pib said:

Even no whining when the inside of the cabin is hot?  Like it has been setting in the sun making the cabin fell like inside a oven.....or it's just simply hot weather even in the shade (not to be confused with the cool weather we have right now).    

 

And what temp do you keep you A/C set to?   If like something around 26C (which some of my Thai in-laws prefer) then an electric A/C compressor will rarely have to work hard..."spin fast" which can cause a whining noise since scroll type compressors (vs a piston type compressor) can have a whine when working hard/spinning fast.    But set the A/C to something like 22C or lower the electric compressor will have to do more work/spin faster "if" the cabin temp is hot.

I must admit I never really noticed as my car is almost always kept under shade. My AC is set at 25 as the Haval AC is extremely efficient (my BYD is normally set to 20).

[Bandersnatch]

7 hours ago, Rimmer said:

purchased an electric vehicle a few days back, obviously for use in the garden

 

Bit too HiSo for my garden.

 

The vehicle I purchased for moving stuff around my garden can't even manage a single horse power

 

 

[mistral53]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

I must admit I never really noticed as my car is almost always kept under shade. My AC is set at 25 as the Haval AC is extremely efficient (my BYD is normally set to 20).

In the Seal we set the temp to 25 C and 'avoid' - you must be very cold blooded to  set it to 20......... do you also have fangs......lol

[Pib]

I've played with my BYD Atto A/C temp setting between a 22C setting (where I normally set it) and a 26C setting on hot day over the last year..   it makes a BIG difference in how hard/how fast the electric A/C compressor spins along with the compressor noise level (a whine)....and how long it must spin at a high speed to initially get the cabin temp down.     And of course if you crawling along in city traffic wihch cuts down on air flow over the A/C condensor coil in the very front of the car that also going to make the electric compressor work harder compared to zipping along at highway speed with good airflow.

[JBChiangRai]

In my Seal 25 is often too cold and 26 is often too hot.

[Pib]

I always use a setting of 23C in my Toyota Fortuner ICEV and 22C in my Atto.   Anything higher than that like 26C is just not comfortable for the wife or I.   

 

Now inside our house we run A/C 24/7 and use a 26C setting which is comfortable enough because you are not dealing with a lot of sunlight easily hitting your body like in a car where there is nothing but tinted windows around you and possibly a sunroof that may be letting light thru to heat things up.  

 

Bottomline for the wife and I a 24C setting is probably our upper limit in feeling comfortable in a car, but 22 or 23C is better and preferred.  At 25C or above we don't feel comfortable.   But I know for a fact most of my Thai in-laws set their car A/C temp to 25 or 26C as that's where they apparently  feel the most comfortable.  

 

Yea, each person will be different in "what feels comfortable to them"....and when it comes to A/C that means how hard (or not so hard) the EV's electric A/C compressor will have to work/spin....the harder it works/the faster it spins means more compressor noise.

 

Preaching to the choir I know.

 

 

[TronxII]

On 1/21/2025 at 6:20 AM, Rimmer said:

 purchased an electric vehicle a few days back, obviously for use in the garden but can drive it on the road if you want, no tax no registration, here it is being delivered and another of it being pressed into service straight away.

 

 

Seems ok for short trips. How is this seen legally by the Thai? Is this the same like these motorbike tricycles which are kind of illegal but nobody cares? There however I assume that most of them have an insurance for the motorbike.

[TronxII]

On 1/20/2025 at 7:19 PM, vinny41 said:

Imported EV pickup trucks no subsidy

Thai locally builtEV  pickup trucks B100K subsidy until the end of 2027

RD6 has been discontinued in China due to poor sales it has been replaced by The Radar King Kong

have to wait and see if it comes to Thailand

https://carnewschina.com/2024/12/23/geely-backed-radar-king-kong-pickup-truck-launched-in-china-for-13700-usd/

No subsidy, but they can provide a pickup for under 1M. I expected people to jump on any electric pickup, but this seems not the case. Diesel seems still too cheap at 40B and a pickup only takes 10L/100km LOL.

I suppose the BYD shark will also not be produced in TH.

[vinny41]

1 hour ago, TronxII said:

No subsidy, but they can provide a pickup for under 1M. I expected people to jump on any electric pickup, but this seems not the case. Diesel seems still too cheap at 40B and a pickup only takes 10L/100km LOL.

I suppose the BYD shark will also not be produced in TH.

Byd shark is due to be produced in Thailand  

[4myr]

6 hours ago, TronxII said:

Seems ok for short trips. How is this seen legally by the Thai? Is this the same like these motorbike tricycles which are kind of illegal but nobody cares? There however I assume that most of them have an insurance for the motorbike.

 

It depends where you live. I live in a rural area. I've got a similar one and use it for trips with the dogs and to buy large amounts of groceries at Makro. As long as you don't drive on provincial roads it is tolerated. I've even seen a mobile coffee shop on these tricycles.

 

My problem with these tricycles like with e-bikes is the longevity of the battery. But I saw a video lately where they put a BYD blade battery on an e-bike. I hope they have some cooling installed to get the same longevity as in a car

 

 

 

[4myr]

According to car250.com Mazda will launch an EV in Thailand, the Mazda 6e. In China this car is known as the EZ6, however with a smaller standard range battery [68kwh]. The car is based on a previous iteration of the Changan Deepal L07. It is a sedan the size of a BYD Seal.

 

On the looks it is a very lovely car and has a bigger boot space than the Seal. But I'm afraid the price will not be competitive to the Seal with discount. Based on the Chinese EZ6 topmodel standard range [68kwh battery] and an uptick of 50% of an import model, I expect the Thai price to be around 1.3 M baht. This is the price of the Thai Deepal L07. A Seal Dynamic with discount is now 1 M baht.

 

 

Links:

https://www.car250.com/mazda-6e-th.html

https://www.changan.co.th/en/deepal/l07-en/specification/

https://www.dongchedi.com/auto/series/10137 [ Chinese EZ6 specs ]

 

 

 

[TronxII]

7 hours ago, 4myr said:

My problem with these tricycles like with e-bikes is the longevity of the battery.

Does this have a LiFePo4 battery? What specs do they provide for it?

How long does it charge and what type of charger do you have?

[TronxII]

On 1/21/2025 at 1:29 PM, Bandersnatch said:

The vehicle I purchased for moving stuff around my garden can't even manage a single horse power

Yeah this is very cruel to take dogs instead of horses 🙂 . You should go electric LOL

[4myr]

Surprise surprise. Honda will also launch the e:N1 EV as an import model this March that you can buy. Till now it was only available with a lease.

 

The e:N1 import model is similar to the Chinese e:NS1, made by Dongfeng Honda. The car is based on the HRV platform. A few things why this Honda will not resonate with some buyers: it uses a NMC instead of LFP battery. And it's charging speed is not on par with peers - 78 kw. I expect the price to be between 1 - 1.1 M baht, based on the Chinese top model and with an uptick of 50% of an import model. Maybe they will ask more, because it is a Honda and not a Chinese brand.

 

Turn on English subs:

 

Links:

https://autolifethailand.tv/spec-option-unofficial-price-honda-en1-ev-mar-2025/

https://www.dongchedi.com/auto/params-carIds-x-5387 [ Chinese model specs ]

[4myr]

10 minutes ago, TronxII said:

Does this have a LiFePo4 battery? What specs do they provide for it?

How long does it charge and what type of charger do you have?

Nope, lead acid. It is 60Vx20Ah battery I believe. Around 200-300 charge cycles.

 

Even if I replace the lead acid by LFP batteries, the charge cycles will increase to maybe 1000. But the problem is these batteries do not have cooling or a sophisticated BMS like in a car. So expect it to replace it after 2-3 years. 

 

It's range is 25km with a speed of 20-25km/h. Charging to full takes 6-8 hours. I've installed a solar panel on top with a dc-to-dc booster to charge while on the road. I keep the battery temp in check not to increase over 50C. 

[TronxII]

38 minutes ago, 4myr said:

Even if I replace the lead acid by LFP batteries, the charge cycles will increase to maybe 1000.

Have you played with LiFePo4, especially the bigger cells, and brand new cells? You might be surprised how lightweight and how much less volume they have, compared to the same capacity as lead acid . My guess is that the same weight of LiFePo4 would give you maybe 4times the range of lead. The reason is that with LiFePo4 you can really use 80% of the capacity where lead will be destroyed very fast if you do this too often.

What you might wish to stay away from is second hand LiFePo4 from Aliexpress or Lazada. These cells are half dead and each cell is different from the others, resulting in need for heavy balancing. But new CATL or similar brand cells directly from China are a good option and the price has dropped significantly.

 

If the vehicle can run on lead acid, it can run on LiFePo4. With double the capacity of the LiFePo4 (because they are smaller and weigh only half) , your current draw would not stress these cells to a level where cooling is required. If this was the case, then your lead acid would already be boiling.

[carlyai]

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

[JBChiangRai]

I don't even think about it, I have excess solar power, so it's free.

[carlyai]

22 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I don't even think about it, I have excess solar power, so it's free.

So you don't think....I have a 82kWh battery, so can go about 540km therefore 40kWh will get me 270km approx. So instead of thinking 270km you think 40kWh?. Or am I thinking BS. 🙂

[JBChiangRai]

Just now, carlyai said:

So you don't think....I have a 82kWh battery, so can go about 540km therefore 40kWh will get me 270km approx. So instead of thinking 270km you think 40kWh?. Or am I thinking BS. 🙂

 

I think you're right, though you will probably never take your SoC (State of Charge) down to 0%.  If 100% gives you a range of490km (allowing a 10% buffer) then I would think along the lines of 50% charge will give you 220km with that same buffer.

 

I think it might be better to think in terms of cost.  

[Pib]

51 minutes ago, carlyai said:

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

 

On the day you pickup your new EV at the dealership they will update your brain "to think EV"...it pretty much overwrites most of your ICEV thinking.    Here's a picture of me getting my update at my BYD dealership when I picked up my Atto 15 months ago.  

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

 

No thought involved really.   You just never pop into the petrol station again, unless Out & About (O&A), and need to top up.

 

Only thing to think about, is when to charge, and only if you have solar or TOU meter.  Solar, charge when you can, if PEA/MEA, usually be charging overnight anyway.

42 minutes ago, carlyai said:

So you don't think....I have a 82kWh battery, so can go about 540km therefore 40kWh will get me 270km approx. So instead of thinking 270km you think 40kWh?. Or am I thinking BS. 🙂

 

O&A, range of battery is a bit irrelevant, as it comes down to range of you bladder or stomach.   We're good for 3+ hours, then I need a stop.  Happy if the wife can make it that long.   Just plug in when we stop.   If 3+ hours, that usually means 250 kms range, which also means having about a 25+% reserve of 70 kms maybe.  O&A range is ~320-340 kms for our MG ZS, if down to 0.  Only 46.3kwh usable battery.

38 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I think you're right, though you will probably never take your SoC (State of Charge) down to 0%.  If 100% gives you a range of490km (allowing a 10% buffer) then I would think along the lines of 50% charge will give you 220km with that same buffer.

 

I think it might be better to think in terms of cost.  

10% ... you're brave if O&A, and been in the car way too long 😂   If local, takes too long top back up.

 

Came back from Chumphon yesterday, @ 32%, plugged in for couple hours. This AM @42%.   Charging since 0730, (solar @ ~2.3kWh) and won't top up before sunset.

[4myr]

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

 

I don't have an EV yet, but I imagine it can be simple as this.

 

You stop as your bladder commands you and you use ABRP [A Better Route Planner app] to compute and route you to the charging stops you need to make, based on realtime battery SoC data ABRP gets from your EV through the OBD connection or the cloud if your EV is connected.

 

And you can sync bladder time and charging stops by setting in ABRP whether you want to have short and many charging stops or few and longer ones.

No need to think/calculate, what is my speed, my efficiency and range I can drive before my next charging stop.

 

Links:

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/

[UWEB]

2 hours ago, carlyai said:

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

Your EV and the BYD App shows you always how many Kilometers more you can drive with your actual SoC, so there is not really a different between ICE and EV.

[CLW]

2 hours ago, carlyai said:

How did you'll shift your thinking from km (ICE car) to kWh (EV).

I haven't picked up our new Sealion 7 yet but just wondering how you adjusted your thinking.

Or once you get the EV it all comes easily.

Thinking about what terms?

At home you should be charging according to the TOU timing. And usually I run the battery around or below 20% before charging over night. Using the timer function of my MG 4 I try not to charge over 80% unless we have a long trip on the next day. 

 

When we're out with the car, I'm combining the toilet, coffee, eating and 7-11 stop with charging. Really not much difference for me to driving an ICE car with the only requirement that the gas station or rest stop must have a charger. Once I have plugged in, I just hang around at the rest stop. Usually the time for hanging around exceeds the necessary charging time. When I'm on the road I'm never in a rush. 

 

The only downside, it requires a bit of planning ahead or during the trip. And you'll need a dozen of different apps for searching and using charging stations 😭. Once you get familiar with it, it's a breeze. Most of the charging companies apps show the current status (available and / or operational) of the charging poles. For some companies (PTT I have in mind) you can even make a reservation at a certain time. 

 

If you are going on longer trips, you'll be happy how much money you'll save compared to gasoline or diesel