Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[JBChiangRai]

You don't necessarily need BYD's appointed installer to install the charger.

 

I asked them to deliver the charger only and I installed it myself.  You could just take possession of it and ask a local electrician to install it.

 

You could also consider what I did, I put a 32 amp plug and socket between the consumer unit and the charger effectively turning the charger into something that's not considered a permanent fixture should you sell the house or if you're a tenant.

 

Saying the charger has to be affixed to a stand sounds suspicious to me.

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

As long as they were selling electricity, and getting another meter rent, why would they care what was connected to the meter?

Because they would be selling electricity at 3 baht per kw instead of the normal 5.4 (?) baht per kw .

[mistral53]

Not related to Thailand - but if it were available, I am sure they could sell quite a few, myself included 

 

Anyway - congratulation to Xiaomi!

 

[Lacessit]

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/life/auto/2025/06/10/electric-vehicles-myths

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

You don't necessarily need BYD's appointed installer to install the charger.

 

I asked them to deliver the charger only and I installed it myself.  You could just take possession of it and ask a local electrician to install it.

 

You could also consider what I did, I put a 32 amp plug and socket between the consumer unit and the charger effectively turning the charger into something that's not considered a permanent fixture should you sell the house or if you're a tenant.

 

Saying the charger has to be affixed to a stand sounds suspicious to me.

I’m still waiting for the actual byd electrician to arrive and give me a quote. 
 

If it’s a crazy price or I don’t have confidence in what he is saying, fall back is to take delivery of the charger and have another company do the install.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

As long as they were selling electricity, and getting another meter rent, why would they care what was connected to the meter?

When looking at the news articles that came out when PEA rescinded their 2nd meter policy if using to charge an EV apparently the misuse by some would created problems in what PEA called their "uniformity of their pricing."   The misuse would going to cause problems in projecting how much power PEA needed to generate, how much fuel to generate that power, how many future power stations to build, power lines to install, their profit margin, etc...etc.  It was like the misuse was violating a PEA prime directive, breaking a key PEA commandment, throwing too much electrical usage variability into the pricing mix,  etc.   

 

And the misuse was apparently also causing "safety" problems where the 2nd meter was suppose to only be powering an EV home charger but it turns out it was powering shop/factory work along with some unsafe electrical wiring (not PEA approved) which could cause fires.  

 

Yes, the PEA is in the business to sell power but they have rules (like them or not) that the electric user must follow like when signing up for an electric meter identifying whether its for residential use  or business/factory/shop use which affects PEA pricing, PEA installation approval requirements, etc.   Yeap....it was like the misuse was causing electricity pricing and safety problems where one of the root causes could be traced back to a PEA regulation which unintentionally and partially was causing the problems. 

 

X-amount of bad apples which misused the 2nd meter program caused the problem.

 

 

[Pib]

Below is the current (as of today/11 Jun 2025) PEA Infographic on EV charging at home....snapshot from PEA website.   Google translate shows it basically says per #1 as of 1 Sep 2024 you can have one meter to power your home and EV charger...and you can even run two separate main lines from the one meter with one line going to your main circuit panel and the other to your EV charger setup.   And in #2 paragraph is says folks who had a 2nd meter as of 1 Sep 2024 can keep the 2 meter setup but can lose that privilege if they violate PEA regulations regarding use of the 2nd meter for the EV charger.

 

https://safesavethai.com/infographic/ev-charger-at-home/

 

[JBChiangRai]

Those people abusing their EV TOU meter probably don’t understand that the meter is constantly sending snapshot data to PEA/MEA.

 

Aircon use would fluctuate and not match the profile of an EV charging so they would no very quickly it was being abused.

[matchar]

The TOU meter is for selling electricity at night when demand is lower hence the price is lower?

 

If so, why do they care if you are using it to charge an EV or for something else?

[matchar]

Or are they simply saying you can't have your cake and eat it?

 

Because the TOU meter has a higher daytime electric rate than a standard meter so it's better for low daytime users.

 

Seems fair that you can only have one meter. Why should EV owners get special treatment?

[UWEB]

42 minutes ago, matchar said:

The TOU meter is for selling electricity at night when demand is lower hence the price is lower?

 

If so, why do they care if you are using it to charge an EV or for something else?

People with two Meters have used their normal Meter with lower rate during daytime and switched over to the TOU Meter during night time. With this they avoided  the higher peak Time Rates of the TOU Meter 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, matchar said:

The TOU meter is for selling electricity at night when demand is lower hence the price is lower?

 

If so, why do they care if you are using it to charge an EV or for something else?

There are different rates for residential and business purposes when it comes to a regular meter and TOU meter.   For most "businesses" electricity rates there is also also a peak "demand" charge that comes into play on top of the typical rates per KWH, Ft, and meter charge.   And there are a quite a few different regular and TOU "business" rates.  There is also a different "service charge" per month. 

 

LOTs of Thais run there business right at their home....like on the first floor of their 3 story shop-house....and it might be a business that uses a lot of "power eating" machines.     And even if they  currently have a TOU meter based on business rates if they could get another TOU meter based on residential rates and then hook it into some of their business machines that use lots of power and have Somchai work at night then they can lower their monthly electricity bill quite a bit.  Good for the customer but it's gaming the "array" of rates that PEA (and MEA) has established based on what type of electricity user your are. 

 

See below PEA tariff schedule for the various rates...and notice how most business plans also have a demand charge and also a higher service fee.   PEA/MEA don't like people who try to "game" the rates as it distorts their business model, tying to determine electrical system upgrades, buying fuel to make electricity, etc.  

 

https://www.pea.co.th/sites/default/files/documents/tariff/EN_Electricity_Tariffs_May_2023.pdf

[Pib]

Here's some stats you may find interesting....stats related to "EV Charging Station" energy sales by "MEA" that provides electricity to the Bangkok area.   

 

Note how the EV Charging Station electrical usage (figures in GWh) has been growing over the last few years and for 2025 is on track to grow again....maybe reach a little over 200Gwh in 2025 compared to 162Gwh in 2024.   It was in 2022 when the EV Charging Station usage started to shoot-up as 2022 was the year that EV sales took-off in Thailand.

 

https://www.mea.or.th/en/statistics/energy-sales

 

 

[Pib]

 

We have posted a lot about "PEA" no longer allowing a 2nd meter for EV charging, but has anyone seen any news article/official document saying "MEA" which provides electricity to Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Nanthaburi no longer allows a 2nd meter for EV charging? 

 

I haven't and the MEA website indicates they support residential Home EV Charger service which I assume means a "separate" meter if desired.

 

 

https://www.mea.or.th/en/

 

 

 

https://www.mea.or.th/our-services/mea-service/e-service/new-meter-ev-home

 

[UWEB]

56 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

We have posted a lot about "PEA" no longer allowing a 2nd meter for EV charging, but has anyone seen any news article/official document saying "MEA" which provides electricity to Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Nanthaburi no longer allows a 2nd meter for EV charging? 

 

I haven't and the MEA website indicates they support residential Home EV Charger service which I assume means a "separate" meter if desired.

 

 

https://www.mea.or.th/en/

 

 

 

https://www.mea.or.th/our-services/mea-service/e-service/new-meter-ev-home

 

Sounds to me more that MEA provides Home Charger installation Services.

 

 

[CLW]

Regarding the TOU meter discussion. Both of "our" houses are equipped with TOU meter. The house of the in-laws where we initially charged our EV and also the new house just next door. Although for now, we keep the charger connected to the in-laws but reaping the benefit of using cheap electric for running ACs in our house at the time when we are mostly at home (evenings and weekends)

[Pib]

11 hours ago, UWEB said:

Sounds to me more that MEA provides Home Charger installation Services.

 

 

 

It could be as they (MEA) have provided such service for around 3 years which began before PEA rescinded their 2nd meter policy effective 1 Sep 2024. 

 

Below infographic from the MEA website is their current EV charger promotion which is still the same as in the video and is for installation of necessary equipment like wire, circuit breaker box, grounding up to where the actual charger would be installed---but it does not include the charger as that would be extra or left for the owner to install later.   

 

And the infographic only shows "one" meter but with two lines running to the house...one line for the house and a separate line for the charger.   Now this implies to me MEA only allows one meter (except maybe in unique cases) now as it seems if they still allowed a 2nd TOU meter it would seem it would be shown as an option on the infographic.   

 

I'm going guess MEA no longer allows a 2nd meter for an EV charger just like PEA except MEA just maintained a low key in implementing the change...maybe no flashy public announcement....whereas PEA got plenty of notice in the news releases.   But hey, that's just my guess.

 

https://www.mea.or.th/other-services/ken/promotion-price/ev-charger

 

 

[Pib]

Nope....I asked MEA via email if they allow a 2nd meter for EV charging....answer was no....see below.

Quote

 

Dear  xxxxxxxx

      MEA doesn't allow for 2nd meter. If you would like to install an EV charger, we suggest you to install second circuit and increase the meter to 30(100) A 1P2W or 3P4W . You can submit the request for increase the meter, TOU tariff and inspect for second circuit at Website : https://meaeservice.mea.or.th  You have to sign up and verify your identity before submit the request. After that, choose > Service for requesting changes in electricity usage >  request for EV Home Charger . Please attach the document as below.
- In the case of the meter’s owner having a name in the household registration that uses electricity.

1. Copy of the meter owner's ID card / Passport (certified)
2. Copy of house registration (certified)
3. Electricity bill

- In the case of the meter's owner don't have a name in the household registration that uses electricity.
1. Copy of the meter owner's ID card / Passport (certified)
2. Ownership documents (house/condominium purchase agreement or a lease agreement, Title deed, first page to last page, etc.)
3. Electricity bill

*Document must be clear and all copies must be certified with signature or handwriting.

 

Best regard,

MEA Call Center 1130