Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Andrew Dwyer]

32 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

During the test drive she that the seal had a dash cam but today she said 

 

“ไม่มีค่ะ

ลูกค้าต้องติดตั้งเองค่ะ 
มีกล้องบันทึก เฉพาะ ATT03  ค่ะ“

 

Not have

 

Customers must install it themselves.

 

There is a recording camera, only ATT03
 

????

 

Thanks for that, saves me asking at the Ayutthaya Autoshow today.

I suspect the lack of sound and somewhat questionable resolution has rendered it extinct.

No doubt owners will continue to buy the cameras from online sites and diy irrespective of any warranty issues as per Dolphin.

[macahoom]

1 hour ago, mistral53 said:

Definitely NOT one pedal driving, one of the points criticized about the Seal. Its just a different driving philosophy, more akin to a standard car. It does have brake blending, i.e. it does regen when braking.

I have never experienced one pedal driving, but I don't like the sound of it.

 

I like to be in control of my car and I think one pedal driving would be a step too far for me. I don't even like adaptive cruise control. I like the old-fashioned, simple cruise control.

 

That said, maybe if I experienced one pedal, I would like it.

[JBChiangRai]

23 minutes ago, macahoom said:

I have never experienced one pedal driving, but I don't like the sound of it.

 

I like to be in control of my car and I think one pedal driving would be a step too far for me. I don't even like adaptive cruise control. I like the old-fashioned, simple cruise control.

 

That said, maybe if I experienced one pedal, I would like it.

I’m not sure I understand what is meant by “brake blending”.

 

My experience is 2 different mechanisms, the MG4 will decelerate and regen on the power meter at upto -25%.  If you use the brakes it will still regen at the max level it can, but the brake pedal is only working the brakes to increase deceleration.

 

The Porsche Taycan has adjustments for regen on overrun but separately the brake pedal only adjust regen and deceleration up to 0.4g without using the brakes.  Above 0.4g or bringing the car to the final stop it blends the brakes with regen behind the scenes and it’s so seamless you can’t tell which is which. Decelerating at 0.4g and above is uncomfortable for the passengers (but no Porsche driver cares about that!).

 

On the MG4 I like maximum regen and drive it almost in one pedal mode, I coast to about 5 KmHr and only use the brake pedal to choose where I want to stop. Setting off if you blip the throttle it releases the auto hold brake and the car will creep forward momentarily later.

[Bandersnatch]

Just put down ฿10,000 deposit on a BYD Seal Premium (Long Range RWD) in White.

 

This was after making it very clear that I wanted to charge the car from Solar or the deal was off.

 

Most here probably know that I put down a deposit on an MG ZS EV in 2019 as soon as they were released in Thailand. The wall box install team selected by MG refused to install as I had solar “solar no good”. 2 years later after involving the president of MG Thailand I finally got to power an MG from my home solar system.

 

Don’t want to go through that again.

 

 

 

 

 

[digbeth]

5 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

Just put down ฿10,000 deposit on a BYD Seal Premium (Long Range RWD) in White.

 

This was after making it very clear that I wanted to charge the car from Solar or the deal was off.

 

Most here probably know that I put down a deposit on an MG ZS EV in 2019 as soon as they were released in Thailand. The wall box install team selected by MG refused to install as I had solar “solar no good”. 2 years later after involving the president of MG Thailand I finally got to power an MG from my home solar system.

 

Don’t want to go through that again.

Why would BYD or the Dealer care how you source your electricity, just choose not to buy wall charger with them and install yourself or use what you already have

[macahoom]

24 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I’m not sure I understand what is meant by “brake blending”.

 

I assume it means it works same as the Taycan.

[Bandersnatch]

5 minutes ago, digbeth said:

Why would BYD or the Dealer care how you source your electricity, just choose not to buy wall charger with them and install yourself or use what you already have

MG made it clear to me that if I installed the free wall box myself or fitted any other wall box apart from the supplied MG wall box it would invalidate the warranty on the car.

 

They had outsourced the installation of the wall box to a company that knew nothing about solar or EVs. 

[JBChiangRai]

4 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

MG made it clear to me that if I installed the free wall box myself or fitted any other wall box apart from the supplied MG wall box it would invalidate the warranty on the car.

 

They had outsourced the installation of the wall box to a company that knew nothing about solar or EVs. 

I still have one of the MG wall chargers new in the box in my garage, the other one I got a local sparky to fit in Chiang Mai but with me supplying the 32 amp plug/socket combo to go in the middle.

 

The Chiang Mai charger is wired straight into PEA's meter, on my side of the meter unfortunately, and the house wired in the same contacts.

[Bandersnatch]

37 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I’m not sure I understand what is meant by “brake blending”.

My understanding is that with one pedal, you never have to touch the brake, all regen comes from lifting off the accelerator pedal.

 

With BYD some of the regen comes from lifting off, the rest comes from the initial depression on the break pedal before pushing down further to engage the friction breaking.

 

Watch this video 

 

https://youtu.be/uIf2a7O5MFQ?si=_s2P3S6ekqGoFDoE

 

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

51 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

This was after making it very clear that I wanted to charge the car from Solar or the deal was off.

I think their worry with solar (grid-tied) is that your supply is no longer 220v, it is up to something like 245v maybe a lot more if you have tweaked the inverters settings and it can flit between the two as clouds cover the sun.

 

I have a 15kVA AVR for the house supply, so when the sun comes out it increases the PEA voltage but the house and EV Charger stays at 220v

[macahoom]

7 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

On second thoughts, I think this whole subject is far too technical for transman.

Yeh, he's been conspicuous by his absence in this thread recently.

 

Cue: witty comment from him that nobody understands.

[Bandersnatch]

25 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

think their worry with solar (grid-tied) is that your supply is no longer 220v

I am not grid tied  - I have off-grid pure sine wave inverters that produce a rock steady 220v.

 

My connection to PEA is switched off at the breakers. I haven’t drawn a Watt from PEA for over a year.

 

Now I have V2L with an 84kWh LFP battery to support my 36kWh LFP house battery, I doubt if I’ll every use PEA again ????

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, macahoom said:

I have never experienced one pedal driving, but I don't like the sound of it.

 

I like to be in control of my car and I think one pedal driving would be a step too far for me. I don't even like adaptive cruise control. I like the old-fashioned, simple cruise control.

 

That said, maybe if I experienced one pedal, I would like it.

My HEV has one pedal and indeed if used correctly there’s no need to touch the brakes, it all depends on timing the lift off the accelerator correctly. ( i get it wrong occasionally )

Think of it as a stronger regen setting, I have 3 of those also but as discussed previously they are buried in the info screen ( unlike MG ) so once set you tend to leave it set.

Takes a little bit of getting used to and as i have 4 speed bumps before I exit the moobahn i learned about the restricted coasting quickly.

As i also mentioned before, the brake lights don’t illuminate, on my car at least, until you have come to a complete stop and in stop/start or slow moving traffic it doesn’t give the car behind much of a head’s up that you have stopped.

I use it purely for gas economy, in an EV i would probably just revert to the highest regen.

[JBChiangRai]

6 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I am not grid tied  - I have off-grid pure sine wave inverters that produce a rock steady 220v.

 

My connection to PEA is switched off at the breakers. I haven’t drawn a Watt from PEA for over a year.

 

Now I have V2L with an 84kWh LFP battery to support my 36kWh LFP house battery, I doubt if I’ll every use PEA again ????

Probably just ignorance on the part of the car dealers/manufacturers.

[Andrew Dwyer]

As stated earlier I can confirm that the Seal doesn’t come with the video recorder ( built in dash cam ) as included with Atto 3, asked at my local Auto Show.

 The Show just had the Performance Seal in Velocity Blue, + a Dolphin, disappointing as I wanted to check out the Space Gray colour. 

I did have a look at the Aion Y Plus and although I don’t care for the looks of the car they put on a good showing. Emphasis on the ability to sleep inside with the front seats laid back flat and an air bed installed. The boot space initially looks standard but lift up the 2 level boot floor and it reveals a very deep space with an emergency spare included. It also has the longest rear legroom of any car I have seen, it’s like a London taxi !!

[Bandersnatch]

2 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Probably just ignorance on the part of the car dealers/manufacturers

Definitely. 

 

I contacted MG call center hoping to bypass local ignorance. When they got back to me, it was to inform me that a 7kW home charger would require a 30A PEA connection (with upgraded cables to the meter) and also a 3 phase supply. I cancelled my order for the ZS EV

[Yellowtail]

39 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

My HEV has one pedal and indeed if used correctly there’s no need to touch the brakes, it all depends on timing the lift off the accelerator correctly. ( i get it wrong occasionally )

Think of it as a stronger regen setting, I have 3 of those also but as discussed previously they are buried in the info screen ( unlike MG ) so once set you tend to leave it set.

Takes a little bit of getting used to and as i have 4 speed bumps before I exit the moobahn i learned about the restricted coasting quickly.

As i also mentioned before, the brake lights don’t illuminate, on my car at least, until you have come to a complete stop and in stop/start or slow moving traffic it doesn’t give the car behind much of a head’s up that you have stopped.

I use it purely for gas economy, in an EV i would probably just revert to the highest regen.

Does the car start stopping when you take your foot off the pedal? 

[Rimmer]

A post and replies contravening our Community Standards has been removed.    

[Andrew Dwyer]

5 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Does the car start stopping when you take your foot off the pedal? 

Yes 

[Yellowtail]

15 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes 

I don't know that I like that. How's the cruise control? 

[Andrew Dwyer]

5 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I don't know that I like that. How's the cruise control? 

It’s only what happens with regen to varying degrees depending on the setting you use, although regen doesn’t bring it to a full stop.

The motor brakes not the brake pads/rotors in case you were wondering.
One pedal is disengaged in cruise control.

[Yellowtail]

17 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

It’s only what happens with regen to varying degrees depending on the setting you use, although regen doesn’t bring it to a full stop.

So you can adjust it and turn it off if you don't like it? 

 

Is it easy to turn off and on? Like while you're driving without paying much attention? 

17 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

The motor brakes not the brake pads/rotors in case you were wondering.

I assume it turns the motor into a generator and the charge load on the generator load the vehicle. 

17 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

One pedal is disengaged in cruise control.

 

[macahoom]

27 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I don't know that I like that. How's the cruise control? 

Don’t worry about regen, Yellowtail.

 

I have two EVs and it works differently, but brilliantly, in both cars. I don’t have one pedal and I’m glad I don’t, but I’m sure I’d get used to it.

 

The only difference between one pedal and what I have: What I have slows you down to something like 8 kms/hr and then you must apply the foot brake if you want to come to a complete stop.

 

I particularly like the three levels on my MG. I toggle between them, using it like changing down in an ICE.

[Andrew Dwyer]

9 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

So you can adjust it and turn it off if you don't like it? 

 

Is it easy to turn off and on? Like while you're driving without paying much attention? 

I assume it turns the motor into a generator and the charge load on the generator load the vehicle. 

 

Yes, if you don’t want to use regen or one pedal then there’s no requirement, just turn them off. 
But, i think most EV users will use some level of regen as it is generating “ free “ battery energy.

A youtuber reckons his battery energy is created 75% by charging and 25% from regen and had some data to back that up.

 

As macahoom says above, on the MG you can change the regen levels to suit your driving, for example: low while highway driving and high around town and coming down a mountain etc 

My regen/one pedal settings are buried so i just leave it on one pedal.

 

Also if I have to brake harder than usual then i just use the foot brake as normal, one pedal will then continue active when I drive off again. 
I guess one pedal is basically the typical amount of braking used daily , regen is less so additional physical braking is required.

 

[Bandersnatch]

On my MG the paddle shifters change regen level, but I just leave them on max

 

[macahoom]

31 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

On my MG the paddle shifters change regen level, but I just leave them on max

 

I'd love to have paddle shifters for the regen on my MG. The only problem is they would probably have to be replaced every 6 months due to overuse!

 

Mine is a rocker switch down below the centre of the dash; muscle memory guides my left hand to it. No problem.

[Yellowtail]

I have paddle shifters on the wife's Fortuner and I have never used them. I had forgotten it had them until the kid started driving and asked me what they were...

 

I like the idea of the regen, but turning it off and on easily would be critical. 

[JBChiangRai]

11 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I have paddle shifters on the wife's Fortuner and I have never used them. I had forgotten it had them until the kid started driving and asked me what they were...

 

I like the idea of the regen, but turning it off and on easily would be critical. 

REgen ON and you can think of it as like driving your fotuner, when you lift off the throttle the engine brakes, regen is just the same.  Turning Regen OFF is like shifting it into Neutral and coasting.

[macahoom]

22 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I like the idea of the regen, but turning it off and on easily would be critical. 

With regen being switchable on the Seal's centre screen, it will not be easy to toggle between levels, or even turn on and off. 

 

I'm sure I'll manage to live with that however.

[Yellowtail]

10 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

REgen ON and you can think of it as like driving your fotuner, when you lift off the throttle the engine brakes, regen is just the same.  Turning Regen OFF is like shifting it into Neutral and coasting.

With an automatic transmission, the engine does not provide any braking, the vehicle pretty much coasts.