Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Bandersnatch]

On 1/2/2024 at 1:48 PM, Andrew Dwyer said:

While on the subject of chargers:

Anyone used an EV Anywhere outside of BKK ?, they seem to be plentiful in the Big Mango but not so many outside.

 

I can confirm that EA Anywhere have chargers at Robinson Surin and Buriram. They were the first chargers to appear in both provinces.

 

Back in April 2019 I visited the BKK motor show and registered an interest in the EV that they were planning to build in Thailand, unfortunately I never heard back from them.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3 by Bandersnatch

[KhunLA]

54 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

I can confirm that EA Anywhere have chargers at Robinson Surin and Buriram. They were the first chargers to appear in both provinces.

 

Back in April 2019 I visited the BKK motor show and registered an interest in the EV that they were planning to build in Thailand, unfortunately I never heard back from them.

EA Anywhere also at Bluport Mall/Hua Hin, and one of the first CS that I've noticed, beyond MG's network.

 

Recent O&As and they've extended there network way beyond BKK area.  Have yet to use one though   

 

EA Anywhere network on Charge Loma app

 

 

[KhunLA]

For the curious, these are just the fast charging CS of just the 5 vendors we're registered to use.   Yea ... if you can't find a CS, you're not looking very hard.   This is an incomplete map, as vendor apps will show new ones, and ones under maintenance (which I filter out).

 

[mistral53]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

For the curious, these are just the fast charging CS of just the 5 vendors we're registered to use.   Yea ... if you can't find a CS, you're not looking very hard.   This is an incomplete map, as vendor apps will show new ones, and ones under maintenance (which I filter out).

 

 

You are being facetious....... right?

[Andrew Dwyer]

6 hours ago, KhunLA said:

EA Anywhere also at Bluport Mall/Hua Hin, and one of the first CS that I've noticed, beyond MG's network.

 

Recent O&As and they've extended there network way beyond BKK area.  Have yet to use one though   

 

EA Anywhere network on Charge Loma app

 

 

Thanks, I had missed the Charge Loma app, now added.

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Thanks, I had missed the Charge Loma app, now added.

I like the filter option, which PlugShare doesn't have.  Then when O&A, easier to peek at that app, than each vendor app or plugshare, which has to be opened to see what vendor at CS.

 

Charge Loma, filtered with fast conx plug only, and vendors we use, will find the next couple ahead of us easier.  Then wife can look at the vendor app, make sure operational and not reserved.

 

Gmap, still the least informative.

[Pib]

7 hours ago, KhunLA said:

EA Anywhere also at Bluport Mall/Hua Hin, and one of the first CS that I've noticed, beyond MG's network.

 

Recent O&As and they've extended there network way beyond BKK area.  Have yet to use one though   

 

EA Anywhere network on Charge Loma app

 

 

 

 

Regarding how to use an EA Anywhere DC Fast Charger I have used them twice.  And if it was not due to a helpful Mall Security Guard who noticed I seemed confused about using the charging station I would have probably still to this day not have used one.   Let me explain. 

 

A month or so ago after I had successfully signed up for the EA Anywhere app and also successfully loaded a payment option, I still  needed to do a real world test to see if I could get an EA DC fast charger to work with my BYD Atto, being being able to pay for the charging session, etc.  There were a couple of EA DC Fast chargers at a nearby mall where I live in western Bangkok.  I drive to the chargers (just like the one in the pic below) and start thinking this particular type of charger a person has to bring his own charging cable and plug into one of the two 7-22KWH connectors on the front of the station identified as connectors C and D on the charger display screen...the black round things in the pic below.  In some countries/locations there are charging stations where you must bring along your own charging cable to plug into the charger...I guess this is due to theft of charging station cables and/or people buy/need a longer than normal cable to use with their EV.

 

However, no sign of any CCS2 High Power DC Fast Charge connectors/cables....and the EA Anywhere app and other charging station info apps said these stations had DC Fast Charge 90KWH charging capability.   I was getting ready to leave when a mall security guard had noticed I was perplexed about use of the charger, no DC Fast Charger cables, etc (probably because he had seen other folks wondering why no DC cables) and he pointed out that the DC cables are located in closed & locked cabinets on each side of charger....and not until you get past the first few steps in the charging app that the appropriate door (Door A on left side or Door B on right side) would pop-open/unlock automatically which then allows you to fully open the cabinet door and get the DC charging cable to plug into your EV...DC Fast Charging cable that is already integrated/hooked into the station.   And let me tell you these DC charging cables in the EA DC Fast charging station are the thickness of your arm....must more heavy duty/thicker than the DC cables say you see on a PTT EV Station Pluz DC fast charger, PEA charger, etc. 

 

Anyway, after dragging the heavy, thick cable out and plugging it into my EV and doing some more steps on the EA app the station started to charge my BYD Atto.  And it started charging at 86KWH rate....the Atto is able to DC charge at a maximum of 88KWH and this is the first time any charger had been able to approach that 88KWH.  The most I had got before on other chargers like PTT, PEA, Elexa DC Fast Chargers was around 55KWH and the charge on my battery had been at the same lower level around 40%.  Yeap, the EA Fast Charger was just able to pump out a higher power/amp level than all other chargers I had used.  I only charged about 5 minutes for this test and it all went fine. 

 

Now at the very end of charging session after you have disconnected the charging cable, hung it back in the cabinet and closed the cabinet door (which locks it again) you still need to scan the station QR code "again" to "Close" the session/finalize the billings.   Normally just pressing the Stop Charging icon on a charging app closes/finalizes the whole process but with the EA charger below you do need to scan the QR code again.  

 

Below the picture is a short 4 minute Youtube video that shows use of the EA DC Fast Charger, the cabinet doors automatically popping open, the lady dragging out and putting back in the healthy charging cable, etc.  There are only a few seconds where they show the lady handling the cable because I expect they didn't want to show how the "heavy duty/thick" cable" takes some real effort to move around.   I also used an identical EA DC Fast Charger about a week later and it went just like my first use. 

 

So, I'm now a real pro now with two uses under my belt of a EA DC Faster charger like below....and after dragging out the very heavy duty DC cables I've decided to do more gym work to build up my arm muscles more as lifting the cable takes more effort than other typical DC Fast Chargers like PTT, PEA, Elexa fast chargers.   Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4 by Pib

[Pib]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

I like the filter option, which PlugShare doesn't have.  Then when O&A, easier to peek at that app, than each vendor app or plugshare, which has to be opened to see what vendor at CS.

 

Charge Loma, filtered with fast conx plug only, and vendors we use, will find the next couple ahead of us easier.  Then wife can look at the vendor app, make sure operational and not reserved.

 

Gmap, still the least informative.

Thanks for info on the Charge Loma app ....I like how I can select/filter only the 4 charging apps/stations I'm registered for here in Thailand and also select/filter for only CCS2 connectors.  

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

On 1/2/2024 at 2:01 PM, Gweiloman said:

Yes, the OEM granny charger requires an earth. I purchased a variable power charger off Lazada that doesn’t require an earth. Also, when in Isaan where a lot of houses are only 5/15 A, I set the power draw to 6A in order not to trip any breakers when the ac is running as well. 

Bought one of these from Lazada, tested it with my Seal using a 2 pin extension lead ( which had given me a ground fault with the BYD charger ) and it worked fine.

 

Tried out the different amperage and at 16A it charges at 3.1 kw which is a definite improvement from my 1.8/1.9 kw with the BYD charger.

 

Handy piece of kit to have, especially as PEA are still on holiday … allegedly !  and still not appeared to fit my TOU meter .

[Gweiloman]

13 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Bought one of these from Lazada, tested it with my Seal using a 2 pin extension lead ( which had given me a ground fault with the BYD charger ) and it worked fine.

 

Tried out the different amperage and at 16A it charges at 3.1 kw which is a definite improvement from my 1.8/1.9 kw with the BYD charger.

 

Handy piece of kit to have, especially as PEA are still on holiday … allegedly !  and still not appeared to fit my TOU meter .

Be careful using it with an extension cord, particularly at the higher amperage’s. It can get rather hot and pose a fire hazard. I specifically bought a 16A extension cord to minimise the risks. I also have a 16A smart plug (with power monitoring )in order to remotely turn off the charger when the sun goes down, if I’m not at home (I charge with solar when I can). You could similarly use this feature to charge when TOU rates apply (when PEA installs the meter lol).

[Andrew Dwyer]

12 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Be careful using it with an extension cord, particularly at the higher amperage’s. It can get rather hot and pose a fire hazard. I specifically bought a 16A extension cord to minimise the risks. I also have a 16A smart plug (with power monitoring )in order to remotely turn off the charger when the sun goes down, if I’m not at home (I charge with solar when I can). You could similarly use this feature to charge when TOU rates apply (when PEA installs the meter lol).

Yep, I used the extension cord at 10A and only as a test to recreate the ground fault I had with the BYD charger.

 

When PEA get round to fitting the TOU meter the Lazada charger will go in the frunk for travelling and the BYD charger will probably get resigned to the wardrobe in the spare room with the other surplus stuff.

[Andrew Dwyer]

A few more discounted EV’s for January 2024:

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

I bet there is some "fine print" not reflected in above ad although when going to the source weblink below it just says the "*" means the vehicle needs to be reserved "and received" by 31 Jan 2024.  

https://autolifethailand.tv/official-price-jan-2024-byd-atto-3-ev-bev/

 

Around a month or two ago when the BYD Atto price was lowered by Bt100K it included fine print...fine print not included in the ad.  When I went to my dealership to ask about the Bt100K reduction on the Atto it only applied to a limited number Atto's (32 at my dealership) AND only on the color white or grey which they had a excess off. If  you wanted the Atto in red, blue or green then there was no price reduction and queue of a month or two. 

 

For the Seal Dynamic in the ad above I expect (guess) they have an excess amount right now and it wouldn't surprise me the reduction was only for a certain color(s)...maybe white only....but I'm just guessing.

 

Yea...some of the advertised reductions don't include all the fine print...fine print you have to go to a dealership to find out about.  But hey, a price reduction of any reason, for any model, for any color, etc., is a good thing for many folks if the model and color they want/like matches up with the fine print.  And LOTS of competition right now among the electric vehicle manufacturers which usually drives lower prices...a good thing.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5 by Pib

[motdaeng]

it looks like polestar is doing some test driving (polestar 4) in thailand ...

polestar belongs to the geely group (volvo, lotus, zeekr, polestar etc.)

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tx73RSXAwkI?si=2IqVCCltAPVjFEhh

 

https://youtu.be/_p1WXSlX-wc?si=eXH5qGjUu0x4Dua7

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Here’s a bit more on the Polestar 4 in detail.

Interesting rear view mirror/camera idea which gives a hatchback opening for a sedan.

As someone who uses a camera instead of the rear window view i can see the trend towards removing the rear window and using a camera instead ……. why not ?, much better view, no head rests or heads in the way !

 

 

[Pib]

Oh days gone by when a lot of time spent on advertising a new model was geared towards the combustion engine/transmission/drive train. 

 

But with EVs the great, great, great majority of the time is spent talking about the interior, exterior, infotainment system, (i.e., the eye candy, comfort, techo icon pushing stuff) and maybe the traction battery size & range with very little mention of the specifics of the electric motor, drive train, etc.   Of course other than mentioning in the written specs the motor horsepower/KW size (for those that want to know) there is not much to talk brag about with an electric motor...to most people about as interesting as talking about the electric motor in a floor fan.

 

Yeap...oh how times have changed....how technology advances have changed the times.

 

 

[Gweiloman]

The speed at which things are happening in the EV industry is just breathtaking. Excitement abounds at the release of each new model. How is this manufacturer trying to one up the competition? What new feature, gimmick, innovation has this manufacturer come up with? It’s a great time to be in the market for a new car. The problem is making a decision in case the next release offers even better value or more features.

 

The same can’t be said about ICEs. The last “new” technology was Nissan’s e-power or e-force or something like that. Ridiculous concept of using an onboard ICE that burns petrol to produce electricity to charge a small battery to power an electric motor that drives the car. Shows how desperate this legacy manufacturer is to hop onto the EV bandwagon but doesn’t have the know how and capability to produce a good EV. 
 

If I could convert my diesel work truck to electric, I would do it in an instance. I would probably recover my investment in a space of 3 to 5 years, assuming a 40 kWh battery costing around 300k baht. I average about 500-600 kms per week and spend at least 1,000 baht per week on petrol, not taking into account engine oil etc etc.

[CHdiver]

38 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

The same can’t be said about ICEs. The last “new” technology was Nissan’s e-power or e-force or something like that. Ridiculous concept of using an onboard ICE that burns petrol to produce electricity to charge a small battery to power an electric motor that drives the car. Shows how desperate this legacy manufacturer is to hop onto the EV bandwagon but doesn’t have the know how and capability to produce a good EV. 

That may be the case for many car companys, however Nissan is making electric cars since a very long time. The Leaf for example they make since 2010. I guess they have enough experience. That seams not stop them from thinking outside of the box. Somethimes, a ridiculous idea will be mainstream, many times it will fail. Btw. electric cars have been one of this ridiculous ideas. Now look where we are with them.

[Pib]

On 1/3/2024 at 8:15 PM, Pib said:

 

In some posts over the last few days we talked the issue of some (probably most) EV granny chargers requiring a ground connection otherwise the granny charger will show a fault...and it's an earthing/grounding fault.  Both your and my BYD-provided granny chargers fault if hooked up to a two prong outlet (i.e., live and neutral with no ground) as the BYD granny charger needs a ground in addition to live and neutral.

 

After thinking about it for a while I thought bonding the neutral and ground wires in an adapted socket/plug should fix the problem...call it a "neutral to ground adapter/plug," HOWEVER, it can also be dangerous unless a person knows what they are doing.    The RV community use neutral-ground adapters sometimes to use with generators...plenty of info on youtube/the internet about this.  HOWEVER, BUT, the adapter needed to make the BYD granny charger uses the same concept but is wired-up a little differently.

 

Dangerous because if the neutral-ground adapter is plugged into a socket which is not wired correctly a person could end-up shorting the hot/live wire carrying 220V to the ground hole on your adapter...this means 220V is now on the adapter ground connector also and when you then plug-in the BYD charger you are applying 220V to its grounding circuiting also.  That could make part of the charger's outer shell electrified...but since the BYD outer shell is plastic that would offer some protection.  And lord knows what it might do to the charger's circuitry  (maybe nothing, maybe smoke, etc) and if already hooked to the EV maybe problems for the EV.  .   

 

You just don't know if an outlet socket will be wired correctly....that is the hot/live wire going to the designated hot/wire hole on the socket...maybe the hot and neutral wires are reversed on that socket.....lord knows here in Thailand MANY sockets are not wired in accordance with electrical regulations.  So, a person needs to confirm which is the hot/live hole on the socket and which is the neutral hole.

 

A person would need to use a voltage detector pen (cost a 10 to 30 baht on Lazada) or voltmeter to first determine which is the live/hot hole and which is the neutral hole on the socket.  EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to know which is the hot/live hole and which is the neutral hole.   Once that has been confirmed a person could plug in their pass-thru neutral-ground bonding adapter ensuring the adapter's neutral prong goes to the neutral socket hole and the live/hot prong to the live/hot socket hole.  

 

Anyway, today I jerry-rigged a temporary test neutral-ground bonded adapter which allows power to pass thru it---different from the neutral-ground adapter  used in the RV community on generators as it's not a pass-thru adapter.  I used my ground-buster plug (i.e., with a short piece of wire to connect the neutral and ground connectors together).   I then confirmed on the socket I was going to plug it into as to which socket hole was live/hot and which was neutral.  I then plugged in my jerry-rigged adapter and then plugged my BYD granny charger into the adapter.  Got no fault on the granny charger...just the green light saying it ready to charge..  I then plugged the charger's EV charging cable into my BYD Atto and charging began as normal.  Yeap, the BYD granny charger was now happy as it was seeing a ground.  

 

So, now I'm going to make a permanent adapter for use in 2 wire land in case of an emergency.  And as mentioned earlier it critically important you know which is the hot/live hole and neutral hole on a socket you will find in 2 wire land---I will use a cheaper voltage detector pen for that...you now, the kind that glows when touching a live/hot wire.   I'll use a pen that does not require the little batteries which can go bad/flat....I already have such a pen I used today in my test....but I'll still get another one just to keep with the charger if I ever need to use it the land of 2 wires (like the homes of most of my in-laws in the provinces) along with the pass-thru neutral-ground adapter I will make.

 

Now I don't have a need to buy another EV granny charger for thousands of baht which doesn't require a ground to work like several folks talked about having.  I can just use my BYD granny charger that came free with my BYD Atto.

 

This is info only....don't attempt this unless you understand the neutral-ground bonding concept and comfortable working with electrical circuits like 220V circuits.

 

 

 

Update to above where I talked making a "pass-thru neutral-ground bounding adapter" to allow use of the BYD granny/portable charger on an electrical 2 wire outlet (no ground 3rd wire)....that is, an outlet with no ground...just a live/hot wire and a neutral wire which is still very common throughout Thailand.   I made one yesterday....below are some pics showing it and showing it in use.  And I caution once again not to make/use one unless you understand the ground-neutral bonding process and know how to determine which is the live/hot wire and which is the neutral wire on a 2 wire socket.

 

From left to right like reading a document the first 2 pics in below collage shows a 220V electrical travel adapter which has two prongs for live and neutral on the input and the output side have three holes which accept a wide variety of plug types....it's just a typical travel adapter to help a person use the wife variety of plugs and sockets used around the world    The 3rd pic show the adapter opened up....just requires the removal of two little screens to open it up ...and shows where I soldered a small jumper wire between the neutral prong and ground program.  I actually twisted two very small wires together to make the a jumper wire size a little bigger for "physical" strength purpose; not for electrical current capability purposes as there is no to very, very small current/potential between a neutral and ground.   Pics 4 and 5 show it reassembled and how I used a piece of red tape to mark the live/hot prong side and a piece of blue tape to mark the neutral side (now bonded to ground hole on the adapter). 

And this travel adapter actually comes new with "incorrectly" marked L (for Live/Hot/Line) and N (Neutral) prongs...so, I removed those incorrect markings and used my own markings of red and blue tape after making the adapter.   IMPORTANT:  As talked in my earlier post ITS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT you know which prong is going to be the live/hot side and which is going to be the neutral side...AND how you need to determine which is the live/hot and neutral holes on the socket you are gong to plug this special purposes adapter into.  Remember where I talked using a voltage detector pen or voltmeter to determine which is the live/hot and neutral holes on the 2 hole/wire socket you are going to plug the adapter into.    

 

 

Below is a voltage detector pen which costs about Bt20 which you can use to determine which socket hole is the "live/hot" hole....the pen will glow a little glow a little (kinda hard to see in below daytime pic) when connected to a wire/socket hole with 220V on it.   When touching it to a neutral or ground wire it will not glow.  The pen I have does not require any little batteries to go bad,  but you can buy types that come with little batteries which will make the pen glow brighter..and some battery-operated pens also have a little microchip in them to glow red for a 220V live wire and glow another color like blue on a neutral/ground wire.  But as mentioned the ones that have batteries will surely not work when you need to use them once in a blue moon as the batteries will go flat/dead over time and maybe be flat/dead when you need to use them....one of Murphy's Laws.  Yea, just get the cheapie type that don't use any batteries.   And the other 2 pics show the orange ground buster I used for this test....a ground buster is nothing more than an adapter with two prongs on one side for the live/hot and neutral but no ground prong....and then on the output side it allows you to plug in a 3 prong plug consisting of a live/hot, neutral, and ground live, but the ground has been busted (removed) on the output side.

 

 

 

 

Now lets show the "pass-thru bounded ground-neutral adapter" in action.  1st pic shows the BYD granny charger which has a 3 prong plug plugged into the ground buster to simulate a 2 hole socket (i.e., no ground) like maybe at an in-law house out in the province (or city)....just anywhere where the electrical sockets are only 2 wire sockets.  Notice on the BYD granny charger you see the Red Power light lit since it's now plugged in but it also showing the Orange/Yellow fault light since it's not sensing any ground.  The granny charger will not charge due to this earth/ground fault.   HOWEVER, BUT in the 2nd picture after I have inserted the "pass-thru bonded neutral-ground adapter" the BYD granny charger now is no longer displaying the fault light....only the power light is on meaning it's ready for use...can plug it into your EV.

 

 

 

 

And below pics show it actually plugged into my BYD Atto 3 charging.  Charging light is lit-up and my Atto receiving charge

 

 

And a pic in the Atto showing it charging at 1.7KW.  If I had waited a minute or two before taking the picture the charge rate would have went up to around 2.2KWH based on my past usage as the BYD granny charger is a 10A/220v charger....10A times 220V give a KWH power of 2.2KWH.  

 

 

 

Since the "pass-thru bounded ground-neutral adapter" is a special use adapter AND a person needs to ensure it's plugged in a very specific way (i.e., live to live, neutral to neutral as cautioned before) I will carry the adapter in the car in a separate location from where I store the granny charger in the back.  Only I will know where the adapter is hidden in the car for only my use since I know how to use it.   

 

Yeap....my BYD granny charger will now have to work in an emergency charging situation "even in 2 wire socket land" (which is many locations/socket outlets around Thailand).   Plus I'm too cheaper to go spend thousands of baht on a 3rd party charger which is basically nothing more than a 2 wire, no ground charger.

 

For info, educational purposes only....don't make/use a "bounded ground-neutral adapter" unless you fully understand the concept and the associated possible dangers if built/used incorrectly.

 

 

[Yellowtail]

You guys can always pick up a ground clipping to the rods/bolts that hold down the parking blocks. 

[Gweiloman]

23 minutes ago, CHdiver said:

That may be the case for many car companys, however Nissan is making electric cars since a very long time. The Leaf for example they make since 2010. I guess they have enough experience. That seams not stop them from thinking outside of the box. Somethimes, a ridiculous idea will be mainstream, many times it will fail. Btw. electric cars have been one of this ridiculous ideas. Now look where we are with them.

Yes, the Leaf was probably the first mainstream EV. However its lack of an active cooling BMS has meant that no one buys one anymore. Not sure if it’s still being sold. Nissan’s latest EV offering is the Arriya. I don’t think it’s being sold here in Thailand but the reviews haven’t been that favourable. The popularity of a vehicle can easily be gauged from the amount of YT videos made about it.

 

 I’m genuinely interested in your views as to why you think EVs are a ridiculous idea. From your username, I assume you are Swiss (CH). I previously worked for a major Swiss organisation (a world leader in its industry) and know a lot of Swiss. Family even. So, I would give weight to your argument, assuming it’s logical and not biased. Go beyond issues like range, ease of charging, fire risk etc. These have been debated endlessly. I’m interested to know of other issues that you makes you conclude that EVs are a ridiculous idea.

[JBChiangRai]

56 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

 

Update to above where I talked making a "pass-thru neutral-ground bounding adapter" to allow use of the BYD granny/portable charger on an electrical 2 wire outlet (no ground 3rd wire)....that is, an outlet with no ground...just a live/hot wire and a neutral wire which is still very common throughout Thailand.   I made one yesterday....below are some pics showing it and showing it in use.  And I caution once again not to make/use one unless you understand the ground-neutral bonding process and know how to determine which is the live/hot wire and which is the neutral wire on a 2 wire socket.

 

From left to right like reading a document the first 2 pics in below collage shows a 220V electrical travel adapter which has two prongs for live and neutral on the input and the output side have three holes which accept a wide variety of plug types....it's just a typical travel adapter to help a person use the wife variety of plugs and sockets used around the world    The 3rd pic show the adapter opened up....just requires the removal of two little screens to open it up ...and shows where I soldered a small jumper wire between the neutral prong and ground program.  I actually twisted two very small wires together to make the a jumper wire size a little bigger for "physical" strength purpose; not for electrical current capability purposes as there is no to very, very small current/potential between a neutral and ground.   Pics 4 and 5 show it reassembled and how I used a piece of red tape to mark the live/hot prong side and a piece of blue tape to mark the neutral side (now bonded to ground hole on the adapter). 

And this travel adapter actually comes new with "incorrectly" marked L (for Live/Hot/Line) and N (Neutral) prongs...so, I removed those incorrect markings and used my own markings of red and blue tape after making the adapter.   IMPORTANT:  As talked in my earlier post ITS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT you know which prong is going to be the live/hot side and which is going to be the neutral side...AND how you need to determine which is the live/hot and neutral holes on the socket you are gong to plug this special purposes adapter into.  Remember where I talked using a voltage detector pen or voltmeter to determine which is the live/hot and neutral holes on the 2 hole/wire socket you are going to plug the adapter into.    

 

 

Below is a voltage detector pen which costs about Bt20 which you can use to determine which socket hole is the "live/hot" hole....the pen will glow a little glow a little (kinda hard to see in below daytime pic) when connected to a wire/socket hole with 220V on it.   When touching it to a neutral or ground wire it will not glow.  The pen I have does not require any little batteries to go bad,  but you can buy types that come with little batteries which will make the pen glow brighter..and some battery-operated pens also have a little microchip in them to glow red for a 220V live wire and glow another color like blue on a neutral/ground wire.  But as mentioned the ones that have batteries will surely not work when you need to use them once in a blue moon as the batteries will go flat/dead over time and maybe be flat/dead when you need to use them....one of Murphy's Laws.  Yea, just get the cheapie type that don't use any batteries.   And the other 2 pics show the orange ground buster I used for this test....a ground buster is nothing more than an adapter with two prongs on one side for the live/hot and neutral but no ground prong....and then on the output side it allows you to plug in a 3 prong plug consisting of a live/hot, neutral, and ground live, but the ground has been busted (removed) on the output side.

 

 

 

 

Now lets show the "pass-thru bounded ground-neutral adapter" in action.  1st pic shows the BYD granny charger which has a 3 prong plug plugged into the ground buster to simulate a 2 hole socket (i.e., no ground) like maybe at an in-law house out in the province (or city)....just anywhere where the electrical sockets are only 2 wire sockets.  Notice on the BYD granny charger you see the Red Power light lit since it's now plugged in but it also showing the Orange/Yellow fault light since it's not sensing any ground.  The granny charger will not charge due to this earth/ground fault.   HOWEVER, BUT in the 2nd picture after I have inserted the "pass-thru bonded neutral-ground adapter" the BYD granny charger now is no longer displaying the fault light....only the power light is on meaning it's ready for use...can plug it into your EV.

 

 

 

 

And below pics show it actually plugged into my BYD Atto 3 charging.  Charging light is lit-up and my Atto receiving charge

 

 

And a pic in the Atto showing it charging at 1.7KW.  If I had waited a minute or two before taking the picture the charge rate would have went up to around 2.2KWH based on my past usage as the BYD granny charger is a 10A/220v charger....10A times 220V give a KWH power of 2.2KWH.  

 

 

 

Since the "pass-thru bounded ground-neutral adapter" is a special use adapter AND a person needs to ensure it's plugged in a very specific way (i.e., live to live, neutral to neutral as cautioned before) I will carry the adapter in the car in a separate location from where I store the granny charger in the back.  Only I will know where the adapter is hidden in the car for only my use since I know how to use it.   

 

Yeap....my BYD granny charger will now have to work in an emergency charging situation "even in 2 wire socket land" (which is many locations/socket outlets around Thailand).   Plus I'm too cheaper to go spend thousands of baht on a 3rd party charger which is basically nothing more than a 2 wire, no ground charger.

 

For info, educational purposes only....don't make/use a "bounded ground-neutral adapter" unless you fully understand the concept and the associated possible dangers if built/used incorrectly.

 

 

 

Keep an eye on the temperature of your adaptor, they "say" it's rated at 10 amp, I'm not so sure.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

The same can’t be said about ICEs. The last “new” technology was Nissan’s e-power or e-force or something like that. Ridiculous concept of using an onboard ICE that burns petrol to produce electricity to charge a small battery to power an electric motor that drives the car. Shows how desperate this legacy manufacturer is to hop onto the EV bandwagon but doesn’t have the know how and capability to produce a good EV. 
 

 

 

Yeap...a Nissan "e-power" vehicle is nothing more than a "mutated hybrid vehicle on steroids"....and Nissan goes to great length to try to convince it's not really a hybrid.

 

 

Edited January 6 by Pib

[Pib]

EV price reductions (competition) continues.  MG drops it's ZS EV prices thru at least 31 Jan 2024.

 

https://autolifethailand.tv/official-price-jan2024-mg-zs-ev-bev/

[Pib]

MG also reduces price thru 31 Jan 2024 on it's MG4 Electric models.

 

https://autolifethailand.tv/official-price-jan2024-mg-4-ev-bev/

[Gweiloman]

What’s with all these price drops? I’m sure it’s not due to lack of demand for EVs. My feeling is that the lower ends ie smaller battery packs aren’t as popular as the larger packs and so they are trying to clear inventory. Or possibly making way for new models?

 

 I would be cheesed off if BYD drops the price of the extended Dolphin, just a few months after I bought one lol

[JBChiangRai]

8 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

What’s with all these price drops? I’m sure it’s not due to lack of demand for EVs. My feeling is that the lower ends ie smaller battery packs aren’t as popular as the larger packs and so they are trying to clear inventory. Or possibly making way for new models?

 

 I would be cheesed off if BYD drops the price of the extended Dolphin, just a few months after I bought one lol

 

I wasn't happy when MG did that with our new MG4

[KhunLA]

5 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I wasn't happy when MG did that with our new MG4

Yea, what up with that.  I see the ZS is back on sale 

 

Our insured value coverage is a tad more than new sale price.  Kind of hoping someone steals it, as long as the dog isn't in it, and we get a new one 

Edited January 7 by KhunLA

[Yellowtail]

Did you guys not get subsidies that have since expired?

 

In any event, having the newest model always carries a premium. I like to buy in the second year of a new platform. 

[Gweiloman]

55 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Did you guys not get subsidies that have since expired?

 

In any event, having the newest model always carries a premium. I like to buy in the second year of a new platform. 

Previously, I never came across price reductions except when dealers are making for new models. The EV industry is newish, dealers are maybe trying new tactics. I still think they are seeing the market prefers bigger battery packs and the smaller ones are not moving out the door as quickly so maybe they are trying to rebalance their stocks.

 

If you notice, MG’s reductions are only for the smaller packs. Similarly for the Seal.