12 hours ago, Pib said:

It will be interesting to see the impact on sales/registrations over the coming months.

Now of course Jan 2026 "registrations" will be HIGH (probably set a new record) due to end of year sales/Motor Expo 2025 promotions.

Feb and Mar "sales & registrations" will give a much better idea of the impact of the new & improved prices (i.e., higher prices). I guess for sales figure we'll have to rely on press releases from the vehicle companies and hope they are honest. DLT for the registration stats.

If sales tank due to the new & improved prices then at the upcoming late Mar/early Apr 2026 Motor Show there may be some big price cuts as the vehicles manufacturers try to get sales back on track.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see the govt tweak EV3.5 rules again to help the vehicle manufacturers as it seems the vehicle manufacturers have done pretty good so far in the getting the govt to tweak EV3.5 rules several times over the last year to benefit the manufacturers. Time will tell.

The lowest month for registrations for the whole of 2025 and the whole of 2024 was February

so I think need to look at registrations figures for much later

As the motor show is end of March begining of April and is a mixture of existing cars in production and cars entering production the highest registrations figures were for May, June and July 2025

Something else to keep in mind regarding registration stats is the last couple of years benefitted greatly from much higher subsidies for both imports and domestically assembled, subsidies for imports also vs apparently no subsidies for imports now, excise & import tax adjustments, and maybe a once in a generation EV price-war. The price war really "upset some apple carts."

Yes, other factors are involved such as tightening of financing requirements, debt loads, corporate tax breaks, etc., but I think the factors in above paragraph were the major drivers. No shortage and major & minor factors which can cause distortion of registration stats on a year-over-year basis and even month-over-month. But these price increases caused by numerous factors will definitely....and very significantly....impact sales/registrations this year IMO. I'm just wondering if another mini price war might develop if sales drops off too much. Time will tell.

49 minutes ago, Pib said:

Something else to keep in mind regarding registration stats is the last couple of years benefitted greatly from much higher subsidies for both imports and domestically assembled, subsidies for imports also vs apparently no subsidies for imports now, excise & import tax adjustments, and maybe a once in a generation EV price-war. The price war really "upset some apple carts."

Yes, other factors are involved such as tightening of financing requirements, debt loads, corporate tax breaks, etc., but I think the factors in above paragraph were the major drivers. No shortage and major & minor factors which can cause distortion of registration stats on a year-over-year basis and even month-over-month. But these price increases caused by numerous factors will definitely....and very significantly....impact sales/registrations this year IMO. I'm just wondering if another mini price war might develop if sales drops off too much. Time will tell.

I think its worth looking at the pricing of those brands that to date have declined to sign up to EV 3.0 or EV 3.5 such as Geely as an example

According to AI

EV manufacturing, especially in places like Thailand, where local EV parts often cost 10-15% more than those from China due to China's massive scale, established supply chains, lower labor/material costs, and government support

Why Chinese Parts Are Cheaper

• Economies of Scale: China's huge domestic EV market allows manufacturers to produce at massive volumes, significantly lowering per-unit costs (Wright's Law).

• Integrated Supply Chains: China boasts comprehensive, cost-effective local supply chains, especially for batteries and raw materials like nickel, reducing import reliance.

• Lower Costs: Cheaper labor, government subsidies, and strong local sourcing contribute to lower overall production expenses. 

Challenges for Domestic Production

• Higher Costs: Countries like Thailand struggle to match China's low prices for components, creating a competitive disadvantage.

• Energy Prices: Thailand also faces higher energy costs compared to China and other Southeast Asian nations, further increasing production expenses.

When it comes to ordering parts for production builds EV factories in China order in massive volumes, significantly lowering per-unit costs compared to their Thai Factories

Another data study on EV battery life under different conditions, charging profiles, etc. Nice read....see below 13 Jan 2026 article.

https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

5 hours ago, Pib said:

Another data study on EV battery life under different conditions, charging profiles, etc. Nice read....see below 13 Jan 2026 article.

https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I find this chart, much easier on the brain and eyes to read & understand. As AI points out below, 2500 cylces for LFP chemistry batteries, is very conservative.

3 yrs owning our MG ZS, we average 17k kms per year, so yea, the car will probably outlast both of us, and at the conservative 2500 cycles noted below.

On the very low end of 500k kms, that 30 yrs driving for us. I'll be long gone, and the wife will be 80 yrs old. Since we charge with excess solar, and a potential of saving 50k baht a year, that's a few satang saved (30 X ฿50k = ฿1.5M).

Let that sink in

One key data point of the GeoTab study I found very interesting....and it dealt with "battery degradation when leaving your EV battery nearly or fully charged to 100%." Now if your brain immediately said, "Oh, that's bad, really bad!" then have your brain review the study's "State of Charge (SOC): Utilizing the Full Battery" section for details.

GeoTab found as long as not leaving the battery nearly/fully charged over 80% "of the time," repeat, of the time (not talking SOC level) that there was minimal degradation impact noted. And that only occurred when leaving the battery at the high state of charge for an extended time.

I know I sure don't leave my EV battery charged to more than 80% SOC for an extended time (nor do I know any fellow EV'ers who do).....with an extended time being like days upon days, weeks upon weeks, charge to 100% and park the EV for a month, etc. EV'ers I know who charge to 100% are then driving the EV within minutes as they continue their trip or by the next morning doing their daily driving routine which quickly lowers the battery below a fully charged state. I charge my EV battery to 100% frequently as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer to recalibrate the BMS/balance the battery cells but the great majority of the time the SOC stays way below 100% as I use the EV daily.....the 100% SOC is for a brief period...overnight or maybe just minutes.

Some partial quotes below....see study for full details.

I see my fan club is against true and accurate information, even when presented on the extreme negative side. How ignorant do you have to be.

Or they simple don't read, and it is all about me simply posting.

Too funny that I'm in their head that much ... got to love it

Regarding Degradation at high SoC.

I see two possible scenarios...

1. At high SoC nothing happens for a long time and then it starts degrading

2. At high SoC it starts degrading slowly & constantly

I suspect the answer is No. 2

8 years ago the city of Changsha in China launched a fleet of 1,561 electric buses

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC_JKoA1WuM

2 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

8 years ago the city of Changsha in China launched a fleet of 1,561 electric buses

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC_JKoA1WuM

Nice info and thanks.

But failing to believe BYD LFP batteries are a lot better than CATL LFP batteries, the BYD batteries racking-up about 40% more charge cycles after the same average mileage, and the different charging methods (AC or DC) primarily used my gut is telling me these may be "cherry picked" stats for BYD. Maybe not, but the stats and English language narration of the video made me feel like this was a disguised plug for BYD batteries.

I tried googling for more details stats, some reference for the stats, etc., but couldn't find anything....kinda typical for a lot of China based status. No, I've got no grudge against CATL or BYD batteries, but there just seems to be some key data missing like a description of the bus routes used, bus model(s) the batteries were installed in, were the BYD & CATL batteries of equal generations, etc.,... Just seems to be too much variation in the battery stats. I'm thinking more background might reveal the CATL batteries were used in a more demanding way other than primarily being DC fast charged....maybe the CATL batteries were rode harder.

52 minutes ago, Pib said:

Nice info and thanks.

But failing to believe BYD LFP batteries are a lot better than CATL LFP batteries, the BYD batteries racking-up about 40% more charge cycles after the same average mileage, and the different charging methods (AC or DC) primarily used my gut is telling me these may be "cherry picked" stats for BYD. Maybe not, but the stats and English language narration of the video made me feel like this was a disguised plug for BYD batteries.

I tried googling for more details stats, some reference for the stats, etc., but couldn't find anything....kinda typical for a lot of China based status. No, I've got no grudge against CATL or BYD batteries, but there just seems to be some key data missing like a description of the bus routes used, bus model(s) the batteries were installed in, were the BYD & CATL batteries of equal generations, etc.,... Just seems to be too much variation in the battery stats. I'm thinking more background might reveal the CATL batteries were used in a more demanding way other than primarily being DC fast charged....maybe the CATL batteries were rode harder.

Think the main difference would be the exposure to heat when charging, DC vs AC. Along with possibly, more percentage charged by DC, as you state, driven a bit harder, and battery drained lower before charged.

Saying that, it was our experience, first 14 months owning our MG ZS, as half the kms (10k of 20k kms) were DC charged, but, not up to 100%, and rarely adding more than 60%, per charging session. First year+ of O&A, rarely went below 30%, or above 95% when done charging. I also suspect, rarely at the max 76kW speed the car will accept, as charged at MG dealers, and not known to be fast cables, along with early CS, especially if 2 cars charging.

And degradation was less < 1%, by my unscientific testing:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1276247-ev-owners-%E2%80%A6-real-life-experience-help-thread/page/7/#comment-18547380

Haven't paid attention, but believe last 2 of 3 years owning, and degradation has be faster. So may change how I charge at home now, from 75 or 80% - 100% every time. Maybe charge 60-90% most of the month, and 100% just a couple times a month. See if slows down the degradation, onward for a year.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Think the main difference would be the exposure to heat when charging, DC vs AC. Along with possibly, more percentage charged by DC, as you state, driven a bit harder, and battery drained lower before charged.

Saying that, it was our experience, first 14 months owning our MG ZS, as half the kms (10k of 20k kms) were DC charged, but, not up to 100%, and rarely adding more than 60%, per charging session. First year+ of O&A, rarely went below 30%, or above 95% when done charging. I also suspect, rarely at the max 76kW speed the car will accept, as charged at MG dealers, and not known to be fast cables, along with early CS, especially if 2 cars charging.

And degradation was less < 1%, by my unscientific testing:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1276247-ev-owners-%E2%80%A6-real-life-experience-help-thread/page/7/#comment-18547380

Haven't paid attention, but believe last 2 of 3 years owning, and degradation has be faster. So may change how I charge at home now, from 75 or 80% - 100% every time. Maybe charge 60-90% most of the month, and 100% just a couple times a month. See if slows down the degradation, onward for a year.

MG ZS has just gotten to 100%, though not fully balanced yet, and also didn't start at 10-20% state of, when plugged in. Not really an equalization test. NEDC estimate by ZS calculations is 380 kms, original was 403, and round up for easy math, and that 5% degradation, over 40 months & 54k kms.

At this rate, at the 8 yr warranty mark, will by 12% down, and at 88%. Hopefully, adjusting the way we charge, we slow that down a bit. All a bit irrelevant, as we barely get 250+ kms or 3+ hours before stopping to P, eat, stroll around & plug in, while stopping when O&A.

On 1/8/2026 at 3:07 PM, JBChiangRai said:

This arrived yesterday, I paid a tad over 9,000 THB on AliExpress for it. No tax needed to be paid on arrival.

I bought the 32amp 3 phase unit and didn't connect L2 or L3 just L1 (Live 1) and put the supplied CT Coil (current transformer) over the PEA infeed.

After playing around with it for a bit, I have Maximum PEA current set to 20amps, which is the lowest setting permitted.

My GTI's (grid-tied inverters) are down circuit of the CT and the car charges quite happily at 32 amps with negligible PEA infeed and solar producing sufficient. When the sunlight drops, it drops down bit by bit to 8amps depending on the draw from PEA and will shut off when PEA draw is greater than 8amps off maximum (ie 12amps)

It's perfect for anyone using GTI's who wants to maximise their use of sunshine and/or want to prevent drawing too much power from PEA/MEA.

I have a friend from Pattaya staying a few weeks, we went out in my daughter's Dolphin Standard Range and test drove the Aion UT immediately followed by the BYD Dolphin Extended Range and then a Sealion 7 AWD.

I liked the Aion UT, it felt more solid on the road than the Dolphin, and a bit quicker too, lifetime battery warranty, but if I understood her correctly, it's NMC battery chemistry which I don't like. The Dolphin Extended Range is a flying machine. It was spinning the wheels at 40kmhr. The ride is completely different from the Standard Range car, the suspension seems a lot sportier.

Finally, the Sealion 7, I'm going to go back on what I said before, it is quieter and more comfortable than the Dolphin which is as expected.

8 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

This arrived yesterday, I paid a tad over 9,000 THB on AliExpress for it. No tax needed to be paid on arrival.

I bought the 32amp 3 phase unit and didn't connect L2 or L3 just L1 (Live 1) and put the supplied CT Coil (current transformer) over the PEA infeed.

After playing around with it for a bit, I have Maximum PEA current set to 20amps, which is the lowest setting permitted.

My GTI's (grid-tied inverters) are down circuit of the CT and the car charges quite happily at 32 amps with negligible PEA infeed and solar producing sufficient. When the sunlight drops, it drops down bit by bit to 8amps depending on the draw from PEA and will shut off when PEA draw is greater than 8amps off maximum (ie 12amps)

It's perfect for anyone using GTI's who wants to maximise their use of sunshine and/or want to prevent drawing too much power from PEA/MEA.

I have a friend from Pattaya staying a few weeks, we went out in my daughter's Dolphin Standard Range and test drove the Aion UT immediately followed by the BYD Dolphin Extended Range and then a Sealion 7 AWD.

I liked the Aion UT, it felt more solid on the road than the Dolphin, and a bit quicker too, lifetime battery warranty, but if I understood her correctly, it's NMC battery chemistry which I don't like. The Dolphin Extended Range is a flying machine. It was spinning the wheels at 40kmhr. The ride is completely different from the Standard Range car, the suspension seems a lot sportier.

Finally, the Sealion 7, I'm going to go back on what I said before, it is quieter and more comfortable than the Dolphin which is as expected.

Hi. I have the same charger. I have 1 phase at 32A at the moment but just installing my 3 phase solar (few mods and ATS not working properly, but getting closer to my wants).

When all finished installing I'm moving it's location and connecting the 3 phases to the charger.

Big job.

Just found out that DEYE main supplier is in Mukdahan not Bangkok at a place I regularly buy stuff from.

So, have to say right off that I am not in the market for a new car, am very happy with my current car ….. but still keep an eye on the new EV’s appearing and sometimes something exciting comes along to tempt me.

Currently it is the Zeekr 7X or 7GT tugging at my wallet !!

But !

While I do like the advances in technology i think some manufacturers are going a little overboard in this direction, do we really need an electrically operated glove box or electrically operated steering wheel angle/reach adjustment ??

I would say we don’t need them but do we want them ?

I would ask the same question about automatically operated doors ?? are they a gimmick too far or can they really be useful ?

( not to be confused with soft closing doors which can be offered together or separate to automatically operated )

This guy explains the nuances of the electrically operated doors on a Zeekr 7X and answers the question, would you pay extra for them ??

Have to agree totally with the guy’s summing up, initially i see a gimmick and would be frustrated with people trying to pop out the door handles ( which although appear ornamental can be used in an emergency ) .

But would I grow to love them or disable them ? ….. and you ?

What is the pricing on the Zeekr 7X ?

24 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

What is the pricing on the Zeekr 7X ?

I expect a few will be waiting for the Motor Show and hoping for a healthy discount.

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I expect a few will be waiting for the Motor Show and hoping for a healthy discount.

And I expect that "hope" will probably kicked-to-the-curb based on my review of Zeekr's Marketing/Strategy which is seems to be a "HiSo, Premium vehicle" strategy which does "not" focus too much on vehicle price cuts/frequent promotions, etc. If there was a price reduction come to the Mar 2026 Motor Show I would be surprised if it was more than Bt100K (if any at all). Zeekr seems to market their vehicles as "premium" vehicles with their showrooms/dealerships (i..e., Zeekr likes to call them "Houses" vs showrooms) also reflecting a HiSo/Premium vehicle attitude.

And they don't seem to like using the "promotion" word but instead the "offer" word whenever they advertise their vehicle "pricing." So far about the only promotions (excuse me offers) Zeekr has advertised since being in Thailand is free insurance for X-amount of years, free maintenance checks up to 40,000Km, and free charger with installation.

https://www.zeekrlife.com/en-th/offers/offer-special-motor-expo

I've been very interested in the Zeekr 7X since I became aware of them late last year.....even went to the Motor Expo 2025 on three different days to check out their vehicles....even visited their Zeekr House close to my home once and talked to a sales rep who spoke great English. No test drive though....I only do test drives when I'm super serious in buying a car...practically made up my mind already.

Now there are some downsides to a Zeekr vehicle in my opinion. Like no lifetime battery warranty program, scheduled maintenance is not free unless it happens to be part of a current offer (promotion)...and their scheduled maintenance costs are not cheap...., and unless living in the Bangkok region there are not many dealerships (excuse me, Houses) yet. Additionally, the 7X Long Range RWD and 7X AWD only come with NMC batteries....LFP battery only comes with the 7X Standard RWD model....but it seems vehicles marketed as "premium" vehicles use NMC batteries more than LFP batteries do to the higher power and long range available from an NMC battery of equal physical size to a LFP battery.

Plus their HiSo marketing/sales approach can give a person the impression that a Zeekr vehicle could turn out to be an expensive vehicle to maintain long term...not necessarily due to maintenance problems because they appear to be very well made vehicles, but due to that Mercedes Benz, Volvo, BMW type of HiSo pricing on everything when some type of maintenance is required.

Regarding the 7X, in China the 2026 7X has been released and comes with upgrades like 900V vs 800V charging system, more powerful motors, upgraded CPU/infotainment system, changes in door opening....even a small refrigerator in the center console (probably optional). Hopefully the 2026 upgraded version will come to Thailand also but probably no earlier than late 2026 is my guess.

3 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Have to agree totally with the guy’s summing up, initially i see a gimmick and would be frustrated with people trying to pop out the door handles ( which although appear ornamental can be used in an emergency ) .

But would I grow to love them or disable them ? ….. and you ?

I agree. When I was playing around with the 7X automatic door opening/closing during the Motor Expo I didn't like it. When we get into having multiple door sensors to determine how far or if a door can be opened after pressing the door open button that is just overkill to me....waste of time in just trying to simply enter car.

IMO it's a nice gimmick for "show-off" purposes only.....good for attempting to impress someone.....and maybe that's important to some folks buying a "premium" SUV who want to show-off to family, friends, and people they don't like.....a "face" thing.

In Thailand the automatic door feature gimmick only comes on the 7X AWD Performance model....the 7X Long Range RWD and 7X Standard RWD models do not come with the gimmick. But apparently in some countries it's an "option" you can have added to the Long Range and Standard models also....varies by country.

I like the Zeekr 7X but I don’t see it as massively superior to the Sealion 7 and the battery tech is a big problem. If I were in the market, I would go for the Sealion 7

I’m looking forward to seeing the large Chinese luxury EV’s and sports cars to satisfy those of us with a mid end life crisis (who’ve I’ve had all my life).

The issue for me is going to be battery chemistry. What will solid state and other battery tech like graphene, silicon sulphur etc bring.

We currently have NMC Vs LFP, the former being more energy dense, capable of supporting higher currents (more powerful motors and faster charging), but only lasting half as long as LFP which is also safer.

I think it’s easy to overlook that BYD have been able to give high power motors on LFP technology. I don’t think anyone else has done that. I think BYD will probably lead the way in the new battery tech, they were after all a battery charger company originally.

Automatic doors and soft close doors are a gimmick. It’s just more to go wrong.

I favour simplicity over complication.

39 minutes ago, Pib said:

And I expect that "hope" will probably kicked-to-the-curb based on my review of Zeekr's Marketing/Strategy which is seems to be a "HiSo, Premium vehicle" strategy which does "not" focus too much on vehicle price cuts/frequent promotions, etc. If there was a price reduction come to the Mar 2026 Motor Show I would be surprised if it was more than Bt100K (if any at all). Zeekr seems to market their vehicles as "premium" vehicles with their showrooms/dealerships (i..e., Zeekr likes to call them "Houses" vs showrooms) also reflecting a HiSo/Premium vehicle attitude.

And they don't seem to like using the "promotion" word but instead the "offer" word whenever they advertise their vehicle "pricing." So far about the only promotions (excuse me offers) Zeekr has advertised since being in Thailand is free insurance for X-amount of years, free maintenance checks up to 40,000Km, and free charger with installation.

https://www.zeekrlife.com/en-th/offers/offer-special-motor-expo

I've been very interested in the Zeekr 7X since I became aware of them late last year.....even went to the Motor Expo 2025 on three different days to check out their vehicles....even visited their Zeekr House close to my home once and talked to a sales rep who spoke great English. No test drive though....I only do test drives when I'm super serious in buying a car...practically made up my mind already.

Now there are some downsides to a Zeekr vehicle in my opinion. Like no lifetime battery warranty program, scheduled maintenance is not free unless it happens to be part of a current offer (promotion)...and their scheduled maintenance costs are not cheap...., and unless living in the Bangkok region there are not many dealerships (excuse me, Houses) yet. Additionally, the 7X Long Range RWD and 7X AWD only come with NMC batteries....LFP battery only comes with the 7X Standard RWD model....but it seems vehicles marketed as "premium" vehicles use NMC batteries more than LFP batteries do to the higher power and long range available from an NMC battery of equal physical size to a LFP battery.

Plus their HiSo marketing/sales approach can give a person the impression that a Zeekr vehicle could turn out to be an expensive vehicle to maintain long term...not necessarily due to maintenance problems because they appear to be very well made vehicles, but due to that Mercedes Benz, Volvo, BMW type of HiSo pricing on everything when some type of maintenance is required.

Regarding the 7X, in China the 2026 7X has been released and comes with upgrades like 900V vs 800V charging system, more powerful motors, upgraded CPU/infotainment system, changes in door opening....even a small refrigerator in the center console (probably optional). Hopefully the 2026 upgraded version will come to Thailand also but probably no earlier than late 2026 is my guess.

Yeah i hear you, tbh, its more than i would want to pay, looking at the RWD Long Range version and agree the NMC Battery chemistry would not be my battery chemistry of choice.

The upgraded versions don’t always make it to Thailand either, an example being the Blade 2 BYD battery which according to The Electric Viking ( yeah, i know i know ) is close to being released in RHD countries in the shape of BYD Seal 06 but due to increased battery density the size of the battery, in kWh, is reduced to achieve similar range, although the ranges he quoted were less than the current Seal !

Talking of TEV, he has recently bought a Zeekr 7X AWD and obviously it is the best thing since sliced bread ( remember his spouting when he bought a Geely 🙄).

Some might say it is another reason not to buy a Zeekr 7X !!

4 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Talking of TEV, he has recently bought a Zeekr 7X AWD and obviously it is the best thing since sliced bread ( remember his spouting when he bought a Geely 🙄).

Some might say it is another reason not to buy a Zeekr 7X !!

Yea, I admit (but as forgiveness) to also watching his videos on his Zeekr 7X buy since I have watched pretty much any & all videos on the Zeekr 7X due to my interest in possibly buying one.

TEV originally pre-ordered a 7X Long Range RWD but later switched his order to the AWD version....and like you said he felt he had made a great decision.....all of a sudden the extras the AWD version has like air suspension, more speakers, auto doors, bigger wheels, etc., was worth every extra AUD. That's fine, I'm glad he's happy with his buy. And getting the 7X was about a year after owning a XPeng G6....and before that an Atto.....etc. He goes thru EV cars pretty fast....seems about every year it's out with the old and in with the new. Of course in his line of work I guess buying a new EV every year or so is a must.

For those interested in reviewing the "ECO Sticker" for EV/ICE/Hybrid vehicles sold in Thailand (i.e., that A4 size piece of paper on the window of new cars showing basic features, wh/km, L/100km, retail price, "excise tax", etc.,) you can search/review them at below Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) govt website.

https://car.go.th/landing-page?page=1&row=30&search=&sort=

The applicable excise tax on ECO stickers is just to the right of the price in the very lower right hand corner of the sticker. You can also review other info about vehicle at this website.

Just go to the webpage, select "Comparison" from the menu, enter brand of vehicle like BYD, click search and it will show the models of that brand it has ECO Stickers on....you can view the full size ECO sticker, a mini version, other info about the vehicle, etc. How up to date the ECO Stickers are I couldn't say....some have 2025 approval dates, other 2026 approval dates, etc.

Some examples from the website.

On 12/13/2025 at 10:49 AM, Pib said:

 

 

 

Yesterday evening I got a call from a nearby BYD dealership here in western Bangkok if I could bring my Atto in next day for the lifetime battery warranty purchase and inspection.  This is one of three dealerships I had contacted in person 7-10 days ago trying to arrange purchase of the warranty but things were still kinda in disarray at the time in terms of dealerships awaiting forms/guidance from Rever.  At one of the three dealerships they did make an appt for battery inspection in late December for purchase and inspection as they figured guidance would be firm by then...and even last week when I stopped in again trying to get an earlier appt (which they couldn't do) apparently guidance had firmed up but now it was simply an issue of getting a battery inspection appt for the  many, many people who wanted to get the warranty.

 

Well, that next day is now today and I just completed the lifetime battery warranty purchase and inspection.   Took about 30 minutes to do the paperwork and the actual inspection was done within minutes.  In terms of paperwork "I needed to provide" was just the vehicle booklet, vehicle registration book, and my passport.  The service rep made a copy of the vehicle registration book main page and my passport main page and then gave back the original docs....I needed to sign (a.k.a., self certify) the passport page and registration book copies.  Also signed the basic workorder.

 

I had positioned myself in the dealership lounge to watch when my car got moved from the customer arrival parking area into the maintenance/inspection area....big picture window which allowed me to see everything.  However, after spending about 3 minutes with the service representative in reading/scanning/signing the paperwork mentioned above I noticed my car was now in the maintenance bay being lifted up to look at the underside of the car/look at the battery.  The maintenance tech spent about 30 seconds with a light looking at the battery all around and then let the car back down to the floor.  I don't know if he even opened the hood to looks at the front engine area or put a diagnostic device on the OBD2 connector under the steering wheel....he could have but I just didn't see that happening.  It was a very quick inspection...get distracted for a few minutes (like reading/signing some paperwork) and you could easily miss the actual inspection.  

 

The maintenance tech drove the car back to the customer waiting parking lot.  The service rep then had me pay Bt5000.....I got a simple receipt and one page copy of the standard workorder that said lifetime battery warranty on it.   None of the paperwork presented to me to sign before, during, or after the inspection showed any technical details like number of battery charges, number of full (100%) charges, SOH, etc....and I paid particular attention during the paperwork process to look for such info.

 

The service rep and maintenance tech said everything looked fine and in three business days I will get the warranty paperwork via email.

 

 

Update: I finally got the Lifetime Battery Warranty approved. Instead of the whole process supposedly taking a maximum of 18 business days (around 4 calendar weeks) after payment and battery/vehicle inspection which I did on 13 Dec 2025 I finally got approval today/23 Jan 2026 which works out to 41 calendar days which works out to around 28 business days when taking in account Rever's Mon-Fri business week, weekends, and the recent New Years holidays.

So, why did my approval take so long you may be wondering? It was not because of any issues with the battery/vehicle but a simple, minor misspelling of my name on the dealership- prepared inspection paperwork which caused the warranty application to be kicked back by Rever for correction. The dealership made the correction, resubmitted the warranty application, and about a week later I got the approval.

So, when you do the paperwork at the dealership for the lifetime warranty where the dealership prepares all the paper work and you just need to sign be sure to look closely at the spelling of your name.....don't assume it's correct even if you used the dealership numerous times for other work related to your BYD vehicle.

Anyway, all is good now.....I can now drive my Atto for a lifetime without worrying about battery, drive motor, drive electronics repair/replacement costs....awesome!!!

Wow....look at the number of Jaecoo 5 EVs registered in December.....and I expect January will reflect continued big numbers for the Jaecoo 5 as more registrations finalize from the end of year/2025 promotion.

https://autolifethailand.tv/ev-bev-register-dec-2025-thailand/

Do I understand that correctly, is it saying that almost 40% of all new vehicles registered in Thailand were EV‘s?

I do mean the categories for what we consider regularly here, cars etc (before you jump on Vinny!)

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

Do I understand that correctly, is it saying that almost 40% of all new vehicles registered in Thailand were EV‘s?

I do mean the categories for what we consider regularly here, cars etc (before you jump on Vinny!)

Yeap....approx 4 out of 10 for Dec. And I expect they are talking mainly the RY1 category and a few other similar categories that are for the vehicles everyday-type people buy for basic transport.

But hey, most months this year has been 2 to 3 over every 10 registered are EVs....so the end of year buying spree where 4 of 10 was reached sounds about right.

Since this shift from ICE to EV is a slow, generational process I expect the average number of EVs bought will continue their slow, steady increase over the coming years....subtracting from ICE sales.