Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Andrew Dwyer]

So why isn’t anyone looking at using solar panels to create energy to run your EV ??

Well its become apparent that while it is possible to assist regeneration of energy the benefits of building a solar panel roof on your car are very small and currently most EV manufacturers are dismissing the idea until some technological breakthroughs make fitting solar panels more energy efficient and cost effective.

Although, some big names have adopted the technology and incorporated it into their EV cars i.e. Mercedes Benz, Hyundai and the elusive Fisker Ocean but it hasn’t yet become popular enough to change the trend.

 

Toyota are looking to change that with their updated Prius , solar panels are being used to produce energy to charge the battery and reduce charging time and costs even with the car locked and motionless !!

 

But, the all important question, by how much ??

Well, be prepared to be underwhelmed !!

 

 

Of course there are other options available.

 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

I'm sorry, I thought you said:

 

My bad

No worries. I have never done a 1,000km journey in a diesel, I thought that was clear. But I have driven a lot of them and they are noisy dirty and rattly and I wouldn't consider ever driving 1,000kms in one. Clear now?

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, DavisH said:

Bu your solar panels were not free right? After how long do they pay for themselves? If I owned an EV I'd probably get them, but out bill these days is just 4-5K a month, so not really worth it at this time. 

I believe he charges his EV with 'excess' solar from the solar system.  

 

Myself, I do the same, charge with excess from the solar system, and have more than enough.   When we contracted the house build, we also bought a new ICE car.   So an EV, obviously wasn't in the game plan at that time.

 

Due to some ignorance on my part, as not thoroughly researched them, along with awaiting upgrades or new tech, & incentives .... and most important, still it out of my transportation budget. 

 

More research, upgraded and a ฿240k govt incentive, not offered in 2020, talked me into it.  Thankfully, and no regrets, and can't imagine myself ever owning an ICE car again.  Have an E-motorcycle, bought 1 year before the car, and a DIY ebike also.

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, DavisH said:

These aren't the only diesels though are they? My crv diesel is quieter at 100km/h than the petrol equivalent. Then there is a range of other European diesels that are more refined than pickups also. 

I've driven "nicer" diesels too. I put down a deposit on a new Merc C250 a few years ago. Before it was delivered I was told sorry, they are not supplying petrol any more and it will be replaced by a C300 diesel at no extra cost. I wasn't interested but they said they would lend me one for 24 hours and I would come around. I didn't come around. It was noisy, dirty and rattly. Nice torque, but I couldn't live with that engine day to day. I cancelled my order and got my deposit back. Hilarious that anyone brags about a diesel.

I have ridden in BMW diesels numerous times. Same.  Sure, diesels have come a long way since the 90s but in comparison to a petrol car they are generally noisy, dirty and rattly, and in comparison to an EV they are prehistoric. I hated the idea of EVs as I am a massive petrol head and have a history of spending too much money buying, and modifying, petrol cars, and I used to share many of these childish sentiments -  washing machine, milk float, hair dryer - until I tried an electric car and spent a few days with it. Wow, you will never go back. The lack of noise (yes, you grow to appreciate it very quickly), the instant performance, the one pedal driving, the zip and fun. My next car (whenever that will be) will be an EV without doubt. But for sure, as numerous EV owners have commented, an EV is not for everyone. One would fit my lifestyle but if you are doing 1,000 km journeys regularly then it would probably not fit yours. But quit making the silly comments about EVs and about diesel being superior, just go with what works for you and leave the rest of us alone.

So try it before commenting. And try it before championing diesel technology from the dark ages. I was converted.

And there is one poster on here who drives a Porsche Taycan (but who deserves much credit for very very rarely mentioning it - he just refers to it as his EV, much kudos). He will never go back and if you buy that kind of car you are a car enthusiast without question, so I trust his opinion and his journey more than that of someone bleating how diesel is the best.

[fredob43]

4 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Brilliant, someone who does not own an EV (and has expressed how ridiculous he thinks they are compared to glorious diesel) is telling someone who does own an EV that he is wrong about how long it takes to charge.

Amazing.

My daughter has two EV in the UK and she tells me that they take around an hour to charge from around 20% to 90% on a fast set up. Miles longer on a slow charge set up. They lease them in the UK that's only because it saves their business loads on tax. 

[josephbloggs]

5 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

My daughter has two EV in the UK and she tells me that they take around an hour to charge from around 20% to 90% on a fast set up. Miles longer on a slow charge set up. They lease them in the UK that's only because it saves their business loads on tax. 

I don't own one so have no first hand evidence other than when I borrowed an electric XC40. I got it from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes on a DC charger which was enough to comfortably get me back from Hua Hin to Bangkok with 100km range to spare.. No idea about other brands or other charging facilities so I tend to listen to people who do drive EVs here for their opinions as they know better than me.

[josephbloggs]

14 hours ago, motdaeng said:

https://ex30event.volvocars.com/

 

if anyone is interested in watching the EX30 livestream today (7.june 18.30) here's the YouTube link. 

 

 

I'm watching the recording now. Very slick presentation so far. 0-100kmh in 3.6 seconds, wow!

[fredob43]

13 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

I don't own one so have no first hand evidence other than when I borrowed an electric XC40. I got it from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes on a DC charger which was enough to comfortably get me back from Hua Hin to Bangkok with 100km range to spare.. No idea about other brands or other charging facilities so I tend to listen to people who do drive EVs here for their opinions as they know better than me.

So in other words it takes 30Min: to add 60% charge to the car you drove. So my daughter isn't far wrong when she stated around an Hour. N/B in that hour I could have been 100km further down the road. Sorry but you can't change my mind.

[josephbloggs]

46 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

I'm watching the recording now. Very slick presentation so far. 0-100kmh in 3.6 seconds, wow!

153kW charging means 26 minutes from 10% to 80%. I think it looks great, I am very interested, and the tech is fantastic. I just don't know how small it is. is it Neta V small? (That would be too small). 

If anyone wants to review: https://ex30event.volvocars.com/

[KhunLA]

51 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

So in other words it takes 30Min: to add 60% charge to the car you drove. So my daughter isn't far wrong when she stated around an Hour. N/B in that hour I could have been 100km further down the road. Sorry but you can't change my mind.

Nobody is trying to change your mind, just trying the impossible ... to enlighten you.

 

Doesn't work with a closed minded person.

 

If you actually read the posts in the thread, and replies to you, it depends on the car & the power supply.

 

Some cars will accept 50kWh, some less, some more.  Mine will accept 74kWh, and a different MG will accept 117kWh.  Sure others, accept different levels.

 

MG ZS EV battery pack is 50.1kWh (46.3 usable) so if accepting 74kWh .... DO THE MATH ????

https://www.ananindustry.com/mg-zs-ev-2022.html

 

Charging station range from ssslllooowww AC, why bother, to fast DC and faster DC.  

 

How long will it take, depends what the car will accept, and what the charging station will supply.

 

We await your next, already answered or very easy to answer if searching.   Why you even bother on this thread, since you'll never buy one.  We know why ...

 

BYE BYE

 

Here's Neta V charging info:

https://www.ananindustry.com/neta-v-2022.html

[josephbloggs]

40 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

So in other words it takes 30Min: to add 60% charge to the car you drove. So my daughter isn't far wrong when she stated around an Hour. N/B in that hour I could have been 100km further down the road.

I am not going to argue, I don't own an EV, just my experience was that 30 minutes got me about 300kms of range and took me from around 17-18% to 80%.

 

Quote

Sorry but you can't change my mind.

Not trying to. I literally couldn't care less what anyone drives. I just care about people saying ridiculous things like diesel is the best, EVs are washing machines etc. Up to you what you drive, I really don't care.

 

[fredob43]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

I am not going to argue, I don't own an EV, just my experience was that 30 minutes got me about 300kms of range and took me from around 17-18% to 80%.

 

Not trying to. I literally couldn't care less what anyone drives. I just care about people saying ridiculous things like diesel is the best, EVs are washing machines etc. Up to you what you drive, I really don't care.

 

I didn't say that diesel was best. I just inferred that it was much easier to go on long distance trips than an EV. I'll agree that around town you can't beat an EV. But on some occasions one needs to go on long trips. That's when they full down. I can't think of anything else worse than driving here and having to plan a journey seeking out where the next charger will be before you run out of Electric.

[JBChiangRai]

9 hours ago, DavisH said:

Bu your solar panels were not free right? After how long do they pay for themselves? If I owned an EV I'd probably get them, but out bill these days is just 4-5K a month, so not really worth it at this time. 

If you install a grid-tied system and choose your supplier/installer carefully, typical payback can be as short as 3 years.

 

On my previous house I paid 120k THB for a 6 Kw inverter and 22 panels (8.6 Kw) 4 years ago, ROI was running at 3 years. 

 

On my current house I paid 500k THB for 18 Kw grid-tied inverters, 16.5 Kw UPS inverters, 28.8 KwHrs of LiFePo4 batteries and 54 panels totaling 21.6 Kw, ROI on this system is looking like 5 years. At just short of 2 years I have generated 191k THB in power.

 

In terms of useful life, they reckon solar panels will lose 20% of their capacity every 25 years.

[JBChiangRai]

7 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

And there is one poster on here who drives a Porsche Taycan (but who deserves much credit for very very rarely mentioning it - he just refers to it as his EV, much kudos). He will never go back and if you buy that kind of car you are a car enthusiast without question, so I trust his opinion and his journey more than that of someone bleating how diesel is the best.

Actually, there are 2 very, very regular posters here who drive Porsche Taycan's, both of them also have an MG EV.  One of them probably prefers to remain anonymous.

[Bandersnatch]

9 hours ago, DavisH said:

Bu your solar panels were not free right? After how long do they pay for themselves? If I owned an EV I'd probably get them, but out bill these days is just 4-5K a month, so not really worth it at this time. 

Yes my solar panels aren’t free but I installed them to power my house. In the middle of the day I have excess power and so that gets dumped in my EV.

 

My payback is 6 years

 

A PEA bill of 4-5k a month is definitely worth considering solar for. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

 

A PEA bill of 4-5k a month is definitely worth considering solar for. 

I would say a PEA bill of 4-5k per month is the sweet spot for a 6Kw Solar system (I mean Kw not KwHr, probably 30 KwHr per day average) if you're careful it should cost you 120-140k.

[JBChiangRai]

7 hours ago, fredob43 said:

I didn't say that diesel was best. I just inferred that it was much easier to go on long distance trips than an EV. I'll agree that around town you can't beat an EV. But on some occasions one needs to go on long trips. That's when they full down. I can't think of anything else worse than driving here and having to plan a journey seeking out where the next charger will be before you run out of Electric.

Noone can deny diesel is more convenient to fill up on long trips, but it really isn't that difficult to top up a battery EV.  If you're making one long trip every 6-12 months, I wouldn't hesitate to choose a BEV.

 

I have made one long trip in the last 3 years, to a party in Kamphaeng Phet.  I stopped for a coffee and noticed a fast DC Charger so tried it out, 11 minutes later with +25% more capacity, I was on the road again to KP.  At the motel in KP, they had a complimentary AC Charger, I charged up overnight to 100% to drive back the next day.  My fuel cost for the 1,100km trip was 80 baht (I do have solar btw).

 

I was anxious about making long trips until I made that trip.  On the way back I made a point of slowing down and checking out highway 1's service areas.  Generally, there was a fast DC Charger every 30-40km, mostly empty and none without capacity for another car.

 

I drive every fortnight or so to Chiang Mai, about 180km, it uses less than half the battery on the MG4. 8 months ago, there was nowhere enroute with fast DC Chargers, now I counted 4 and a lot of coffee shops have AC Chargers.  Chiang Mai itself has dozen's, possibly hundred's of fast DC Chargers.

[fredob43]

4 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Noone can deny diesel is more convenient to fill up on long trips, but it really isn't that difficult to top up a battery EV.  If you're making one long trip every 6-12 months, I wouldn't hesitate to choose a BEV.

 

I have made one long trip in the last 3 years, to a party in Kamphaeng Phet.  I stopped for a coffee and noticed a fast DC Charger so tried it out, 11 minutes later with +25% more capacity, I was on the road again to KP.  At the motel in KP, they had a complimentary AC Charger, I charged up overnight to 100% to drive back the next day.  My fuel cost for the 1,100km trip was 80 baht (I do have solar btw).

 

I was anxious about making long trips until I made that trip.  On the way back I made a point of slowing down and checking out highway 1's service areas.  Generally, there was a fast DC Charger every 30-40km, mostly empty and none without capacity for another car.

 

I drive every fortnight or so to Chiang Mai, about 180km, it uses less than half the battery on the MG4. 8 months ago, there was nowhere enroute with fast DC Chargers, now I counted 4 and a lot of coffee shops have AC Chargers.  Chiang Mai itself has dozen's, possibly hundred's of fast DC Chargers.

Interesting I live in Kamphaeng City and I only know of two chargers and they are both at Robinsons. If they are fast ones Buddha only knows. I quite often do a trip to C/M some 4 hour drive from me, I have always found it hard to even find a decent restaurant or even a good coffee shop on that route. Maybe things are changing. 

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, fredob43 said:

Interesting I live in Kamphaeng City and I only know of two chargers and they are both at Robinsons. If they are fast ones Buddha only knows. I quite often do a trip to C/M some 4 hour drive from me, I have always found it hard to even find a decent restaurant or even a good coffee shop on that route. Maybe things are changing. 

I did go to Robinsons in KP, the fast DC Charger (EA Anywhere) wouldn’t work with my BEV car, neither would another EA Anywhere charger in Chiang Mai. It’s an issue with only 1 brand of german car apparently.

 

There are 2 fast DC Chargers within 10km North & South on highway 1 within about 10km according to an app on my phone, I was going to detour to one of them when my friend told me there was an AC Charger at my hotel. I was even happier when it turned out to be free.

[Bandersnatch]

On 6/7/2023 at 8:48 AM, motdaeng said:

https://ex30event.volvocars.com/

 

if anyone is interested in watching the EX30 livestream today (7.june 18.30) here's the YouTube link. 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up on the EX30. The video wasn’t too fact filled so I went looking for more info.

 

The good news for Thailand buyers is that the The EX30 will be produced at Geely‘s Zhangjiakou plant in China and not in Sweden so no import duties.

 

https://www.volvocars.com/th-th/cars/ex30-electric/

 

 

[tomkenet]

Ex30 performance is certainly an exciting car.

I think most of the Volvos currently sold in Thailand are made in Malaysia. Not sure how the taxes are compared with China.

[mistral53]

On 6/8/2023 at 6:12 AM, JBChiangRai said:

If you install a grid-tied system and choose your supplier/installer carefully, typical payback can be as short as 3 years.

 

On my previous house I paid 120k THB for a 6 Kw inverter and 22 panels (8.6 Kw) 4 years ago, ROI was running at 3 years. 

 

On my current house I paid 500k THB for 18 Kw grid-tied inverters, 16.5 Kw UPS inverters, 28.8 KwHrs of LiFePo4 batteries and 54 panels totaling 21.6 Kw, ROI on this system is looking like 5 years. At just short of 2 years I have generated 191k THB in power.

 

In terms of useful life, they reckon solar panels will lose 20% of their capacity every 25 years.

In all fairness to potential solar power adapters - these numbers for investment are completely off the kilter, I reckon you paid about half what is common, at least in our neck of the woods and around BKK. Good for you buddy........ I wish such price levels were offered everywhere. 

[JBChiangRai]

50 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

In all fairness to potential solar power adapters - these numbers for investment are completely off the kilter, I reckon you paid about half what is common, at least in our neck of the woods and around BKK. Good for you buddy........ I wish such price levels were offered everywhere. 

 

To get the price, for the first system I sourced the inverter and panels on Lazada, a friend recommended someone in BKK who configured my order for Aluminium mountings, and I ordered the cables etc.  My local electrician installed it under my supervision, and he charged me 10k for the day for himself and 2 young guys.

 

On the second system, I bought the 2 hybrid inverters direct from MUST in China and sent them "Thailand Special Line" with no VAT/Duty payable.  I paid half the best price available on Lazada.  They didn't do what I wanted (a decent amount of export to PEA) and sounded like jet engines so I bought 3 grid-tied inverters on Lazada (paying double the price I could get them in China but I wanted them immediately) and configured the Hybrid Inverters as UPS.  PV panels, cables, mountings etc from Lazada and my local electrician charged me about 30k to install.  The unrepeatable bargain was the LFP batteries, my friends Chinese ex-wife sourced them, 60k THB for 28.8 KwHrs, 10k THB shipping special line so no duty, and another 10k for my friend to assemble them with BMS & Active balancers into steel cases.

 

On a Grid-Tied system, if you're careful, you can get these prices, not on batteries I think.

 

Having installed both, I wouldn't go with anything other than Grid-Tied.  Grid-Tied inverters do exactly what they say, silently.  I am open to finding a Hybrid Inverter that will export to PEA "ALL" surplus solar and sync with other inverters to get >15Kw, but so far, I haven't found one.

 

The other issue is batteries, unless you buy from a reputable supplier like Tesla, what are you going to do when your battery fails because one of the many cells fails?  The best warranty you will get in Thailand isn't worth the paper it's written on.

[Gweiloman]

Free charging near my place. Reckon I got over 2,000 km of free driving in the month of May. That’s approximately the same amount of electricity I use monthly at home.

 

Slow charging but I sit in airconditioned comfort watching videos and movies on my 12.6 in screen.

[JBChiangRai]

22 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Free charging near my place. Reckon I got over 2,000 km of free driving in the month of May. That’s approximately the same amount of electricity I use monthly at home.

 

Where can you still get free charging in CM?

 

My daughters are charging at home and that house doesn't have solar so I'm paying for it.

[macahoom]

30 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Free charging near my place. Reckon I got over 2,000 km of free driving in the month of May. That’s approximately the same amount of electricity I use monthly at home.

 

Slow charging but I sit in airconditioned comfort watching videos and movies on my 12.6 in screen.

When you say slow charging, do you mean 7.4kW, ac?

 

How come it’s free?

 

The only free charging I can find these days is at some hotels as long as I stay overnight, or have a meal or a drink.

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, mistral53 said:

In all fairness to potential solar power adapters - these numbers for investment are completely off the kilter, I reckon you paid about half what is common, at least in our neck of the woods and around BKK. Good for you buddy........ I wish such price levels were offered everywhere. 

There is quite an active solar group here in the Alt. Energy Forum.

 

I purchase the panels locally and imported the batteries and inverters from China. I then employed a Thai team to install 

 

My Main Components
20,000 Watts of PV @ ฿9/W 
9kWh LiFePO4 Batteries ฿68,000 x 4 
Inverters ฿36,000 x 3 

 

The cheapest way is obviously to do it all yourself:  

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1288002-home-solar-a-diy-approach/

 

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

Free charging near my place. Reckon I got over 2,000 km of free driving in the month of May. That’s approximately the same amount of electricity I use monthly at home.

 

Slow charging but I sit in airconditioned comfort watching videos and movies on my 12.6 in screen.

This reminds me of people hanging out at Walmart because they can afford to heat/cool their homes... 

[firefly17]

First post here, looking to buy an EV, either a small runabout and keep current car or sell and replace with large EV. 

So here are limited experiences thus far.

GWM Rama 2 are calling with better deals on their Good Cat GT - 100,000b cashback (10k a month) plus zero interest over 48 months with I think 25-30% deposit. 

Volvo C40 dealer sticking to price rigourously but offering a ton of free stuff, extended warranties etc. But 2.8mb is pricey.

Tesla - waited months for a test drive. 

Any deals I've missed?

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

25 minutes ago, firefly17 said:

First post here, looking to buy an EV, either a small runabout and keep current car or sell and replace with large EV. 

So here are limited experiences thus far.

GWM Rama 2 are calling with better deals on their Good Cat GT - 100,000b cashback (10k a month) plus zero interest over 48 months with I think 25-30% deposit. 

Volvo C40 dealer sticking to price rigourously but offering a ton of free stuff, extended warranties etc. But 2.8mb is pricey.

Tesla - waited months for a test drive. 

Any deals I've missed?

 

For the small runabout there are a couple :

Neta V 549k : very budget car but price unbeatable.

BYD Dolphin 800k : lots of tech , good looks and reasonable size.

 

Not exactly small runabouts but if your budget allows:

MG EP 771k : older model estate car, maybe larger than you need but excellent value.

MG4 869/969k : viewed as a hot hatchback, excellent reviews.

BYD Atto 3 1.1/1.2 mill : larger “ small runabout “ , excellent reviews, excellent tech, good range