EV Charging Stations (CS)

[Pib]

As some of you know BYD has an free charging promotion from 1 Aug 2024 until 3 Jan 2025 for those folks who bought a Dolphin, Atto, or Seal between 1 Nov 2022 thru 31 Aug 2024. See partial snapshot of promotion at bottom...and weblink for full details.

 

For some folks charging was totally free (like in my case since I bought my Atto in late 2023) and for others a reduced rate of Bt4 per KWH vs ReverSharger's normal Bt8/KWH.  Whether you get free or reduced rate charging depends on when you bought your BYD. 

 

This promotion came about because of BYD vehicle BIG price cutting which generated a lot of consumer complaints to the government although BYD doesn't admit the charging promotion came about due to govt pressure and consumer complaints.   

 

Anyway, I got my first free charge in early August and as of yesterday/mid December I squeaked over Bt10K in free charging.  Maybe I'll get to Bt11K before the current promotion ends 3 Jan 2025.   I haven't used my home wall charger since very early August.

 

In the last few days of July the govt announced that in talks with BYD they would provide free/reduced rate charging for 12 months; HOWEVER, when BYD formally implemented a promotion it was only for 5 months and a few days....well, short of 12 months as the govt representative announced.  I guess BYD never agreed to 12 months, but probably told the govt they will "think about doing it for 12 months" and ultimately decided on only 5 months.  

 

Or maybe BYD will end-up extending the current promotion by 7 months thru 31 July 2025 just before the current promotion expires---but my gut feeling is they will not extend it.  Instead, it's just another case of the govt announcing something that ends-up falling short of their announcement.

 

Now, it would take about a decade for free charging to fully offset the price-war vehicle BIG price reductions we've seen over the last year or so, but me being able to claw back around Bt10K is better than a kick-in-the-pants I guess.  😁

 

 

https://www.reverautomotive.com/en/news/sharger-existing-customers-privilege-campaigno

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

I am hoping they don't extend the free charging promotion.

 

I have 30,000 THB free charging credit for introducing another customer and the only place I want to use it is when I drive to Chiang Mai to see my daughters.  I'm not prepared to queue for an hour to then be only able to share the charger with someone else.

 

I may also do a road-trip next year but not if I have to take pot-luck whether I can charge or not.

 

There is no point in me charging my car at BYD in Chiang Rai as most of the time one or two of my grid-tied inverters shut down because we are producing more solar power than can be used.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

I am hoping they don't extend the free charging promotion.

 

I have 30,000 THB free charging credit for introducing another customer and the only place I want to use it is when I drive to Chiang Mai to see my daughters.  I'm not prepared to queue for an hour to then be only able to share the charger with someone else.

 

I may also do a road-trip next year but not if I have to take pot-luck whether I can charge or not.

 

There is no point in me charging my car at BYD in Chiang Rai as most of the time one or two of my grid-tied inverters shut down because we are producing more solar power than can be used.

You'll probably never be able to use anything close to the Bt30K charging credit since if I remember right that privilege/credit expires 2 years after issue.  And since you can charge for free at home using your solar I wouldn't want to spend any time queuing for/setting at a ReverSharger charger to get some free electrons unless I was on a long trip.

 

And really for me where I posted above that I just squeaked out a few baht over Bt10K of free electrons from BYD that they valued at Bt8 per KWH that works out to 1,250KWH of free electrons.   That same 1,250KWH of electrons would have cost me Bt6.5K if I had charged at home with my wall charger where the electric company charges approx Bt5.2 (inc taxes/Ft/fees) for each KWH I use at home.    So, really I have only gotten Bt6.5K in charging savings due to the BYD free/reduced charging promotion.

 

While the BYD free/reduced charging promotions are nice they don't really provide the customer any BIG cost savings nor do they end-up costing BYD that much since such promotions can't be fully utilized due to charger access, promotion expiration date, etc.  Such promotions are eye-catching on the surface, but usually not as pretty as expected when trying to take advantage of the promotion. 

 

But hey, like I said in my earlier post it's better than a kick-in-the-pants, nothing at all, etc.   I hope BYD extends the promotion, but I'll be surprised to the point of falling out of my chair if they do.

 

[JBChiangRai]

My promotion expires end of December 2026, maybe they extended it because of the other promotion.

 

But you’re right, I will only be able to use a fraction of it, though it does make me think about driving to Khao Lak instead of flying

[Pib]

When opening the ReverSharger app today it said an update is required.  I pressed update and it downloaded/installed the update from Google Play....then the app started up.   

 

I then noticed I had a "Wallet" where I could add credits via PromptPay instead of just being able to pay via debit/credit card.   Now the Wallet icon down at the bottom of the app has been there for a while and when opening it that's were I added debit/credit card(s) to pay for charging.  But today it also showed a "Wallet Number" and a red link titled "Add Credits" that I had never seen before.  And by clicking that Add Credits link I can add funds (credits) to the wallet via Prompt Pay which gives a person another way to pay for a charging session instead of using a debit/credit card.  

 

Now if the Add Credits to your Wallet ability has always been there and I just noticed it today maybe because of the app update emphasizing it/displaying it in a way that finally caught my eye then bad on me.   

 

But if it is a new where you can now pay via a Wallet balance where you top-up via PromptPay vs only being able to pay via debit/credit card then this new capability is a good thing especially if a person couldn't get the ReverSharger app to accept their debit/credit card as a Payment Option....or just didn't want to load their debit/credit card as a payment option.