The price war on EVs may harm interests of customers

[Gweiloman]

I’m currently saving about Thb 1,500 - 2,000 a month by not having to fill my car with fuel. I also have no intention to sell as I normally don’t bother selling my vehicles. 

[edwinchester]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:30 AM, JonnyF said:

I'd say the lack of charging stations, range anxiety and the cost of renewing batteries is more harmful to the interest of customers.

 

EV's are probably best suited to commuting in congested cities like Bangkok. Unfortunately, huge swathes of the commuters live in condos where it's difficult to charge them overnight. 

 

I say this as an owner of an electric mountain bike and a Hybrid Toyota so I am not anti EV, I just think fully Electric vehicles have a lot of drawbacks for many people. My car does 1000 kms on a tank and can be recharged (refueled) in a minute. I don't even need to exit the vehicle to do so. EV's are still a long way off that. 

I use my ev for the school run in rural Thailand 120kms per day. Cost of fuel has gone from 300 bht a day in my pickup down to 90 bht a day in my ev. Ev gets topped up overnight every other day. Wish I'd bought it a couple of years ago as it's great.

[JonnyF]

11 hours ago, edwinchester said:

I use my ev for the school run in rural Thailand 120kms per day. Cost of fuel has gone from 300 bht a day in my pickup down to 90 bht a day in my ev. Ev gets topped up overnight every other day. Wish I'd bought it a couple of years ago as it's great.

Like I said, they are fine for short trips if you don’t live in a condo. 
 

My e-bike is great for getting me to the MRT station and back but it’s a one trick pony, I won’t be selling the VTwin Ducati for weekend trips to the beach and back that’s for sure.
 

I am considering an EV for my farm but the drawback is the range won’t get me to Bangkok and back (600 kms) on one charge and my condo in BKK has no charging facility. 
 

The idea of pulling into a rare charging station to find all the bays are in use with a queue of several hours fills me with dread.

 

I will stick with the e-bike for now. At least I can carry the battery up to my apartment to charge it. 

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

The idea of pulling into a rare charging station to find all the bays are in use with a queue of several hours fills me with dread.

That's some funny stuff right there.  THANKS

[motdaeng]

8 hours ago, JonnyF said:

The idea of pulling into a rare charging station to find all the bays are in use with a queue of several hours fills me with dread.

please educate yourself before making absolutely irrational claims.

 

it appears that you know nothing at all about charging stations in

thailand and the charging time of electric cars ...
 

[Gweiloman]

16 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Like I said, they are fine for short trips if you don’t live in a condo. 
 

My e-bike is great for getting me to the MRT station and back but it’s a one trick pony, I won’t be selling the VTwin Ducati for weekend trips to the beach and back that’s for sure.
 

I am considering an EV for my farm but the drawback is the range won’t get me to Bangkok and back (600 kms) on one charge and my condo in BKK has no charging facility. 
 

The idea of pulling into a rare charging station to find all the bays are in use with a queue of several hours fills me with dread.

 

I will stick with the e-bike for now. At least I can carry the battery up to my apartment to charge it. 

A piece of unsolicited advice. If your condo does not have charging facility, don’t buy an EV. 
 

Having said that, I went to charge my EV at One Nimman the other evening. I had about 30% charge remaining so I thought excellent, I will get something to ear as well. Sadly I didn’t even have enough time to decide on what and where to eat before I had to hurry back to my car as my battery was almost fully charged in less than 30 mins. 

[JonnyF]

6 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

A piece of unsolicited advice. If your condo does not have charging facility, don’t buy an EV. 
 

And therein lies the problem. So many commuters live in condos. In many condos you are lucky to find a parking space let alone a charging bay for an EV.

 

Getting to work and back in BKK can take several hours already without worrying about charging an EV.

 

Great for foreign retirees living in houses who only need to worry about a weekly 100 kms round trip to Makro. Not so great for the Thai workforce. 

[Gweiloman]

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

And therein lies the problem. So many commuters live in condos. In many condos you are lucky to find a parking space let alone a charging bay for an EV.

 

Getting to work and back in BKK can take several hours already without worrying about charging an EV.

 

Great for foreign retirees living in houses who only need to worry about a weekly 100 kms round trip to Makro. Not so great for the Thai workforce. 

Bangkok is not all of Thailand. The majority of Thais live outside of Bangkok. Most Thais that I know who owns a vehicle live in landed properties.

 

When I was living in a condo in Bkk, I had a designated parking spot for my vehicle. I do not know if the condo management would have allowed the installation of a wall charger like many condos in Malaysia do. But I never drove to work due the the bad traffic situation. I either took the MRT of motorbike taxi or rode my own bike. Now as a foreign retiree in CM, I average about 70-80 km per day, chauffeuring my wife to various job sites. My PHEV is working out so good for this that I have booked a full EV to be delivered hopefully end August.

[JonnyF]

20 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Bangkok is not all of Thailand. The majority of Thais live outside of Bangkok. Most Thais that I know who owns a vehicle live in landed properties.

 

When I was living in a condo in Bkk, I had a designated parking spot for my vehicle. I do not know if the condo management would have allowed the installation of a wall charger like many condos in Malaysia do. But I never drove to work due the the bad traffic situation. I either took the MRT of motorbike taxi or rode my own bike. Now as a foreign retiree in CM, I average about 70-80 km per day, chauffeuring my wife to various job sites. My PHEV is working out so good for this that I have booked a full EV to be delivered hopefully end August.

Yes Bangkok is not Thailand but it's where the money is. If EV's are going to be big here they have to work out the issues of owning one in BKK. It could clear up a lot of the air pollution so i hope they can.

 

I see a few here and there in BKK. Nobody at my office has one. Nobody in my condo has one (although in fairness it's only 48 units). And nobody in the area around my farm in Korat has one, mainly diesel pickup trucks there.

 

I suspect for the reasons I have stated. The other reason might be that many of the affordable models are Chinese and they aren't fully trusted yet. Or maybe like me they dont like supporting Chinese state owned businesses like GWM.

[Gweiloman]

On 7/16/2023 at 9:37 PM, JonnyF said:

 

I suspect for the reasons I have stated. The other reason might be that many of the affordable models are Chinese and they aren't fully trusted yet. Or maybe like me they dont like supporting Chinese state owned businesses like GWM.

Are you sure GWM is a state owned business? According to Wikipedia, they are a privately owned company. I would be very happy if it was the former as that would mean continuous investment in R&D and financial support.

 

Yes, there are many who believe in the western MSM propaganda about genocide and organ harvesting and make their purchasing decisions based on these views. I prefer to do my own research and don’t support any businesses that contribute to the MIC.

[JonnyF]

6 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Are you sure GWM is a state owned business? According to Wikipedia, they are a privately owned company. I would be very happy if it was the former as that would mean continuous investment in R&D and financial support.

 

Yes, there are many who believe in the western MSM propaganda about genocide and organ harvesting and make their purchasing decisions based on these views. I prefer to do my own research and don’t support any businesses that contribute to the MIC.

You're correct actually. Officially they are privately owned but with links to the CCP. 

 

Here's some info on their chairman. Not a company I would personally support.

 

https://www.ft.com/content/c5129ef8-8982-11e7-bf50-e1c239b45787

 

[Gweiloman]

6 hours ago, JonnyF said:

You're correct actually. Officially they are privately owned but with links to the CCP. 

 

Here's some info on their chairman. Not a company I would personally support.

 

https://www.ft.com/content/c5129ef8-8982-11e7-bf50-e1c239b45787

 

It’s a shame that a once esteemed and respected organisation like the FT has also succumbed and fallen to the depths of tabloid publications.

 

Using words like endured military service. I remember not so long ago when Japan was rising, employees had to line up in an open field and perform group callisthenics under the hot sun before their shift started.

 

As to who inspired the Chairman, the article doesn’t make it clear. Chairman Mao perhaps. I’m sure it’s not Adolf. I’m also sure that the likes of Caesar, Montgomery, Patten and Rommel has inspired lots of people through the ages.