450 Electric Tuk Tuks for Chiang Mai Approved by DLT

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450 Electric Tuk Tuks for Chiang Mai Approved by DLT

by CityNews

 

 

CityNews – In addition to the new red songtaew overhaul announced yesterday, the Nakorn Lanna Cooperative have announced that their request to bring 450 electric tuk-tuks to Chiang Mai has been approved by the Department of Land Transport.

 

The new plan will see 450 new ‘three-wheel electric commercial vehicles’ roll out over the next year. The Nakorn Lanna Cooperative applied for the change to be approved by authorities and now the approval has been given, they will now begin the project. 

 

Full story: http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/450-electric-tuk-tuks-for-chiang-mai-approved-by-dlt/

 

-- © Copyright Chiang City News 2017-06-07

[Just1Voice]

Electric means "quiet", so you won't hear that familiar muffle sound coming to warn you that you are about to get run over. Look for pedestrian accidents to go up. lol

[Trujillo]

And where can you buy one of these and  how much will they be? 

[Saraphee]

How is putting another 450 of these things helping ease congestion? Same question if 450 of the existing fleet are deleted.

Just playing around the edges and into the hands of the current cowboys.

Get A Proper Policy Sorted.

[Flustered]

1 hour ago, Trujillo said:

And where can you buy one of these and  how much will they be? 

Give them a call

 

http://www.thailandtuktuk.net/thailand-electric-tuktuk-.htm

[BEVUP]

18 minutes ago, Flustered said:

Give them a call

 

http://www.thailandtuktuk.net/thailand-electric-tuktuk-.htm

I've heard a tuk tuk costs around 500,000 (so the driver told wife) - nearly the price of a new car (which i find hard to believe )

It will help with congestion as after every 80 km they have to charge & the 50 km speed limit will P them (loss of money all round )

[Maejo Man]

2 hours ago, BEVUP said:

I've heard a tuk tuk costs around 500,000 (so the driver told wife) - nearly the price of a new car (which i find hard to believe )

It will help with congestion as after every 80 km they have to charge & the 50 km speed limit will P them (loss of money all round )

You will probably find that that that price includes the commercial "ply for hire" licence The last tuk tuk I bought cost me 150,000 baht 

[malibukid]

are they going to retire the stinky polluting petrol versions? send those to the junk yard and give rebates for electric ones?

Edited June 7, 2017 by malibukid

[Lupatria]

Made in China and assembled in Malaysia?

[Ruffian Dick]

11 hours ago, Saraphee said:

How is putting another 450 of these things helping ease congestion? Same question if 450 of the existing fleet are deleted.

Just playing around the edges and into the hands of the current cowboys.

Get A Proper Policy Sorted.

*Obviously*, the devious plan is to offer current polluting tuk-tuk owners a sweet trade-in deal, since few of those guys can afford to junk their old fossils and go into debt for a e-tuk.
So longer e-tuks will be produced, and drive the songthaews out of business. Obviously that's their carefully crafted plan.

[Ruffian Dick]

6 hours ago, Lupatria said:

Made in China and assembled in Malaysia?

There's a factory in CM I hear.

[Flustered]

As they no longer go Tuk Tuk, what will they be called?

[F4UCorsair]

E-tuk just doesn't sound the same as tuk tuk, but they'll sound a lot better (or won't sound) in CM.

Hopefully they're replacing 450 petrol versions,  not adding to the total?

[gk10002000]

Given the nature of the local driving, electric cars could make a lot of sense in many Thai cities.  Relatively short distances.  Not to far from charging stations.  Pattaya and Soi Bukhao could use the cleaner air if implemented

[gk10002000]

10 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

*Obviously*, the devious plan is to offer current polluting tuk-tuk owners a sweet trade-in deal, since few of those guys can afford to junk their old fossils and go into debt for a e-tuk.
So longer e-tuks will be produced, and drive the songthaews out of business. Obviously that's their carefully crafted plan.

and I am sure they will be offered interesting financing terms.

[Flustered]

The problem I see is technology.

 

I do not see these shss shss's using state of the art batteries and charging points/systems, just any old large lead acid or gel.

 

They will take many hours to recharge and be the reason to keep the current Tuk Tuks chugging round the square polluting everything and choking everyone.

[Redline]

Good news!  I think now they will blast loud music and add lots of lights.  a little less air pollution

[douglasspade]

I am all for renewable energy. If the Gov. want to change to electric driven hogs, it's gr8! These damn 3 wheeler 's with gas just stink up the place. Try going around the old old city square on a scatooter behing one of those stinkers! Inhale the fumes! Horrible!

 

Anyway, would like to see how it can be done... electric motors needs power to run.

[Flustered]

31 minutes ago, douglasspade said:

 

Anyway, would like to see how it can be done... electric motors needs power to run.

I just had a thought of some side soi shops with generators running connected to battery chargers connected to Tuk Tuks.....Scary.

[douglasspade]

17 minutes ago, Flustered said:

I just had a thought of some side soi shops with generators running connected to battery chargers connected to Tuk Tuks.....Scary.

Exactly Flustered, that is one of the major reasons that the electrical transport monopoly has not taken hold yet. Will the new vehicles proposed be hybrid or direct electric? Like a smallish motor powering alternators in turn charging a battery bank, running electrical drives. But even that is not going to work in my book. Guess it will be similar to electrical golf carts, probably charged at in the alleyways behind the local 'Bangla' road.

 

Had a thought, battery charge attendant by day ... ladyboy by night!

[mduras01]

Looks like gem shops and tailors are stocking up on batteries.

[Ruffian Dick]

On 6/7/2017 at 10:28 PM, Flustered said:

The problem I see is technology.

 

I do not see these shss shss's using state of the art batteries and charging points/systems, just any old large lead acid or gel.

 

They will take many hours to recharge and be the reason to keep the current Tuk Tuks chugging round the square polluting everything and choking everyone.

I don't know where you are getting your information on what kind of batteries they are using.

[Flustered]

50 minutes ago, Ruffian Dick said:

I don't know where you are getting your information on what kind of batteries they are using.

If you read my post, you would see it was my thought, not a stated fact.

 

Do you have access to information we do not? If you know of a company that is going to use quick charge, deep cycle state of the art batteries, that will make interesting reading. They cost around £7K per pack and need replacing every 5 or 6 years so I do not see Shss Shss's being a viable vehicle for them

 

I just do not see enough Shss Shss' being built to incorporate these, so readily available lead acid/gel ones that the average driver can afford to replace is my bet..unless you can show us otherwise.

[Ruffian Dick]

Whether they use "lead-acid" batteries as you see them (I assume you have a crystal ball or something) or the latest lithium-ion batteries from Tesla (which would drive up the cost and make them less likely to happen), I don't how that's important.

 

Meanwhile, I found more information:

https://www.techinasia.com/fun-pollution-check-thailands-electric-tuktuk

Designed in Holland, built in Thailand. 70 km on a charge. Funny how their logo seems "inspired" by Tesla's.

[Ruffian Dick]

Here's more stuff:

http://www.thebigchilli.com/features/thailands-electric-tuk-tuks-set-to-take-on-the-world

Quote

The 72V battery pack provides 14kW of power and will take the vehicle as far as 85 kilometers at speeds up to 50km/h. The total weight of the battery is around 400kg, which is almost half of the total vehicle weight of 850kg. 

“The battery costs around 4,000 baht for one block and must be replaced every three years. However, your old batteries are still worth something, so you can sell them. 

“You can drive a minimum 70 kilometers on a one charge in a fully loaded tuk-tuk. The efficiency depends a great deal on the driver. A hasty driver who brakes a lot will have to charge more often. It cost about 30 baht to charge a tuk-tuk in Thailand,” said Dennis. An indicator shows how much power is left.

 

[Flustered]

11 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Whether they use "lead-acid" batteries as you see them (I assume you have a crystal ball or something) or the latest lithium-ion batteries from Tesla (which would drive up the cost and make them less likely to happen), I don't how that's important.

 

Meanwhile, I found more information:

https://www.techinasia.com/fun-pollution-check-thailands-electric-tuktuk

Designed in Holland, built in Thailand. 70 km on a charge. Funny how their logo seems "inspired" by Tesla's.

You really should read deeper and research a bit more.

 

Although there are Li-On battery three wheelers in the design stage, I cannot see Thailand waiting for these or spending the money needed to buy them. 

 

These however are readily available and affordable.

 

Design and construction

 

These rickshaws have a M.S (Mild Steel) tubular chassis, consist of 3 wheels with a differential mechanism at rear wheels. The motor is brushless DC motor manufactured mostly in India and China. The electrical system used in Indian version is 48V and Bangladesh is 60V. The body design from most popular Chinese version is of very thin iron or aluminum sheets. Vehicles made in fiber are also popular because of their strength and durability, resulting in low maintenance, especially in India. Body design is varied from load carriers, passenger vehicles with no roof, to full body with windshield for drivers comfort^[9] It consist of a controller unit.They are sold on the basis of voltage supplied and current  output, also the number of mosfet (metal oxide field effect transistor) used. The battery used is mostly lead acid battery with life of 6–12 months. Deep discharge batteries designed for electric vehicles are rarely used. Weight of the electric car has also been a recurring design difficulty in them.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Flustered

[Ruffian Dick]

Despite your assumptions, we are in agreement. They are not going to spring for the more expensive batteries at this point, but prices are going down.

Any ideas about who is going to pay for the charging? Are they going to install solar panels?

[Flustered]

Just now, Ruffian Dick said:

Despite your assumptions, we are in agreement. They are not going to spring for the more expensive batteries at this point, but prices are going down.

Any ideas about who is going to pay for the charging? Are they going to install solar panels?

I'm glad you agree.

 

Solar panels.? Nope.

 

With all of the buildings they would have to be mounted high on the roof tops and then you have the issue of inverters/chargers as you cannot feed DC down a long cable., At best they could be used for charging batteries ready for swapping over but as stand alone charging points a non starter.

 

It will be the usual back street workshop with batteries ready for swapping. Much quicker than waiting for a charging point to power up your bank.  Even on a quick charge system, it would be quicker to simply change over banks. The workshops will probably be connected to an overloaded mains system and you will see even more power cuts as breakers cut in.

 

Bottom line to these people is cost and getting back on the road ASAP as they are running on a tight budget. Lead acid and replacement banks...cheap.  LiOn and solar panel/inverter systems...expensive.

[douglasspade]

Either way we look at, cleaner energy is not going to be as efficient in carting people around in CM. Take the simple Golf cart as an example. They are quite sophisticated these days, most run on DC motors directly off rechargeable deep cycle batteries. They can cart 2 people around gentle slopes on a golf course for about 5 hours on full power. That's with 2 batteries, reduction motor (geared for high torque), 12V to 60V, 1000 rpm's @ 800W, 5000 rpm's @ 4kW. They are not build for speed, but can be used around CM old town. But taking a 3 person crew, plus a cabby to Festival mall from the Zoo will be hard draining on the batteries. It is doable, but not nearly as efficient as gas or diesel propelled equivalents.

 

Of course you do get 24v and 36v conversion options also, but imagine the power drain on the batteries. Then there are hybrids also, witch has been very successful.

 

Truly I want to believe the electric Tuk Tuk is a good step forward.  How much will the initial/running cost be and will it function in a city the size of CM?

 

 

[Flustered]

I must admit that this product has me fascinated. If every there was a vehicle that could be run on batteries it is the Tuk Tuk.

 

Some research has thrown up many places building E Tuk Tuks. Costs in Europe and America are around the US15,000 so probably much cheaper in Thailand.

 

The following link is typical of what is available.

 

http://www.globaltuktuk.com/more-info/full-electric-tuktuk

Briefly the specs are approximately

 

Up to 100 Kms range on one charge when fully loaded with driver and passengers.

 

Top speed of up to 80 km an hour.

 

DC motor.

 

Approximately 5 hours charging time from completely empty to completely loaded.

 

Lead acid batteries..