Electric Vehicles (EV) Thread

[caller]

Although Caller was suggesting EV sales might dry up soon

No, I never said that. I said, 'there will come a time', because the market currently is quite limited. When you guy's talk about 400, or 700k, that is an absolute fortune to many millions of Thai's. And there is still the thorny issue of the Thai economy and the level of uncollateralised debt amongst other issues, which will hit home at some stage.

[Dannie Boy]

Although Caller was suggesting EV sales might dry up soon

No, I never said that. I said, 'there will come a time', because the market currently is quite limited. When you guy's talk about 400, or 700k, that is an absolute fortune to many millions of Thai's. And there is still the thorny issue of the Thai economy and the level of uncollateralised debt amongst other issues, which will hit home at some stage.

Ok so I might have taken your comment slightly out of context, but the fact you raised the point inferred it was something that might happen within the foreseeable future rather than a long time down the road, otherwise why mention it?

I think that comments about Thais living beyond their means has been going on since I first came here and nothing seems to have changed that much!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[STEVE G]

The BYD Seagull should be coming soon and should be as affordable as any car in Thailand:
https://carnewschina.com/2023/04/26/byd ... last-week/

I think they talking of selling in Thailand for around about 400,000bt.

As for the rest of the population, electric scooters could be the way ahead, something like a battery powered Honda Click would work. No one goes that far on a scooter so you shouldn't have so much of a range problem.
There is a Spanish company that makes an electric scooter with a battery that you can remove like a wheeled case and take home to charge.

This article suggests that the price in Thailand is likely to be more like 700,000B so quite a bit more than you’ve suggested Steve, but still relatively cheap compared to other cars. Although Caller was suggesting EV sales might dry up soon, I’m not so sure, Thais manage to be prodigious buyers of pickups, no doubt many on loans, but I’m sure where there’s a will there’s a way!!

https://www.carsome.co.th/news/item/car-review-byd

That article quotes 700,000 for the BYD Dolphin which is a bigger car than the Seagull. They've only just gone on sale in China so might not make it to Thailand until next year.
If they're cheap enough I might be interested in one just as a local runabout, for that price I wouldn't bother to sell one of my existing vehicles.

[2/cb]

If electric cars are the answer, you’ve asked the wrong question.

[STEVE G]

If electric cars are the answer, you’ve asked the wrong question.

It's not the first time I've said this on here, but if you're into obsolete forms of transport, you can always go and ride a horse on the beach.

[Dannie Boy]

Another promising development in EV battery technology offering considerable weight reduction over current conventional batteries

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... st-2kg-kwh

[STEVE G]

When BYD unwrapped its Seagull battery electric city car in Shanghai last week, it may have marked an inflection point in the EV revolution. Looking back on the event years from now, historians might point to that event as the moment in time when the world of transportation transitioned from reliance on the infernal combustion engine to acceptance of battery electric vehicles as the new normal.


Why is that? Because the BYD Seagull is a real electric car for people who need a vehicle that can take them back and forth to work, haul some groceries, go to the beach on a sunny day, and generally fulfill the duties of a passenger car without leaving any pollutants in its wake. Up until now, almost all electric cars were either luxury models or minuscule quadricycles.

The Seagull is different. It’s a 4-passenger hatchback that is slightly larger than a Fiat 500 and a little shorter than a MINI Cooper. But the most astonishing news is that its starting price in China is under $11,000, which makes it less expensive than a gas-powered Honda Fit. That makes it one of the first EVs that doesn’t have to apologize for its sticker price.

Up till now, it has always been, “Yeah, it costs more up front, but it saves a lot of money in the long run.” Now the Seagull has flipped the script. Buyers can hold their heads high and brag about their electric car that costs less to begin with and continues to save them money as they drive. That’s huge.
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/30/th ... evolution/

[Dannie Boy]

Another UK based report highlighting the good and the bad - this article is about the Jaguar iPace which is fairly positive, but the negative is once again about the charging infrastructure - if they don’t get a grip on this soon, it’s going to put a lot of potential movers to EV’s off!!
https://www.whatcar.com/news/jaguar-i-p ... r_2_5_2023

[pharvey]

Up till now, it has always been, “Yeah, it costs more up front, but it saves a lot of money in the long run.” Now the Seagull has flipped the script. Buyers can hold their heads high and brag about their electric car that costs less to begin with and continues to save them money as they drive. That’s huge.
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/30/th ... evolution/

Very surprised to read there were "no plans" for export.....

[STEVE G]

Up till now, it has always been, “Yeah, it costs more up front, but it saves a lot of money in the long run.” Now the Seagull has flipped the script. Buyers can hold their heads high and brag about their electric car that costs less to begin with and continues to save them money as they drive. That’s huge.
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/30/th ... evolution/

Very surprised to read there were "no plans" for export.....

They haven't announced any export plans but that doesn't mean that there aren't any. BYD are currently building a factory in Thailand so they might not even have to be imported.

[pharvey]

They haven't announced any export plans but that doesn't mean that there aren't any. BYD are currently building a factory in Thailand so they might not even have to be imported.

Well that's also true. Just thought that if exporting to Europe for example, there'd be a bit of a song and dance about it. Then again, are Europe's/The West's safety checks a tad too stringent?!

[STEVE G]

They haven't announced any export plans but that doesn't mean that there aren't any. BYD are currently building a factory in Thailand so they might not even have to be imported.

Well that's also true. Just thought that if exporting to Europe for example, there'd be a bit of a song and dance about it. Then again, are Europe's/The West's safety checks a tad too stringent?!

Chinese cars are among the safest of 2022 in the EuroNCAP tests
https://time.news/chinese-cars-are-amon ... cap-tests/

[2/cb]

If electric cars are the answer, you’ve asked the wrong question.

It's not the first time I've said this on here, but if you're into obsolete forms of transport, you can always go and ride a horse on the beach.

There’s nothing obsolete about petrol or Diesel engines. The fact is that EVs are very expensive, unreliable, range-limited, and suffer from severe depreciation. I appreciate that Chinese-made EVs are competitively priced, but the power to make them comes from coal-fired power stations. So what exactly is the environmental benefit?
Here in the UK, there is strong resistance to them, especially on the used market.

[KhunLA]

There’s nothing obsolete about petrol or Diesel engines.
... keep telling yourself that ...

The fact is that EVs are very expensive,
... BS

unreliable
... BS

range-limited
... 3-4 hrs on the road is enough for me, charging is a welcomed break

and suffer from severe depreciation
... that's an unknown

I appreciate that Chinese-made EVs are competitively priced, but the power to make them comes from coal-fired power stations. So what exactly is the environmental benefit?
... a work in progress, getting fossil fuel to release their grip on energy production. Same energy is used to produce all other things, but people don't have much of a problem with that.

Here in the UK, there is strong resistance to them, especially on the used market
... glad I don't live there

[Dannie Boy]

There’s nothing obsolete about petrol or Diesel engines.
... keep telling yourself that ...
There not obsolete, they just emit fumes that go against the worlds attempt to reduce carbon emissions
The fact is that EVs are very expensive,
... BS
There’s no doubt that many EV’s are more expensive than an equivalent ICE car to purchase. The savings in running costs have been largely eliminated since many countries have seen significant increases in electricity costs.
unreliable
... BS
There are mixed reports about reliability- I’ve read some that say they’re better and some that say they’re worse, so let’s assume they’re about the same.
range-limited
... 3-4 hrs on the road is enough for me, charging is a welcomed break
Range is getting better and whilst a stop every 3-4 hours is not a bad thing, it will be much better when you can top your car up in say 10 minutes (roll on solid state batteries.
and suffer from severe depreciation
... that's an unknown
Some EV’s are deprecating more than others and as the battery life remains something of an unknown, this could remain an issue.
I appreciate that Chinese-made EVs are competitively priced, but the power to make them comes from coal-fired power stations. So what exactly is the environmental benefit?
... a work in progress, getting fossil fuel to release their grip on energy production. Same energy is used to produce all other things, but people don't have much of a problem with that.
It’s true that China is the worlds biggest polluter and at the moment is still building new coal-fired power stations to feed their growth.

Here in the UK, there is strong resistance to them, especially on the used market
... glad I don't live there

I don’t think it’s trues to say there’s a strong resistance in the UK - in 2022 there was a 20% increase in BEV/PHEV sales compared to 2021. There has been a blip quite recently in used EV car prices - if that trend continues it could prove detrimental to new car sales.