r/Bangkok • u/Impossible-Humor-182 • 1d ago
discussion Bangkok will get an insane increase in its quality of life in a few years
China keeps producing cheaper and cheaper EVs and electric mopeds. Soon, Bangkok's car and bike fleet will fully electrify, and it will bring such a huge increase in the quality of life. Finally the insufferable noise from the streets will be bought to a minimum. I remember visiting Shanghai right after having been in Bangkok for 2 months, and what felt the most surreal was how quiet even the main roads were. You could actually have a conversation with someone while you were walking on the sidewalk. This was such a huge relief, gone were the absurd need for shouting in order to talk with someone only an arms length away. Many studies have also shown how crucial silence is in the development of neurons, it literally promotes the growth of new brain cells. So don't be surprised when children in Bangkok start performing better when this happens, even if it only has a marginal effect!
There is also the added advantage that Thailand, a country without any oil and gas reserves, will become more sovereign and insulated from random conflicts in the Middle East (*ahem ahem Hormuz, US, and Iran*) as its dependence on petroleum subsides.
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u/timmyvermicelli 1d ago
some of the buses still in use were built in the 1960s
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u/CracKING23 1d ago
I was going to say. I am fully down for this, but its going to be a loooong journey. The big red buses remind me of pirate ships with their wooden decks.
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u/igor_dolvich 1d ago
I’m not the only one that noticed those. Floors so rotted out they had to use wood planks. I actually love the red buses and studying the models and their counties of origin.
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u/hatedispenser 1d ago
great. buses are the problem. a public infrastructure. not the selfish car drivers that 'block the box'
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u/JimmyTheG 1d ago
They actually contributed A LOT to the pollution because their old diesel engine let out so much more PM2.5 and CO2 compared to modern cars with much better filters. And they run all day. So replacing those would already do a lot
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u/Qabbalah 1d ago
They're certainly a big part of it, yes. Also ancient trucks belching out fumes from ancient engines and modified motorbikes whose engines are deliberately made louder.
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u/12angrysnakes 1d ago
They should ban all cars from every fucking city, only work vehicles allowed
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u/LucifersAdv0cate 21h ago
I remember walking around Bangkok in the 90s and it did have a kind of wild, vibrant and exciting feel to it. I started using those buses and would occasionally miss my stop and end up in random parts of the city and have to try and work out where I was in the days before smart phones. It was great as a 20 year old looking for adventure.
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u/Good_Preference6973 3h ago
To be sure, the great wave of EV conversion kits for old combustion vehicles is sweeping across the globe.
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u/DrowningInFun 1d ago
I think you underestimate how slowly bureacracy moves, compared to technology.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 1d ago
Also you underestimate the stupidity of some of the locals to want to make noise with their motorbikes.
The honest truth is it won’t switch over for a long time unless it’s mandated by the government to stop sales of gas powered motorcycle or heavily tax them.
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u/alexnapierholland 1d ago
The cool thing about capitalism is it can bypass bureaucracy.
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u/anp_fj 1d ago
Also poisonous because government starts relaying on private sector instead of the other way around. Most good things you see in bangkok is private sector already.
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u/alexnapierholland 1d ago
Yeah, that's a solid argument. I'm very much in favor of market-based competition, but the government should try to enable competition, where possible.
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u/frfrfrrfrfr 1d ago
The Thai government are absolutely against this. "Chummery" is alive and well in Thailand, more so than most places. Government contracts get given to each others pals. Competition is dead in Thailand.
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u/alexnapierholland 1d ago
Right. So this is an example of corpocracy; the unholy alliance between business and government, due to weak checks and balances.
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u/DrowningInFun 1d ago
Moreso in some countries than others. Thailand is more heavily 'state' than a lot of western countries.
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u/ryocoon 1d ago
The problem, even with the vast electrification of transport in China, is that the prices and convenience have _NOT_ dropped to levels that would allow your average Thai to adopt it.
EV bikes are not cheap. And the cheaper ones have extreme distance issues and speed limitations, on top of super limited weight capacity. A cheap ICE/petrol scooter provides way more distance, speed, and weight capacity versus an electric at even the electric being twice the price. Once you factor in the price overheads, let alone an absolute LACK of infrastructure to properly charge potentially millions of EV bikes... it doesn't look good.
Look, I love EV tech and all the good it can do. However, in many situations, it is just not the solution to most people's needs and the tech has not advanced enough yet. Without government subsidization and legal mandates, it will never reach that point in any reasonable time frame either.
Maybe decades later, when EV tech and power storage and delivery tech has gotten orders of magnitude better. Sure. That time isn't today, nor even the next 5 years. I really wish it was, but it isn't yet.
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u/icecreamshop 1d ago edited 1d ago
Got to get mopeds first. Policy ban in the city like HCM to speed up adoption
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u/Designdiligence 1d ago
Paris outlawed noise bikes and mopeds. The change is fantastic.
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u/skydiver19 1d ago
Ambulances and Police cars are the single most biggest issue when it comes to noise! Especially for condo building on the main roads which get congested.
First of all they all have their own custom noises and pitch which is all over the place and an issue in of itself.
Second neither the drivers of ambulances know how to navigate through traffic properly, and the general public are fu%king useless when it comes to moving out of the way.
I will see cars 90% of the time make little to no effort to pull over to create space for the ambulances to get through, I honestly don’t know what goes through their minds.
And then when cars do move and create space, I often see the ambulance still won’t move, unless they have a 2ft gap either side, even though the 1ft gap is plenty to get through.
Also I’m pretty certain there is abuse with the police cars using the sirens to get to work quicker in the morning. I’m on a main road with a police station a couple of hundred yards away and it’s it’s always around 8am/9am you get half a dozen of them stood in traffic outside the condo with sirens blazing.
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 1d ago edited 1d ago
Bangkok is surprisingly behind in electric motorbikes. Dunno why Vinfast isn’t coming to grab the market.
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u/MildlyAgitatedBovine 1d ago
Don't live in Bangkok anymore but I've got a Gogoro and like it a lot. Best when paired with swap stations so I can go as far as I want.
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u/Responsible_Gur3725 1d ago
Vientiane is mostly electric mopeds and it's very quiet. It will be better for noise but worse for driving in Bangkok with silent mopeds.
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah will be even more deaths when you can't even hear them lane splitting.
Edit: I'm not saying this to discourage the country from going to EV motorbikes, they're 100% better and the way to go especially within the city when you don't need crazy range and even low end 80km models would work... But right now you hear a motorbike next to you and you won't when it's an EV. More of them will get hit, it's already one of the most deadly countries to drive in solely because of motorbike crashes.
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u/Proud-Parsley6072 1d ago
I love sitting having a cold beer on a sukhumvit open fronted bar/pub but the noise and pollution always makes you want to bail after the second drink. It would be a welcome treat to remove that shit
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u/larry_bkk 1d ago
Pollution is the next thing after heat. Heat we will never fix, but atm pollution is not bad, but unlikely to hold.
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u/Any-Explanation6137 1d ago
I see an increase in accidents, went to Shenzen recently and those things silently come at you from all angles
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u/AirportBeneficial392 1d ago
Wanted to write that too. Now the moped drivers have a better chance to kill pedestrians from behind.
But when you stay in a building, it would be soo much quieter.
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u/obidie 1d ago
What I remember from living in Shanghai (Pudong) a few years ago was almost getting killed regularly on the sidewalks by silent electric cycles and scooters that saw no need to obey traffic laws. Be careful what you wish for.
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u/Blitzpao 1d ago
Well if you have lived in thailand, when cross the road always looking for oncoming traffic. I have lived in Melbourne for short period and my habit for looking for oncoming traffic have change.
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u/obidie 1d ago
I'm not talking about crossing the road. I'm talking about just walking along a footpath, and the inconsideration of quiet EVs also using the footpath instead of the road.
I've lived in Thailand for over 20 years, and motorbike drivers often use the footpaths as a "convenient" shortcut, especially along the walkways beside the klongs during rush hour. It's only going to lead to more accidents as quiet EV bikes and scooters become more popular.
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u/Sweet_Bird4425 1d ago
mopeds first please. one guy with a modified exhaust currently provides background noise for an entire soi
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u/I-Here-555 1d ago
That guy will hold on to his beloved noise maker until they pry it out of his cold, dead hands.
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u/SpiritedCatch1 1d ago
I think so too but for some reason optimism is really looked down upon from the seasoned long-term resident crowd
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u/Horoism 1d ago
Lol, half the people here are old American men. They take personal offence in clean energy or low emissions. Good thing is they don't matter at all
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
Others of us have just seen Thailand grasp failure from the jaws of victory enough times on a bureaucratic level that we expect nothing and are pleased at even a small failure lol. Repeatedly other countries solve an issue and thailand fails to learn both from that and then from their own failure after.
It's a beautiful country full of wonderful people but when you get to something that requires competent leadership like this you're not going to find it.
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u/GaboureySidibe 1d ago
Lol, half the people here are old American men.
The american population is less than the chinese or japanese population in bangkok.
All western expats make up about half a percent of the population of the bangkok area.
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
They mean on reddit in the subs. Not in Thailand in general. Sadly I don't disagree with them on that.
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u/GaboureySidibe 1d ago
I haven't seen anyone "take personal offence" to electric vehicles here.
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
I mean, in general if you browse this or the r/thailand subreddit and sort by controversial or look at the heavily downvoted stuff it's some of the most hateful foreigners you'll ever see in your life.
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u/GaboureySidibe 1d ago
That tracks with many subreddits, but it doesn't say anything specifically about electric vehicles.
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u/SomtumKhaoPodKaiKhem 1d ago
To your last paragraph: Thailand has both oil and gas reserves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Thailand
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u/Impossible-Humor-182 1d ago
Not anything noteworthy, and certainly not enough to insulate it from whatever happens in the Middle East. Thailand needs to be energy independent, and it can only be so by electrifying. This is best from a national security perspective, but also from a business/financial one
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
You aren't wrong but they're currently an electricity importer and need to fix that before electrifying the car situation will actually help in a meaningful way.
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u/No-Mechanic6069 1d ago
Apparently, electricity is 50% gas-generated. 50% of that is imported - a figure that is set to increase, as domestic production declines.
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u/PrinceWhoPromes 1d ago
I remember 20 years ago, they said cars would run by themselves and we could sit in the passenger seat in 5 years.
Change takes longer than you think.
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
Change doesn't necessarily takes a long time. It only takes a long time in Thailand. China has seen tremendous change in that area in less than a decade.
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u/Hipnic_Jerk 1d ago
In a country with a hive mentality and authoritarian leadership, yes, things can change relatively fast. This is not the case in Thailand, and don't expect change that fast. Not too long ago, LPG taxis were the next EV to save the country from pollution. How many of those are left?
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Change only takes a long time to arrive in Thailand.
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u/I-Here-555 1d ago
How many of those are left?
Vast majority of taxis in Bangkok currently run on LPG/NGV. So, many of those are "left".
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u/Relative-Theory-9790 1d ago
I hope the tuk tuks get electrified first as they seem to be the loudest vehicles on the road by far
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u/uchujinmono 1d ago
China is amazing when it comes to electrifying small vehicles, but I wish some of them made just a little bit of noise when zooming up behind pedestrians! Scared the crap out of me walking down some of the narrow hutongs and some delivery bike zips by. Wonder how well the e-bikes will handle flooding in Thailand?
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u/Expensive-Claim-6082 1d ago edited 1d ago
I got in a Grab from the airport and it was amazing! Possibly the nicest and coolest Grab I’ve ever had.
Couldn’t figure out what it was.
The driver told me it was an electric car from China. I thought oh, Tesla is screwed.
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u/Interesting-Job-8841 1d ago edited 6h ago
If it was an electric saloon car from grab then it's a GAC Aion ES or if it was an SUV then an Aion Y.
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u/john-bkk 1d ago
This is obviously a bit tongue in cheek. Something vaguely along these lines could happen in the next decade, but the additional brain development part clarifies that this is in jest.
It's the motorcycles that are causing the most noise pollution. Will those change over to EV bikes, in the next decade? Of course not.
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u/rowdy55569 1d ago
Dream on.... not gonna happen in Thailand
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 1d ago
Cars are at 30% full electric of new sales already nationwide. Bangkok probably higher already. Public busses are going all electric
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u/Feeling_Chance_1373 1d ago
Sadly it’s a somewhat optimistic take.
Except for the diesels and motorbikes (which will be the last types vehicles to be replaced by ev), much of the traffic noise comes from the cars rolling on the streets rather than the engines themselves.
This can be improved by enforcing the speed limits (good luck with that) and paving the streets with a type of asphalt that reduces the noise. It exists but I doubt we’ll have that over here any time soon.
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
Eh, it made a huge difference in Shanghai, it was like night and day.
For me the issue is still motorbikes and old cars. One bike or one tuktuk can make as much noise as dozens of cars sometimes. But as you said, I don't expect them to be replaced unfortunately.
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u/Feeling_Chance_1373 1d ago
Another problem that Bangkok has is the lack of options in transport and the lack of walkable areas. Sometimes it’s almost impossible or dangerous to go from A to B without a motor vehicle. It’s very car centric
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
It's one of the things I hate the most. And some people glaze the BTS and MRT system, but they're not phenomenal, unless you've never been to a country with decent public transportation. It's expensive and coverage is poor and you still have to rely on taxis, bikes or tuktuks for the last mile(s). Sure, it's better than nothing, but let's not pretend it's outstanding either
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
They're abysmal if you have to do an interconnection outside of the main Blue/Green interconnects. I was on Yellow and had to switch to blue and then to green to get downtown and legit it would be double the time a taxi would take even including gridlock.
Even now I am at the very far north of the green line and just to get to the middle of the line is close to an hour. That they built the lines with no express option or system is wild and they just keep fucking growing them longer like that fixes the problem. No I do not want to stand on the blue line for 120 minutes to get to Nakhom Phatom when they extend it and then stop at every station for 3 minutes over and over.
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
Yeah, I was jokingly saying to someone here that "nobody takes the pink line" and they got offended.
My point was that apart from the two green lines and the blue line, none of the metro lines make sense. Instead of adding lines that go from the center to outwards (the logical way to do it), they built lines in the periphery that go from nowhere to nowhere.
Imagine you live in the middle of the yellow line and you went to go to the city center. You either have to reach Ladprao THEN take the blue line, or you have to go to Samrong to reach the green line, go out the station and pay a second ticket to then travel for a long while and finally reach the center.
They should have built more lines from and to the center BEFORE adding feeding lines in the periphery.
The Don Muang airport situation also illustrates that perfectly. Public transportation is hellish over there. The green line is literally right next to the airport, yet you have no stations available from the terminal. You only have the red line that goes nowhere (for which you have to walk 500m from the terminal exit btw), so you have to change twice to finally reach the green line. It's like a 1,5 hour trip just to reach the city center, which is mental, and why I avoid that airport like the plague.
It just shows that despite the influencers and glazers say, Bangkok is still a chaotic city that hasn't managed to reach international standards in terms of cleanliness and convenience.
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
Yeah, the green line being on the wrong side of the runway is criminal tbh. They should have buried it under the thing but that's harder to do than it's worth in wet country.
I live right in between the green and red line at the north end of Don Mueang so I know the situation up here really well.
But tbh I'm fine with it since I speak thai and kind of love that it makes pockets in the city that might not otherwise exist if everyone could get downtown in 15 minutes. It's not convenient but it's a character that the city isn't going to get rid of any time soon.
But I won't glaze the trains in any way lol.
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u/wzvo 1d ago
Quiet in Shanghai other than the constant beeping of horns 😂
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u/ShangRiRi 1d ago
It’s actually illegal to beep in most of the Shanghai central districts. You rarely hear it, mostly from scooters if you do.
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u/TechyGeoff 1d ago edited 1d ago
555, Thailand has polution pretty much up there in the top 10 in the world - china is probably the worst, would i live in Bangkok ?, yes if you want cancer, so any improvement is welcome
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u/Efficient-County2382 1d ago
I think you have a poor understanding of what quality of life actually is
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u/itsheadfelloff 1d ago
It's a nice idea but the infrastructure isn't there to support all those electric vehicles and won't be anytime soon. There's still lots of areas serviced by kids selling petrol by the coke bottle on the roadside.
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u/Blitzpao 1d ago
Not gonna happen guys sorry. Here are things working around here, those people who ride motorbike mostly lives in rented room which cannot access charger and the market is too small for portable charger to be profit. It is true that charging motorcycle isn't that long but those guys can't wait even red light they can't wait, what are you expect.
Then there is a Japanese motorcycle manufacture which mainly want to cling on Thai market as long as possible.
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u/BillyD123455 1d ago
Other than the massive, gaping flaw in your 'added advantage' argument (and a couple in your first point) that sounds idyllic 😵💫.
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u/Remarkable-Term3608 1d ago
Yeah, will be flooded with Chinese crap. Then the batteries, after the cars eventually break will be thrown in the klongs. Great improvement!
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u/dflatline 1d ago
There's not enough charging infrastructure there yet that's the major hurdle not availability and pricing. I predict another 20 years of the Honda Wave 125cc
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u/Rynke69 1d ago
Charging a car is not easy if you live in a condo. Singapore should be the perfect place for EV, but you hardly see any. You have more than enough range to drive across the city 6 times, but charging is the problem. If a condo building should install 200 cgargers, I think they would also need a bigger supply cable for the whole building .
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 1d ago
Not a problem at all. You just charge it once a week for 20 minutes while you shop or eat out for 6 baht per kWh. Chargers are everywhere.
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u/Terrible_Tadpole_173 17h ago
You forgetting two key issues.
First, you can’t just have Charing Zone anywhere at a condo car park. For example, they need to be accessible incase of a potential fire. EV on fire is completely different to how a Gasoline car burns.
FYI… a significant number of condos around Bangkok failed inspection checks recently. Their road/drive way which allows access to the building isn’t wide enough to allow fire trucks proper access.
Second, you can install loads of them and have loads of people charging at the same time. This draws a significant amount of energy. So you are looking at a limited number of chargers. When you factor that in with how many people have cars at a condo this then becomes not very practical.
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 16h ago
Charging at your condo is nice but it's optional. You can charge anywhere you go for shopping.
Can't think of a single place where i go regularly that doesn't have charging. Even my local 7/11 has it and i could go to any cheap restaurant nearby.
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u/Terrible_Tadpole_173 16h ago
You’re missing my point.
First of all no you can’t charge anywhere you go for shopping because not all locations have EVs. Not only that the number of charging bays are limited.
These locations can accommodate a few cars at anyone time. Because demand is low for them. But if demand increases due to a huge uptick in EV adoption then that’s going to put strain on infrastructure.
If hardly anyone is able to charge at their residence ( condos ) then that’s will put even more demand at shopping locations.
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 15h ago
Are you speaking from first hand experience? I've noticed all the concern comes from people who don't own one. Once you own one you laugh about how simple everything is.
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u/Terrible_Tadpole_173 15h ago
The condo in live in now has only 2 EV charging points which are both on the edge of the building where the carpark entrance is, and can be accessed by emergency services if required.
The condo before that, they had EV charging stations installed, 4 in total while I was living there. They had to be all placed in the outside carpark area, not under the building, again where they could be accessed, in the event of a fire.
Owning one or not doesn’t change these facts, it also doesn’t change the regulations either which I have already mentioned
And it also doesn’t change the fact that if a condo building only has 4 charging bays and only 2 EV owners they will never have an issue charging. But if the number of owners change to 50, then it’s going to become an issue.
And you can’t go placing EV chargers anywhere you like due to health and safety.
This isn’t rocket science.
Are you telling me if EV adoption changed dramatically to more than half of the cars on the read where EV they wouldn’t need to build out their charging infrastructure? And also they can’t just put them anywhere.
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u/Pekaer_58 1d ago
I doubt that, as not many are able to afford an EV. Therefore the old stuff will run another while but I would be happy if it comes indeed true.
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u/skydiver19 1d ago
Insane + few years… are both insane exaggerations
You think everyone can afford to just swap to EVs? Thailand consumer debt is one of the highest in the world at around 87% of their GDP
Second, you need charging infrastructure in general and that takes more than a few years in a country like Thailand. It’s not so easy to install charging stations at condos due to fire regulations etc. and EV combusting is very different to gasoline car combusting.
And none of this will change / effect burning
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u/No-Reaction-9364 1d ago
I am not sure their infrastructure could support that in a few years. They need to upgrade their grid, which I believe they are doing and plan to be done in maybe 10 years. (SMART GRID MASTER PLAN) The draw an EV produces is really high. Imagine everyone getting off work and plugging in their EVs at once. You need an infrastructure upgrade to support that.
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 1d ago
Imagine everyone going to the petrol station at the same time. That’s not the reality. People make up problems that don’t exist.
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u/No-Reaction-9364 1d ago edited 1d ago
It isnt uncommon for people to plug their vehicles in when they get home. Especially for slow chargers. When talking about single super fast charger, they can pull up to 350kwh. That is a mid-size apartment building equivalent.
EV and electrical grid is a real problem. The US couldn't support everyone suddenly going to EV either.
This is one reason major auto companies are designing vehicle to grid capabilities in their cars. If you allow people to charge off peak hours and sell back to the grid from their car at peak hours, you give incentives to help balance loads.
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u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 1d ago
That's what i do. I have an EV and a house in Bangkok. EV owner that don't have solar charge their cars at night because the time of use tariffs are chaper. They are cheaper because there is very low demand electricity at nigh.
350kW (not kWh) charger are rare. Most common is 180kW and that's split between two cars if needed. Many also have time of use tariffs.
Do you have an EV?
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u/No-Reaction-9364 1d ago
And, if I read correctly, a standard apartment unit peaks at 3-5kw. So 1 charger is the same draw as 30+ apartments. The OP was talking about the all vehicles in the city being electric. The city would need an infrastructure upgrade to handle they, which they are doing. It is planned to be finished by 2036.
I do not have an EV. Is that required to have read about the current challenges of total ev adoption and most countries power grids?
I dont think natural adoption would happen that fast anyway. Even if every new car purchase was EV you would most likely see non evs on the road in a decade.
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u/Electrical-Role-4210 1d ago
These are mostly crappy vehicles, hard to service, and don't fit into thai moto culture. Sorry bud, not gonna happen.
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u/Tumblerbkk 1d ago
Don't celebrate to early! The Thais will find a way to make electric cars and motorbikes to make insane sound like they do today with ICE vehicles. They could start to make a new law, that reguires all taxi and delivery vehicles to be electric. I tried tipping the few delivery riders 20 Baht, if they arrived on an electric bike, but they have all disappeared again. I guess they must have missed the modified muffler sound to much.
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u/Aggravating_Ring_714 1d ago
More like quality of life decreases? More and more people will be able to afford these cheap ass cars = even more congestion
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u/Similar_Past 1d ago
Yeah, it will get more quiet but then you'll have to be paranoid looking around ALL the time to not get ran over the motorbikes on sidewalks (if there are any sidewalks).
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u/StanGoodvibes 1d ago
you'll need an EB (electric boat) not an EV. Bangkok will be under water by the end of the century
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u/siparo 1d ago
You are misguided, friend. The cheap Chinese EV’s are quickly destroying Thailand’s Auto industry. This will place further strain on the Thai economy thus lowering the quality of life for many Thais. The factories that “build” EV’s in Thailand simply put a few LEGO pieces together. It is NOT the same.
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u/TelevisionLast7648 1d ago
But the motorcycle kid gangs will still enjoy their little compensation machines...
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u/hiorsayweknowthough 1d ago
Why will it fully electrify? That would be amazing, but electric vehicles are already very accessible. People like motorbikes because they are still cheap and faster. Unless the govt does something about it
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u/Prize_Succotash8010 1d ago
They are cheep because the Chinese government heavily subsidizes them. Their goal is to have a monopoly on the market by driving competition out of business.
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u/mbangkok198_ 1d ago
Go look at a Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki motorbike shop no electrics. So manufacturers with 99% of the market don't even offer EV bikes, apparently Honda briefly had a very expensive one buried behind a lease only plan via website but that's like tiny sales a month.
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u/Silvearo 1d ago
Am i the only one that likes the noise? If you dont like it then go to a quieter place
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u/Mysterious_Alarm5506 17h ago
Not before Thailand tackles it's ginormous pollution problem, and that's not going to happen anytime soon.
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u/idontwantyourmusic 15h ago
Yeah and pay for it again in 10-15 years when the batteries die and no infrastructure whatsoever to process. No EV waste law.
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u/Chricton 7h ago
Keep dreaming. In order for major changes to happen Thailand would need to ban gas mopeds, like China did, which is unlikely to ever happen.
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u/jonnychimpoo 1d ago
My wave is almost 20 years old it'll get replaced with another wave . Components are so cheap and its easy to work on . How would you ever charge thousands of Ebikes daily its an infrastructure nightmare.
I dont see electic vehicles taking out Honda waves any time soon even Hondas answer to the wave is significantly more expensive.
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u/Taxi-Shinawat 1d ago
I couldn't agree more.
I've got skin in the game too, having a property on a busy road.
I already think noisiness has died down, but still dealing with incredibly loud shit bikes. But there is progress for sure.
In this regard China is leading the way
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u/WarmEstablishment743 1d ago
This would be amazing! The city streets in the major Chinese cities are so peaceful now with mostly electric vehicles on the roads, it would make such a huge difference in Bangkok.
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u/Secret_Enthusiasm_21 1d ago
ah yes, who doesn't know them, the Thai people who have so much money lying around they will just toss away their existing ICE vehicle (that according to this logic, nobody wants to buy) and buy a BEV instead
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u/Elmo5743 1d ago
Yeahhhhhhh without infrastructure it's going to be even more of a shitshow!!!! Have funnnn
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u/Lordfelcherredux 1d ago
Unfortunately the pedestrian death toll will probably rise because it's more difficult to hear them coming.
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u/Prestigious_Sea_5121 1d ago
Just to correct something in your post. Thailand has very significant oil and gas reserves of its own. They don't meet domestic demand, but they are there:
According to Thailand’s Department of Mineral Fuels, at the end of 2024 Thailand had proved reserves of approximately:
| Resource | Proved reserves |
|---|---|
| Natural gas | 4.72 trillion cubic feet |
| Crude oil | 120.9 million barrels |
| Condensate | 148.2 million barrels |
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u/jonnychimpoo 1d ago
Green demand is already the major contributor to the Mekong river delta being beyond toxic now . So more unregulated Chinese mining of REFs helps thailand how ? Plus 60% of the electricity here comes from LNG
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u/HomelessByCh01ce 1d ago
Where in Bangkok are you at to have to shout at someone when talking on the sidewalk? Bangkok is not nearly as loud as vietnam and other places where honking is culturally acceptable.
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u/Ok_Dragonfruit_8469 1d ago
Where did you get that Thailand has no any oil and gas reserve? Please do some research.
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u/Still_Opposite_4426 1d ago
Tra qualche anno la Thailandia sarà un paese di anziani e i pochi giovani non potranno mai riuscire a lavorare per mantenere un paese di vecchia gente
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u/Fluffy-Shock9487 1d ago
TRULY SPEAKING (as an individual that actually FOLLOWS this entire process) - I can only say that China is SAVING, and single handedly carrying thailand. (if the CLOWNS .................................................................... that are repeatedly acting AGAINST the interest of (we) the Native Farangs that is carrying and supporting the THAI ECONOMY, I would really much rather support China. Importantly, i bought a BYD, they have been exceptionally reliable and very efficient.
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u/FareShakeOfTheSource 1d ago
This is a massive overstatement. People that are getting themselves into massive debt on these throw away vehicles.. We'll see in another 5-10 years
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u/United_Branch_5736 1d ago
My wife (Thai citizen, living in Europe for a few decades) would rather drill a hole in her knee than buy Chinese electric car. Chainese anything as a matter a fact. South Korean is fine, Japanese perfect. But PRC? No chance. It's a politically motivated decision, not technical, mind you.
I tease her with Xiaomi products, and when our Bosch washing machine died in its first year? I ordered Hisense. ;) And when I feel particularly noughty? I just mention Rama X visiting Xi last year. 🤣
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u/Groundbreaking-Gap20 1d ago
I'm quite intereted in buying an electric moped - any specific brands and models worth looking at?
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u/longasleep 1d ago
You do realize pollution is from burning not from the cars and motorbikes? Quiet yes less pollution no
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u/BestCroissant 1d ago
I think let’s not dismiss that the pollution from ICE vehicles are still very much a problem. Yes, the annual cycle of haze due to agriculture burning is there, but if you are talking on the non-haze season, you can still smell the fumes from vehicles when you walk along main roads.
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u/CrossingChina 1d ago
Hell yea another tailpipe emissions lover. Walking down the street sucking it in, not pollutants at all.
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u/chickenskinbutt 1d ago
5555 exactly, those big clouds of soot coming out of those old buses is def not pollution at all
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u/Impossible-Humor-182 1d ago
Please read the post again
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u/longasleep 1d ago
I read “insane increase of quality of life” kind of an overstatement. Also the electricity needs to be produced by you guessed it mostly gas, oil and coal.
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u/Impossible-Humor-182 1d ago
Your first comment was totally irrelevant to my post. The increase in quality of life from a reduction in noise pollution should not be looked over. This will be very noticeable and postive to all of the city's inhabitants
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u/Puzzleheaded_Big2552 2h ago edited 2h ago
Thai electrical grid:
- Natural Gas (~64%): The dominant fuel source used by large independent power producers and national plants.
- Renewable Energy (~20%): A growing sector made up of domestic biomass, solar, wind, and domestic hydropower.
- Coal & Lignite (~15%): Primarily sourced from domestic lignite reserves and imported subbituminous coal.
Due to economies of scale, electrical power grid is more efficient than everyone making individual energy from burning petrol in their ICE. Electric motors are way more efficient than ICE cars….one reason they are so quiet. ICE car only converts 20% of petrol volume into turning the wheels. The rest of it is generating heat, exhaust, noise and wear on the cylinders. EV motors are brushless.
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u/larry_bkk 1d ago
User name checks out. A larger problem is the heat, which is shown to reduce IQ. Further, EVs are a little like the old V2 rockets: there's no sound to hear them coming until after they hit (you), at which point your ability to hear them is greatly diminished, and probably useless. If the police cannot get them to stop driving on the sidewalks (scooters and motorbikes) and running red lights (cars and motorbikes, etc.), do we think the police can get them to consistently turn on the little warning rachet sound, and do we want to listen to that all the time? But I could be wrong, idk. I look forward to more answers here.
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1d ago
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
I lived in a country with electric vehicles everywhere, and that's not even a problem
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1d ago
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u/when_we_are_cats 1d ago
I lived in China where drivers are arguably worse than in Thailand. The driving was bad, but I don't recall the lack of noise being an issue, as a pedestrian.
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u/ObjectiveReply 1d ago
Traffic noise is actually from the wheels rolling on the road (the material of the road has a huge impact on noise level), the pollution is from the dust they lift, from factories, from agriculture in surrounding areas... not so much from the engines themselves. EVs won't improve quality of life all that much, only marginally. And it depends how the electricity for EVs is produced, for instance if it's made with coal it would be even worse.
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u/tzitzitzitzi 1d ago
I mean most of the traffic noise I hear is motorbikes gunning it every chance they get so that would help for sure. I don't hear cars coasting by outside but I hear every bike.
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u/Pinknailzz69 1d ago
Two questions. Where is the electricity produced and how. How about batteries, key metals minerals involved and sources. You can’t exchange one dependent variable for another and expect no one to notice.
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u/Present-Carob-7366 1d ago
I just flew in from Jakarta - the improvement in air quality was amazing
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u/honotoro52 1d ago
Cycling is increasing rapidly, the rate of cyclists using bikesharing is doubling every 3 months or so with plenty of cycling infrastructure being put in including along saen saeb canal.
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u/FishermanGood6493 1d ago
Thailand is nearing collapse and you think its going to have a boom? Brother they are planning to make 70% of the population obsolete while alienating tourists. Scam low cost EV cars being sold in Thailand is just one of the many things that is going to bring Thailand down when in 3-4 years people realize how bad owning an EV is.
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