An electric vehicle can save over 3,000 baht a month: Thai environment lecturer

He also asserts that once the government’s EV promotion package kicks off, the prices are set to drop significantly.

The Nation

The Nation

         

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March 24, 2022

BANGKOK – Sunt Srianthumrong, who lectures in Nida’s Faculty of Environment Development Administration, compared the cost of Gasohol 91, which goes for 40 baht per litre, with the cost of electricity consumed by EVs.

In a Facebook post, he said EV users should first change their home’s power metre to the Time of Use (TOU) tariff sort to cut their power bills by almost half when recharging their EV at night.

The lecturer said motorists planning to replace their current vehicle should not hesitate to purchase an EV, adding that once the government’s EV promotion package kicks off, the prices will drop significantly.

Sunt added that people planning to buy an EV should consider a well-known brand and model that comes in at about 1 million baht. “Once EV measures are fully implemented, there will be several models to choose from,” he said.

He also pointed out that an ordinary vehicle normally uses about one litre of petrol for a distance of 16 kilometres. So, if a motorist drives about 2,000km per month, they will drive 24,000km per year and about 240,000km over 10 years.

As a result, the cost of fuel for a conventional vehicle will come in at about 5,000 baht per month, 60,000 baht a year and 600,000 baht over 10 years.

However, he said, with a TOU metre, the cost of electricity after 10pm drops to 2.80 baht per unit from 4.59 baht per unit during daylight hours.

He pointed out that an EV normally uses one unit of electricity for a distance of 5km, and some brands claim their cars can run as far as 7km. Hence, he said, one kilometre costs 0.56 baht and when a motorist drives about 2,000km a month, the power cost comes in at just 1,121 baht. The cost for a year will come in at 13,459 and 134,592 baht in 10 years.

Based on this calculation, an EV user can save 3,787 baht per month or 46,540 baht a year and 465,408 baht in 10 years, Sunt concluded.

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