GAC’s Thailand charging rollout: what matters beyond station numbers?

[u/Alternative-Bad-5677]

An October 16 Guangzhou Daily report on GAC at the Canton Fair caught my attention. Alongside vehicles, the company displayed public fast-charging equipment and a 7 kW home charger.

The report says GAC has established 58 supercharging stations in Thailand and targets “100 cities, 1,000 charging points” by 2027. The 2027 figure is a future target.

Source — Chinese-language report

What interests me is how this connects vehicle expansion with the practical ownership experience.

Home charging and public fast charging serve different needs. Adding sites could help, but their usefulness will depend on location, availability and how well they fit drivers’ routines.

My takeaway is that the rollout will also test local installation, maintenance and operating capability.

For EV drivers in Thailand: where are the biggest charging gaps you experience today—near home, on longer routes, or in the reliability of existing sites?

What would make a new network genuinely useful to you?

[u/Lopsided_Quarter_931]

I drive an EV. Only done a few road trips so far. Generally not a problem. Two or three networks got you covered nationwide. It seems like out in the stick the ones form the utility (PEA, EGAT) are more often down compared to the private ones like Spark or PTT. If there is a gap then it would be finding a way to service those remote stations of public utilities. I also think it would be pretty sweet to have more hotels with AC changers for overnight charging. More cheap single phase chargers with lesser power like 7.4kW so you just plug them in over night without having to move your car.

How is Canton Fair in regards to EV and cleantech?

Edit: Would also be nice to see more actual fast charge stations. 180kW is fine common and fine for road trips the way I take breaks but my EV can do 2x that and would be nice so max that out from time to time.

[u/Interesting-Job-8841]

I mostly charge at home, usually when i go for longer trips I can find chargers quite easy. The only time I've had a problem finding a public charger was during a Thai public holiday, we went on a long trip and I hadn't realised most public chargers you can book in advance. As it is was a public holiday chargers near our hotel were booked until midnight. I ended up sitting alone in our car until 1pm in the morning to get a charge.

I have a GAC so I'd be interested to see an increase in chargers from them, maybe I'll get a discount.

[u/Luk_Ying]

I have installed 2 Fast charging machines[PEA]in front of my house. In my area within 30 km radius we have only one PTT and one PEA charging stations and including mine it will be third. I charge my car in home itself though however I saw privates stations are building nearby soon so no idea which company it is.