'Bad luck': Man pushes EV to petrol station during 24-hour Singapore to Bangkok challenge

Is it possible to drive over 1,800km from Singapore to Bangkok in an electric vehicle (EV) within just 24 hours?

The challenge for Singaporean content creator Sean Aw was to make it to a restaurant date with his girlfriend in Bangkok's Asiatique riverside destination.

Aw, who attempted the challenge in a Dongfeng 007 sedan on July 21, wanted to break the land speed record of 29 hours and 15 minutes between Singapore and Thailand done in a Porsche Taycan EV in 2023.

Even though he didn't make it on time, he described it is a journey worth taking.

He documented his journey in a YouTube video uploaded last Saturday (Sept 19). It has since gained more than 30,000 views.

When contacted by AsiaOne on Wednesday, Aw, 29, revealed that he and his team had extensively prepared route options and even tested if the 24-hour goal was possible by examining highway traffic data.

To acclimatise himself to EV, he sat in the car for three to four hour periods, even sleeping overnight in it once.

Their road trip began at the Merlion Park at 2.30am on July 21, with the vehicle at a "suboptimal" battery level of 75 per cent, according to him.

Their planned route would take them through Kuala Lumpur and Penang to the Sadao border crossing and then Bangkok.

Aw told AsiaOne they initially planned to stop at seven charging points in Malaysia and Thailand, but the battery was "dropping way quicker than expected".

To minimise the time spent waiting for charging, the strategy was to get enough charge at each stop for the car to make it to the next.

"Sometimes we were driving so close to the edge, we will literally turn up to the charging station with zero battery," he said in the video.

Still, Aw appeared to be making good time.

By the 12th hour, they had made it to the Malaysia-Thailand border, but a document issue caused a delay of about hour there.

Aw still had 10 more hours for the remaining 973km from Sadao to Bangkok.

Though he tried to minimise the time spent at each charging point, factors such as a traffic jam, an unintentional 1.5 hour "nap" and police stops, added to the overall travel time.

He ultimately did not meet his personal goal of 24 hours.

On the upside, his reported time of 26 hours and 19 minutes still triumphs the previous record, he said.

The eight charging stops they ended up making accounted for about four hours and 50 minutes, Aw told AsiaOne

"All things considered, I'm proud of the time!" he added.

Also, he did not manage to meet his girlfriend at the restaurant.

"In the end, she had dinner by herself, but I think she enjoyed it too," he quipped.

In the video, Aw says they might "try again next time".

And as it turns out, that "next time" was the return leg from Thailand to Singapore.

Embarking from the outskirts of Hua Hin, south of Bangkok, at about 7.30pm on July 22, Aw said he wanted to attempt beating the record again.

They had charged the EV in Bangkok before the journey home, and also stopped twice more to recharge as a precaution, he told AsiaOne.

Then, while in Surat Thani province, the car battery went flat at 3am.

Aw told AsiaOne it was "bad luck" that the several EV charging points they came across in Thailand were not very foreigner-friendly, requiring local numbers or locally issued credit cards.

With the nearest petrol station at 2km away as their "only hope", they started pushing the EV there after failing to call for a tow truck.

It was 4am when they finally reached, but the team would be stranded there for four hours more as the charging point only accepted payment from a Thailand-issued card.

Calls to friends in Thailand went unanswered in the early morning, before a miracle in the form of a fellow Singaporean whom they had only briefly spoken to before on the phone came to the rescue.

"By this point, our (24-hour goal) time was gone," Aw said in the video.

'Never really supposed to race against time'

A lesson the man took away from the return trip was how precious it is to slow down and cherish the journey with friends.

"Maybe, we were never really supposed to race against time. We were just supposed to learn to appreciate it," he reflected in his video.

Aw told AsiaOne he took about 17 more hours to drive back to Singapore from Surat Thani province, reaching home at around 4.45am on July 23.

In total, the car travelled slightly over 4,000km and consumed 1058kWh, he said.

Aw said he is confident of safely making it to Bangkok within 24 hours if he repeats the trip again.

Meanwhile, he is also planning a drive to China in the "near future".

lim.kewei@asiaone.com

No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.

是否有可能在 24 小时内驾驶电动汽车 (EV) 从新加坡行驶 1800 多公里到达曼谷？

新加坡内容创作者 Sean Aw 面临的挑战是与女友在曼谷河畔的 Asiatique 餐厅约会。

7 月 21 日，Aw 驾驶东风 007 轿车尝试挑战，他希望打破保时捷 Taycan 电动汽车在 2023 年创造的新加坡至泰国陆地速度纪录（29 小时 15 分钟）。

虽然他没能按时到达，但他认为这是一次值得经历的旅程。

他将自己的旅程记录在一段YouTube视频中，该视频于上周六（9月19日）上传。目前，该视频的观看次数已超过3万次。

29 岁的 Aw 在周三接受 AsiaOne 采访时透露，他和他的团队已经做了大量的路线选择准备，甚至通过检查高速公路交通数据来测试 24 小时内完成目标是否可行。

为了适应电动汽车，他一次在车里坐了三到四个小时，甚至有一次还在车里过夜。

据他所说，他们的公路旅行于 7 月 21 日凌晨 2 点 30 分从鱼尾狮公园开始，当时车辆的电池电量“不太理想”，只有 75%。

他们计划的路线是途经吉隆坡和槟城，到达沙道边境口岸，然后前往曼谷。

Aw 告诉 AsiaOne，他们最初计划在马来西亚和泰国的七个充电点充电，但电池电量下降的速度“比预期的要快得多”。

为了最大限度地减少等待充电的时间，策略是在每个充电站都充够电，让汽车能够开到下一个充电站。

“有时候我们开车行驶到极限，到达充电站时电池已经完全没电了，”他在视频中说道。

不过，Aw 看起来进展顺利。

到第 12 个小时，他们终于到达了马来西亚-泰国边境，但由于文件问题，在那里耽搁了大约一个小时。

从沙道到曼谷，阿瓦还有 10 个小时才能走完剩下的 973 公里路程。

尽管他尽量缩短在每个充电点停留的时间，但交通堵塞、无意中“打盹”1.5 小时以及警察拦车等因素，都增加了整体旅行时间。

他最终未能实现自己设定的24小时目标。

他说，好消息是，他报告的26小时19分钟的成绩仍然打破了之前的纪录。

据AsiaOne报道，Aw表示，他们最终进行了八次充电，总共耗时约四小时五十分钟。

“总而言之，我对这段时期感到自豪！”他补充道。

此外，他也没能在餐厅见到他的女朋友。

“最后，她一个人吃了晚饭，但我认为她也很享受，”他打趣道。

视频中，Aw 说他们可能会“下次再试一次”。

结果证明，那“下一次”指的是从泰国返回新加坡的航程。

7月22日晚上7点30分左右，Aw从曼谷以南的华欣郊区出发，他说他想再次尝试打破纪录。

他告诉AsiaOne，他们在回家之前在曼谷给电动汽车充了电，并且为了以防万一，又中途停了两次充电。

后来，在素叻他尼府，凌晨 3 点汽车电瓶没电了。

Aw 告诉 AsiaOne，他们在泰国遇到的几个电动汽车充电桩对外国人不太友好，需要当地号码或当地发行的信用卡，这“很不幸”。

由于最近的加油站距离他们2公里，这是他们“唯一的希望”，在叫拖车失败后，他们开始推着电动汽车前往那里。

他们终于到达时已是凌晨 4 点，但由于充电站只接受泰国发行的银行卡付款，所以他们还要在那里滞留四个小时。

清晨，他们给在泰国的朋友打电话，但无人接听。就在这时，奇迹发生了：一位之前只在电话里短暂交谈过的新加坡同胞伸出了援手。

“到这时，我们的（24 小时目标）时间已经过去了，”Aw 在视频中说道。

“其实我从未想过要与时间赛跑”

这次返程之旅让这位男士明白，放慢脚步，与朋友们一起珍惜旅程是多么珍贵。

“或许，我们原本就不应该与时间赛跑，而应该学会珍惜时间，”他在视频中反思道。

Aw 告诉 AsiaOne，他花了大约 17 个小时从素叻他尼府开车返回新加坡，于 7 月 23 日凌晨 4 点 45 分左右到达家中。

他说，这辆车总共行驶了略超过 4000 公里，消耗了 1058 千瓦时电量。

阿瓦表示，如果他再次进行同样的旅行，他有信心在24小时内安全抵达曼谷。

与此同时，他还计划在“不久的将来”驾车前往中国。

lim.kewei@asiaone.com

未经AsiaOne许可，不得转载本文任何部分。