083 - Should you buy the KIA EV3? and the O.G. Electric Car? World Solar Challenge

This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Steven Fenwick and Trevor Long, thanks to NRMA Insurance and UNIDEN.

That's it, folks. Thanks to the great people at NRMA Insurance, helping Australians protect what matters most for 100 years, and they're also one of Australia's largest insurers of electric vehicles.

If you want to hear some of the stats and figures about where the EV market's at, we've spoken to their CEO a couple of times and other people from NRMA Insurance in this show, so go back and binge those episodes.

And of course, thanks to UNIDEN smart dash cams. They will hook you up with a great front and rear dash cam if you need it, or just front whatever you need.

There's even one if you're doing Ubers. You can get one that does like an internal camera as well. You can get anything you want from a great UNIDEN smart dash cam.

So look those up no matter what car you've got to give you a bit of peace of mind out there on the road.

Steven, great to be with you. We've got a couple of calls coming up and we're going to talk to someone from the original electric vehicle.

Yes.

No, not the OG EV or something, but I'm telling you, this will resonate with people of our age. It's like a flashback from the world solar challenge.

I reckon, again, people of our age absolutely can picture what the world solar challenge is because it always gets good TV.

There's an aerodynamic car in the middle of nowhere and solar panels everywhere.

So our great mates at UNIDEN have backed one of the teams. So we're going to talk to one of the students from the Australian National University's World Solar Challenge team shortly.

But first, Steven, we have been driving some electric cars lately. We've got to catch up on all those.

Yes, we do.

We spoke about the leap motor and we found the button in the end.

Thanks Trevor.

Thanks Trevor. Trevor even did a little social media post about that for my point of view.

Here's the button here, mate.

And then I smashed the car on social media.

And I said it was the world's best hidden button in automotive history.

It's just not a fan.

And look, I will say one thing. I bagged it heavily because of the tap and go key on the thing.

Yes.

And then I had a lot of people in the comments in my video, which was very negative.

Because I didn't like the car. I'm being honest.

Say, there's an app. That's great. But they didn't tell us that.

Yeah.

And so many times.

Oh, so you could use like a Tesla. You can open it with an app.

Apparently. I don't know.

Right.

But so many times. And look, we're driving these cars for a week.

Each.

We normally don't have them app connected and all that stuff.

And if, honestly, if they want to have that real experience, they need to share that stuff with us.

I should have told us.

Knowledge is power, mate.

That would help.

Anyway, so we have been driving the Kia EV3.

Yes.

So.

And you've been an EV, a Kia man.

Kia has the Niro.

They have the EV6, which those two have been out for a while.

The EV6 is the kind of sporty stylish kind of sportback hatchback.

Bigger, bigger than hatchback.

And then the key EV9 came out, which I own.

The EV5 sits in the middle and the EV3 is their kind of smallest entry level electric vehicle.

$48,990 on the road entry price.

Which is pretty reasonable.

For the air standard range.

The air long range will cost you $56 and a half.

Yep.

And it goes right up to the GT line $68,490.

Which is what we were driving.

We were driving the GT.

Yes.

Which had all the bells and whistles.

Correct.

All the features.

And the long range I understand is just over $600,000.

Yes.

So okay.

The air standard range should get you $436,000.

The air long range should get you $604,000.

The earth long range should get you $563,000 as should the GT line.

Now I drove this two young.

Yep.

So I did $1,000 in it on the highways.

The highway rain, highway consumption wasn't amazing I'll be honest.

It freaked me out a little bit but it wasn't.

Like I'm just saying to my normal driving habits.

Yeah.

But it was a beautiful drive in the country roads and everywhere I went.

So you asked me before we started recording how is it different to an EV9 other than

the other size thing.

Yeah.

It is the same infotainment systems.

Very similar wheel and controls and all that.

Same software.

Yeah.

Same software.

All those things.

Interestingly, you know I talk a lot about turning off the annoying beeps and the press

the mute button.

I did that every time I got in the car.

It's a different message that comes up.

It actually just comes up saying speed sign turned off and then in mine it's a bit different.

Speed limit warning turned off.

I think there might be a couple of other, so there's other things that it turns off

in the EV9.

Okay.

I didn't, you know I think that there's some limitations to things you know like

the seat controls and stuff like that.

But it's a small car.

Let's be real.

You know what?

Small car.

I let my wife drive this too.

Like she's got a Kia Sportage at the moment.

And I said to her, this is the smallest in the range.

And she's surprised.

She said, wow, that's still big.

She considered it's still a big car.

Absolutely surprises me.

Yeah.

Because I think it's used to her Sportage.

It is bigger than her car.

Yeah.

But of the other EVs on the road, the size.

I said to her straight out, I said, look, if you want to stick with EV, I reckon

this is your next car.

If you want to stick with a Kia.

Yeah.

So she drove it and loved the drive.

It was great and really nicely appointed too.

The seat slides are sliding forward.

It's got this huge center armrest thing going on, which is fine.

It slides out.

I don't know why you would.

But the cup holders are all the way down on the floor, basically.

Yeah.

Not a good design.

Yeah.

It's a weird thing, but I didn't love that at all.

See, it's funny how EVs differently, they use that space differently.

You know, without the drive shaft of a normal car, right?

Yes.

So they've got all this space in the middle of the car.

My car has like a secondary storage area while above it is the cup holders

and all the other stuff.

Yeah.

If you like having that sort of, you don't want to feel too claustrophobic.

I think some car manufacturers love offering that space.

There's a QR code in it.

I think Jackson scanned it at one point.

It's got very environmentally conscious materials used throughout it,

like a 90% or something like that.

Look, for the size of the car, it is still pricey.

I know we said it's under 50 gram, which is awesome.

Yeah.

But for the size of the car, it probably should be closer to 40.

What's it compete against?

Is it a C-Line 7?

Oh, no, it's smaller than a C-Line 7.

It's probably more your MG4.

All right, that's small.

Well, yeah, I think so.

It seems bigger than that to me.

No, I think...

Would it be up against like a Zcar X or an X-Ping?

Possibly the Zcar X is bigger than it.

Yeah.

Slightly.

Wow.

How about the D-Pals?

That sort of size.

No, D-Pals way bigger.

So you're saying that this is a small SUV,

but those other cars I mentioned are more mid-sized.

Would be more EV5-competed as I think.

I don't think you're going to come from a RAV4 to this.

Right.

I think a RAV4 owner is going to find this

to be a little bit small in luggage and stuff like that.

It's probably in fit where you sit.

It's probably perfectly fine.

Yeah, I'm a big guy.

I sat comfortably in this car.

Yeah.

Look, I would buy it in a heartbeat

if we needed a small electric car.

Yeah.

Just in a heartbeat.

Nice.

I do think and we haven't said this for a long time.

If you're in the market for something like a Kia, hit us up.

We've got a contact.

We can get you amazing pricing.

Good deals, yeah.

We've saved people thousands of dollars on their cars.

So don't hesitate to ask.

We're not making money off it.

We're not charging you for the service.

We just want to connect you with a good price.

Once I discover that you can get better prices on cars,

I just realize people should be offered that.

Absolutely, yeah.

If you're in the market for a new car, hit me up.

Hit us up on the text, 0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

We'll connect you to Aaron our man

and he'll simply give you a quote.

He actually contacted me when he knew we had the car.

He contacted me and he mentioned.

He goes, mate, if the missus is interesting,

do you talk to me?

And here's the thing.

I reckon 50% of the people I've sent to him

have not bought cars from me.

Because they've been interstate

and they've chosen a different thing, whatever.

You've got no obligation whatsoever.

But at $48,500, I'd prefer you saved a bit of that

than spent it all.

So if you're looking to just trim the fat a little bit.

But I think this, I genuinely think,

and I think I said this in my video,

I think I did a video on this.

Anyway, I think Kia has positioned themselves

as the leader in the market for range.

Ranges.

You mean the range of number of cars.

The range of vehicles, right?

Yes, yes.

They've got something for everyone.

BYD's got the Dolphin, the Addo3,

the C-Line, 6 and 7 and the Shark.

That's a pretty good range of electrified vehicles.

And you could probably say that that's huge.

But I would say Kia beats them

because they have a better reputation.

Just in the overall market.

I know we've spoken a little bit

around a bit longer.

How good BYD's reputation currently is

and I think it's deserved.

But I think a lot of people go,

I think I prefer a Kia.

There's just a dealership,

there's more dealerships around and stuff like that.

But in terms of the other established brands,

so forget all the new entrants

and Chinese brands and stuff like that.

In terms of established brands,

I don't think you can peg Kia for...

They were actually, I think,

in a leading position

because I think they took the initiative

of getting into that market

and establishing themselves as an EV company.

And just on the driving of the car itself,

I love the fact that it's,

they're not trying to be too clever

for their own good.

All the controls are at your fingertips.

There's a fob as you would have

with a normal car.

The change in the gears like D is forward,

reversing your twists and backwards.

Because their conditioning controls

are easy to use.

The big on button right there.

Everything's with an easy reach.

Really easy.

Like my wife sat in the car

and she knew exactly what to do with that,

but you haven't to say anything.

I've got to say,

there's something to be said for that.

I know that when you buy a car,

you learn it.

I get that.

But I don't think you should need

to learn the basics.

I think you should learn the intricacies of a car.

Well, I think that's what maybe would

intimidate some people thinking,

oh, I've got to relearn all this stuff

and they think it's going to be complicated.

I'll give you one other endorsement

of the car I noticed today.

Joel Gibson, who's a money man,

he's, you know,

he'll be gone saving money on bills and stuff.

I see him every couple of days

at the Today Show in Channel 9.

And he drove this

and he won't let me say this,

clapped up old Hyundai.

Like it looked like

they'd got the last minute out of that car, right?

Yeah.

And he told me months ago,

a long time ago,

they were in the market.

I turned it today, EV3.

Wow, he bought one.

It didn't hit me up.

I could have got your savings.

Joel, what did you do?

But the fact that it's someone

who's like meticulous to the point

where they would have got quotes,

they would have done,

they would have driven them all.

They were like,

well, he's a money man.

They went to that trouble

and went, this is the car.

I thought that was a really good endorsement

of the car.

And I'm starting to see him around a bit too,

which is another good endorsement.

So I think from us,

it's a big rubber stamp.

Yeah, big thumbs up.

Yeah, I love the car.

And as I said,

would still consider,

you know, if Joe's in the interest of it,

I'd be steering it towards the car.

Would you buy an EV3?

That's the question.

If you own an EV3,

we'd love to hear from you.

0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

Hit us up.

We'd love to talk to you

about your experience with the car,

your experience with buying the car.

The little things you love,

the things you hate,

the things you may be on the fence with.

But let us know

all those things.

That's what we love to hear from people

who buy electric cars.

So 0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

That's who I saw in electric cars.

We'd love to hear from you.

0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

Send us a text.

We'll get you on the show

to talk electric cars

at some point in the future.

But the ultimate electric car,

and Stephen,

I remember watching this on,

I don't know,

wide world of sports as a kid.

Do you know what I mean?

This would come up all the time.

And as soon as we tell you

what we're about to talk about,

people of our age

will totally be able to visualize this.

The world solar challenge.

It happens in the Australian outback

and there's these little cars,

sleek looking things.

They're aerodynamic.

It's all student led,

as I understand.

It's an unbelievable challenge.

And so we've got on the line

a student from

Australian National University

called Cameron Wallace.

He's the business lead

for his team.

And he's going to explain to us

what they're doing

and what the world solar challenge is

because they've been backed

by UniDen

and UniDen are great supporters

of this show.

Cameron, g'day.

Hello, hello.

How are we going?

Mate, really, really good.

Great to have you on the show.

Rewind for us a little bit here.

What are you studying at Uni

that makes you

get involved with the solar challenge?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm studying a bachelor

of commerce and computing.

So yeah, utilizing my commerce

degree is kind of how I got

into being the business lead

and being on the business side

of the team.

And I guess one of the great things

about the team is that,

you know, people with any degrees

can be a part of the team.

It's one thing to build the car,

but you need to get,

you know, a group of 30 students

across the outback

and you also need

to fund the project somehow.

So all the degrees come in handy

and everyone kind of combines under one

identity to build this car

and make it happen.

So we understand that the challenge

is a 3,022 kilometer

endurance race.

So you're going from Darwin

to Adelaide through,

right through the guts

of the Australian outback.

Plenty of sun out there.

So that's the,

that's the challenge part of it,

I guess.

So how's it going so far?

Have you,

what stage are you at?

Yeah, so at the moment where,

so the race actually starts

on the 24th of August.

Right now I'm calling in from

Tennant Creek.

So pretty much smack bang in the

middle of the NT.

Yeah.

We just finished a week of testing

in Cougar Petey.

And now we're on our drive

up to Darwin,

where we'll be situated in Darwin

testing at Hidden Valley

Raceway for the next two and a half

weeks.

So we arrive on the,

on the ninth and then we'll

be testing and preparing

for this challenge.

Now this may be a little outside

your wheelhouse as the business

league, because I'm assuming

you're the bike that rang Brad

from Unity today.

Bro, can we get some money?

We need some cash bro.

That's your job here,

but there's obviously a bunch of

people that build the car as well.

And these are essentially

the OG electric car

because it's not solar powering

a petrol tank.

It's solar powering electric

motors.

These are,

these are EVs

in the outback.

Yeah.

Definitely.

You know,

it's a really nice future to have

solar cars on the roof

and never having to fill up.

But I mean,

in essence,

we do kind of have our own

solar cars at the moment.

If you have,

you know,

solar on your roof at home

powering a battery,

then,

and that's going straight into your

AV, then essentially you have

your own little solar car.

So that's,

yeah,

that's what I always like to

people often ask how far off

is this future?

And,

you know,

I really think that this

future is kind of already here

just in a bit of a different

form,

but it would be nice to see more

solar panels on cars,

even powering things like

your auxiliary battery,

because,

you know,

if you had a solar panel on your

roof,

then technically you probably

should never get a flat

battery.

And that would be a nice world.

I think as business leader,

I need to tip you into a

Genesis,

mate,

you should hit them up

because there is a Genesis

with solar panels on the roof.

It does,

you know,

like it's not charging the

battery,

you know,

for your next trip,

but there's just a little bit

of trickle there.

I think it's for that,

that moment of saying,

oh, I've got a bit of solar power

here as well.

So maybe,

maybe get them on board,

mate,

and see where you can push them

next.

But that's the challenge,

right,

is trying to articulate what

this means for the students.

How many students are involved

in the challenge?

So there's about 35 in our

team.

And the challenge itself

attracts

around 40 teams

that are competing this year

and around 30 different

countries.

So it's truly like the world

cup of solar,

solar racing,

I suppose.

And I guess,

I guess like, you know,

we're lucky that it's here

in Australia.

So many teams

have to ship their car,

air freight their car

all the way over to Australia.

And we kind of just drive it

through the outback.

So a bit more lucky in that

sense, I suppose.

But it's a bit,

isn't it a bit like Formula

1?

You're sort of,

you're building your own car

to compete against other cars.

Is that,

like describe the car,

describe the process.

Yeah,

yeah,

it's pretty much very similar

to Formula 1

in the sense that we get

a set of regulations.

And it's kind of like,

how much can you interpret

those regulations

and how much can you bend

the rules of those regulations.

So there's a couple of things

that are specifically

defined and set out such as

like our battery size,

the amount of the actual

size of the vehicle

that it can be as a maximum.

And then also our

solar array size.

And then kind of the rest

is up to your own

interpretation.

So you get

a lot of these different

funky designs

and things like that.

And yeah,

I mean, we've had two

members of our team

go into F1 teams

and people in our team

at the moment are trying

to apply for F1 teams

and hopefully get into that.

But I mean,

similar to an F1 car,

like our whole car

is built out of carbon fibre.

And that's something

that we did ourselves this year.

So we,

you know,

got all the panels of

carbon fibre,

laid them up,

like in a particular way

and to a specific

laminate schedule.

And fully did that ourselves

in-house,

which was, you know,

a massive step

and a milestone

for the team to achieve this year.

But yeah,

it's very,

you know,

the engineering and the

designs that you see

is really cool.

Our car itself

is a,

what's called

an asymmetric

catamaran.

So it has two wheels,

it has three wheels,

but it's asymmetric.

So the steering system

that put in

a little bit of complications,

because you're trying to steer

the front two wheels,

but they're offset.

And that's all things

that we kind of had to design around.

But we found that having this

kind of asymmetric design

and three wheels

means that you get less

rolling resistance,

but it also cuts through the air

a lot better

than a typical catamaran.

So it's a really cool

and funky looking shape

and it's very low to the ground.

But it's,

it's all meticulously planned

out and people spend hours

on the CFD and the car,

just like making this car

and then make it come to reality,

which is awesome.

Cam, I understand the car

can hit speeds up to

130 kilometers an hour.

Wow.

Are you worried about getting

fined by the coppers out there,

mate?

What's the story?

Well, I mean,

I mean, fortunately in the NT,

you can go up to 138

hours.

So we're not too concerned

about that.

Yeah.

And a lot of our testing

happens at private tracks

or private airstrips as well.

That's a great place

to just put the car,

like put pedal to metal.

It's not insanely fast

at accelerating,

but once it gets up to that speed,

it can just hold it

and it sits insanely stable.

And you kind of a unique feature

about our car is that it's actually designed

to,

the solar ray is actually on a

three degree tilt

and it's kind of designed

to have a bit of a sailing effect

in a crosswind.

So if wind's going across the car,

it can kind of sail,

which is really cool.

So, yeah,

the work that goes into

the car is truly,

it's pretty amazing me just sitting here

watching these guys.

How many people actually

in the car?

So there's just one person?

Just one person.

Is it a one driver?

Yeah.

Just one person in the cockpit.

I'm tipping it's the lightest person

on your team as well.

Is it a truck-sized person

in your crew, mate?

Or how does it work?

Yeah.

Yeah, pretty much.

It's like, the smaller you are, the better.

They do get ballasted up to 80K,

but, you know,

the actual cockpit itself is very small

to fit in between the roll hoop

and the steering wheel.

That rule is true.

We're out.

We're out, mate.

Mate, you're obviously

as business lead,

you're in charge of,

you know,

making this work

for them,

you know,

not costing the uni too much at all,

probably anything,

but, you know,

you've snagged some pretty solid sponsors.

And by the way,

forget Genesis,

you've got GWM on board,

mate.

I just looked at the front of the car,

so shout out to them

for supporting you as well.

Yeah.

You know, is that a fun thing

that you get to do

that really drives you

into your future career?

What do you want to do

for a job after all this?

Oh, honestly,

I would love to do

something similar in F1.

That's a massive goal of mine.

You know, trying to get

sponsors or partners in F1.

But, yeah,

it's really awesome

trying to sell the car

to these companies

and trying to get them

to understand,

you know,

what our mission is,

what our values are

and how we might align.

And, you know,

at the end of the day,

we're trying to prove

that we're not just a group

of students

who are just, like,

mucking about,

you know,

we're a proper racing team,

I suppose.

And, yeah,

all the support we get

is, you know,

very, very grateful.

And, yeah,

Uniden was one

of our new supporters this year

who gave us all

CV radios

so that we could

communicate

throughout a whole fleet.

Pretty cool.

It's been a massive game changer.

Mate, it's a great thing.

We hope you turn

into the McLaren

or the World Solar Challenge, mate.

And also,

you know,

Brad will be absolutely packing it now.

He'll be listening to this,

thinking,

if this kid gets into Formula One,

he's going to want big bucks.

He's going to want a lot more money.

That little logo

on the side of the

Formula One car

ain't radios, Brad.

It costs a bit more, yeah.

Yeah.

You're going to need

to step up some more cash

with Cameron.

I want to hear from you.

If you get into Formula One, buddy,

I want to hear from you.

That would be nice.

Well, congratulations

on getting it together

to this point, mate.

And, you know,

turning it into something

that's working for the team.

Yeah.

Tell the whole team,

make good luck.

And good luck to August 24.

Yeah.

And you smash those imports

and show them

what the Aussies can do.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Really appreciate it.

I'll pass on the message

to the team.

Yeah, good on you, mate.

Awesome.

Enjoy your trip

and your travels

because it's a long way to go.

Drive safe, mate.

Drive safe, of course.

And I'm from the Australian

National University of

South-West Scotland.

What an adventure.

You see the outback

hoon it up to 130Ks an hour,

powered by the sun.

And how good is that?

It's such a cool thing.

I mean, I didn't go to uni,

but, you know,

even at school,

they have an F1s in school

things which is very similar

to have someone that sells

sponsorship and the people

that design the team

and everything.

These are great

learning for the real world.

It's amazing.

Calling Brad Hales is like,

mate, you know,

he's a scary man.

He's in control

of a very big business.

He's a lovely guy, Brad.

He's a good guy, Brad.

But on the line,

smart support from Uniden.

Not only, you know,

they've got their logo there,

but they're providing them

with the CB radio.

They're people of standing touch.

My son did his trip

around Australia,

mate, he had Uniden

give it all over his car.

They're a step ahead

of all the other teams

because they've got

great communication.

Absolutely.

You can't just bring

any old two-way radio

into Australia.

That's right.

Well, that's awesome.

Well done to Uniden

for supporting them

and we'll keep an eye on them.

We'll update you in a month

or so to see how they went

in the challenge.

Two-Bike Storing Electric Cars.

Great to have you company

and if you've got stories

like that one

that you want to hear about,

the ultimate OG electric car.

Because that's what it is.

It is.

It is absolutely that.

I noticed there's another logo.

One of the photos

had Blue Eddy on it.

That's like a battery company.

Yes.

Like a portable

electrics pouch,

a little electric charger.

So you've got to put a battery

and you don't want

to have to proprietary

make a battery.

You might as well

get one sorted.

Absolutely.

Great to have you company folks

and more coming up here

on Two-Bike Storing Electric Cars.

Why are we leaning from side to side?

Just the music took hold.

Trying to get the crowd

going with you.

The music took hold.

You're trying to get

the whole stadium here

moving in unison with you.

That's right.

In one with Steven.

That's right.

That's lovely.

In one with us here

on Two-Bike Storing Electric Cars,

we'd love to hear from you.

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Talking about your experience

with electric cars.

Steven, it doesn't matter

whether you love them

or are you not a big fan?

I want to hear from...

I think the education

that people get from the show

is from your experiences

and people are on the edge

of they're just about to buy.

They're not quite sure.

Information that they hear

on this show

is what tips them

into buying and leaving.

Yeah.

If you might already have one,

we want to hear about

your experience as well

because that's valuable information

as well.

You might be very early

in the journey.

Yeah.

You might have been binging

as you got into the journey.

It doesn't stop after you own

because then you learn something

about the ownership experience.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's a rollercoaster, folks,

being an electric vehicle owner.

But anyway,

we'd love to hear from you.

So, 0447657657.

Grace is on the line.

G'day.

Grace.

Hello.

Grace, good to be with you.

What's your electric vehicle

experience?

Are you in the ownership world now?

Yes.

We have been about two months

and we got a BYD ATO 3.

Yeah.

We did try as well

the Cherry Omoda 5

when we were looking.

I think not many people

talk about it,

but it's actually Cherry 5.

Cherry was nice.

It was nice.

Okay.

It was just that

it was very European-centric.

Oh.

So, we are fine.

So, you mean

that the indicator was

on the other side?

Is that what you mean?

Yeah.

Yes.

The indicators were on the other side.

And I,

it's not too bad for me

because my mom has a Mercedes.

So, I've driven her a few times.

So, I think I can get used to it.

But I think my husband

finds it difficult.

Maybe.

Just a bit confusing.

And I think

the drive and the reverse

and all that

is on where you think

an indicator is

if you've been driving

a Japanese car.

Not uncommon

in a lot of vehicles

these days, Steven.

And think about

the Mercedes.

Yeah.

The

gear stock is there.

So, it's not an unfamiliar thing,

but I guess that's

a really important thing to know

if you're about

to buy a new car.

So, did you

test drive the Atto 3

before you

put the money down?

Yes, we did.

We test drove

the Atto 3

and the Dolphin.

I really like the Dolphin,

but it was a bit small.

Okay.

Because, yeah,

a bit small for my husband.

Like, he's quite tall.

But, you know,

I thought the Dolphin

was very cute

and very...

Yeah.

If you think, oh,

I may be not the right choice,

but so...

I'd like to see Steven

get the Dolphin action.

I'll believe in the sea.

I haven't driven the Dolphin

a bit.

Have we driven the Dolphin?

No, we haven't.

We haven't yet.

No.

So, this is your car

or your husband's car?

Is it the car

for both of you?

Both of us,

because we

still have

the rest for.

It's just the petrol version.

Yep.

But then

if we're trying

to maximize

the efficiency,

then we

thought we should drive

the Atom 3

more often.

So, you know,

we'll just...

Yeah.

Because we got it as well

on Nouvelle at least

because the FBT

is exempted.

Yes.

So, that made

that decision

easier,

because initially

we were thinking

of getting a Toyota hybrid.

But then,

but then we just

missed out on the

FBT cut-off

day

because the FBT

for the hybrid ran out

before

the EV one.

So, we were like,

okay, well,

that's out of the...

that's pushed the figures

out of the windows then.

Yeah.

Has the ownership experience

been a tough one

for you in the early stages

or do you feel like

you learnt enough beforehand

to know everything

you needed to know?

Like, what's it been like

getting used to

owning electric cars?

Electric cars.

So good.

Why did I

not start earlier?

Ah.

I mean,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean,

but the thing is

we didn't need

a second car

at the time

but we needed one

now.

So then we thought,

okay, we could try

an EV

because a friend said to us,

oh, you may as well

try an EV.

If you're going to get a hybrid,

you know, try an EV.

Go and just drive it.

So we thought, okay,

and my brother

has an Etto 3

already for two years.

Okay.

And he just,

yeah,

just sang the praises

about the car

and I was so curious

because I sat in it

with him driving it.

Yeah, with a mouth.

That's right.

And how was your...

So we hear

a lot of different stories

about dealer experiences

when you don't go

for the test drive

and the delivery.

How was that whole

process for you?

10 out of 10 for me.

I cannot say enough

about BYD Cannington.

So that's the

dealership we bought it from.

Yep.

And our guy

was very...

when we started,

when we went to test drive,

they only owned

a little section of the kayak,

like a little

tiny showroom.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like they're renting

off Nissan or something.

And then a few weeks later,

they took over Nissan.

They took over the entire

space.

It's now full of

BYD.

Yeah, they've expanded.

That's why you drive

and go, wow.

They're in demand.

Yeah, they're in demand now.

And that's the story

nationally.

You know, the BYD

had these little corners

of dealerships.

And now,

it'll probably grow even

more because of the way

they've switched now

the Chinese ownership.

The management is,

it's just going to be different.

It's really growing that way.

So any,

what's your charging experience like?

How have you managed that

at home?

Are you charging just through

the trickle charger

from an all-power point

that came with it?

For now, yes.

But at work,

I've just found out

that it's free for us at work.

So we can book a space

for four hours at a time.

So I have to now go and buy

a Type 2 cable,

which I've already narrowed down,

which would be suitable

for this car,

for the charger at work,

from just from Bunnings.

Lesson $300, so like, yeah.

So we'll also need it

for public charging outside,

which we have not

needed to use actually.

I've downloaded the apps,

you know,

I've done all that,

like you guys suggested.

I've got EV,

I've got ChargeFox,

and then begin RAC member

to get 20% discount

on ChargeFox's chargers as well.

I've got all that,

but I haven't used it.

Getting the charger,

the laser charger from...

The charging cable.

Is that what the brand

they're using?

Laser charge core at Harvey Norman?

It's not like a,

what do you call that cable?

The old telephone cable.

My God, what's it called?

Twisty, but anyway.

And so it actually compacts back up.

It looks,

it's kind of weird

to stretch out at the public charger,

but it's an obstruction,

but it's another option

for you.

It comes in its own little zip-up case.

See good mates of ours.

I've got one of those in the boots

of the Cooper.

Any regrets at this stage

on the BYD Addo3?

It sounds like you're a massive fan.

Yeah, really good.

And I feel like

because it's more efficient,

I'm getting to places faster

and less stressed out.

I don't know.

Is it because...

Yeah, because it's quite...

I don't know.

Is it because I used to have...

I don't know

if it's because

I had a manual car before.

And you know,

it's just a very basic car.

Yeah.

But now it's like

all the safety indicators

on there.

It's so...

Yeah.

And so...

It's so efficient.

What sort of driving do you do?

Do you drive a regular commute?

Do you drive...

Do you like to go on longer drives?

Do you go away?

How is it suiting your lifestyle?

We are just driving

in suburban areas at the moment.

So just going to work,

going to extracurricular activities.

We haven't driven it out yet.

Like, you know, to regional areas.

We will try one day.

But I just...

I might...

I've heard that the fast charging

is a bit slow on the...

Is that...

I don't understand the...

I don't...

I'll quickly look it up.

But you know,

some cars have a limit

to the amount of charge they can take.

So even though the charger says

it's 300 kilowatts or something,

your car might be limited to 85.

But remember this.

The difference between a 50 kilowatt charger

and what you do at home

is remarkable.

It's a huge difference.

It's a big difference.

But to me,

if I'm going to a public charger,

I'm thinking I want it to be faster than 50.

So it can be a little bit of a kind of...

I guess a weird off-putting thing that you go,

I'm not getting the speed

that I perhaps expected to get.

I'm just looking up a fact sheet

that I refer to regularly

to see if I can see.

DC fast charging up to 70 kilowatts

or 80 kilowatts if you bought the long range.

So basically,

you don't need to look for something that's 200 kilowatts.

If you go to 100 kilowatt charger,

you're only going to get 70 or 80.

But you're still getting...

It's like 10 times faster than what you're getting at home.

Remember that.

Of course.

Yeah.

Yeah, that would be fine.

Yeah.

So great you've had a good experience.

So great that you're loving the car.

We hear so many great things

about the BYDs as we've said.

And I think I'll put back on the radar

now that they've changed management.

We'll put back on the radar

to try and catch up with the team at BYD.

I've got one more question.

Yeah, yeah.

What are the chances that the RAV4 gets replaced

with the Nevae 2?

Oh, my God.

You know what?

I'm thinking, oh, my God, it's so good.

I want to get another one.

There you go.

I'm like...

Maybe you get yourself the Dolphin.

Get the Dolphin for you

and your husband who gets the other one.

The Dolphin is so cute.

Oh, my goodness.

Here's us doing business for BYD for you.

See, I was told when we took ownership of the car,

the guy showed us everything,

explained how it works,

you know, what button does what and everything.

And he told us to give him a good review.

But we were going to give him a good review anyway.

He was so lovely.

And he said that they're not allowed to go under 9,

like 9 out of 10.

Oh, they pushed them.

So management, yes.

Management makes them responsible

for good service.

Oh, there you go.

Because I love...

Yeah.

And I was bullied to sign the papers.

Yeah, so you had a bad experience before, yeah.

I just really made...

Yeah, I really put me off and this wasn't.

Oh, well, that's good.

Well, you know what?

That counts, that pleasant experience.

And listen, you're talking about it right here.

You can tell people about that.

Exactly.

So...

And you found out about BYD.

Is it from your brother had a BYD as well?

So word of mouth.

Word of mouth.

Great service worked.

It's a win for everyone, Grace.

So thank you so much for getting in touch.

Lovely to speak to you.

Great to talk to you.

Thank you, bye.

No problem.

Is it all good to talk to you?

Lovely.

That's such a great endorsement of...

Very positive.

Yeah, hey, it's...

Again, you give good service.

You tell people about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's what we just heard.

I'm glad you asked that last question

because she was just like,

I want another one.

Yeah, of course.

No, because remember,

she had her eye on the BYD dolphin.

I think I reckon that's a little sneaky.

Harvey's going to have the ADO3.

He can have the ADO3.

Yeah.

She'll get the cute little bit.

Sounds like a plan.

Lovely to hear from you

and we'd love to hear from you as well.

If you're in the market for an EV,

if you own an EV,

we'd love to hear from you.

0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

Grab your phone.

Send us your texts.

Say hi, boys.

Lovely to hear from you

and we love that.

And we'll get you on the show.

You could be right beyond here

chatting with us on the show.

You could be talking to Stephen Fanning.

You could be talking to me any more.

Any moment now.

Travel on from the Today Show as well.

Two like story electric cars.

Thanks for joining us this week.

We'll be back again next week.

If Stephen turns up, that's what really matters.

I'll be here, mate.

Without Stephen, I've got nothing.

I'll be here.

I'm just one block.

I'll be here.

Yeah, you need two.

I'll give it a crack, I'll be honest.

It'd be a bit boring, I think, with one person.

See you, mate.

Bye-bye.

083 - Should you buy the KIA EV3? and the O.G. Electric Car? World Solar Challenge

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Kia Niro

Kia EV6

Kia EV9

Kia EV5

Kia Sportage

Toyota A90

Sealion Cline 7

Toyota RAV4

Byd Shark 6

Mercury Cougar

Dodge Charger

5 Omoda 5

Ariel Atom 3

About this episode

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