0:00
/
0:00
085 - An Electric Car cheaper than it's petrol equivalent - that's rare!
085 - An Electric Car cheaper than it's petrol equivalent - that's rare!
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
Trevor and Stephen dive into the surprising affordability of the new electric G-Wagon compared to its petrol counterpart, discussing its unique features like the G-Turn. They also chat with listeners about their experiences with electric vehicles, including a new Kia EV3 owner who shares her transition to electric driving. The episode highlights the importance of understanding EV range, especially on highways, and features insights from the Kia EV Owners Association on battery management and tire longevity. Engaging discussions and listener calls make this episode a lively exploration of the electric vehicle landscape.
Topics:
g-wagon affordability
g-turn feature
kia ev3 ownership
ev range on highways
battery management
tire longevity
listener experiences
electric vehicle insights
The all-electric Mercedes G-Wagon - tricks in a tank, the boys have driven an iconic car which is cheaper than it's petrol sibling - unusual! But still $300,000!!
Benita talks about her brand new KIA EV3 and the journey to go electric.
And some stats from KIA EV owners about tyre wear and 12V battery issues
Be part of the show, thanks to Vodafone text us on 0477 657 657.
All thanks to NRMA Insurance - a Help Company, and Uniden Smart Dashcams
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Toyota Chrs
"...imilar small SUV. I was looking at the, maybe the CHRs, the Toyotas, and then the Sportage."
Car
Kia Sportage
"...at the, maybe the CHRs, the Toyotas, and then the Sportage. And then when we went to look for the Sportage,"
Car
Dodge Charger
"Do you're charging at home? Have you got a wall charger? Are you doing public charging?"
Car
Kia EV6
"...s good now my cars a bit different. So it's a Kia EV6 all-wheel drive And I had it for three years and ..."
Car
Kia EV9
"...owners because Needless to say ev3s and vv5s even ev9 not many of them done enough pretty enough kilome..."
Select text to request an explanation
This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Trevor Long and Stephen Fennig.
Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Unidan.
Just waving to the fans, Stephen.
Thanks for coming, downloading, watching, whatever you're doing.
We do it all thanks to the great people at NRMA Insurance,
helping Australians protect what matters most for 100 years.
They are a help company and also one of Australia's largest insurers of electric vehicles.
And Unidan Smart dash cams. Get a dash cam, folks, so that you can be protected
with your knowledge of what happened on the roads. Whatever happened,
you've got some backup and some proof of your own, no matter what happens around you.
Front and rear Unidan have got your coverage. Stephen, g'day.
G'day, Trev. How's it going?
Yeah, really good, mate. We've got a bunch of people to get to today.
We welcome your calls.
Hack show today.
Hack show. 0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7. Just send us a text or a WhatsApp,
and we'd love to get you on the show and just chat about EVs.
It doesn't matter whether you're an owner for 20 years, one year, or not at all.
Shoot the breeze through the two blokes.
We're a couple of great calls.
And also, we're catching up with Gary from the Kia EV Owners Association,
who has been listening all the time.
A big, big regular listener. We appreciate that, Gary,
but also has a lot of data about some things we talked about,
like tyre life, battery storage, battery usage and things like that.
So we'll catch up on all those things.
On the pulse.
On the pulse. Finger. Have you got your finger on the pulse?
Finger to the pulse. I'll try to.
No, we're good. We're good.
Do you need to check yours?
I'm fine, mate.
Blood pressure's the problem. You're not pulse, but we're working on that.
I just checked my watch.
Oh, right, okay.
All right.
Everything okay?
It's all there.
Under control, all right.
Two blokes storing electric cars. Get in touch, folks.
0-4-7-7-6-5-7.
Thanks to Vodafone for sending us a text or a WhatsApp.
We'd love to have you on the show.
Do it again.
It's always fun watching Steve.
Is that as much as dancing as you do?
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah, lately.
You hit the dance floor?
Okay.
I don't mind to dance, yeah.
Tell you what.
Tell you what doesn't mind to dance.
Mercedes.
The G-Wagon.
The G-Wagon.
The G-Wagon.
G580EQ.
I saw this when it was announced for Australia.
I actually saw this at CS two years, maybe three years ago.
It was like a, you know, concept of it.
But it was clearly a ready-for-market concept
as opposed to those kind of fancy concept vehicles.
But then it was announced for Australia
at the Melbourne Grand Prix this year.
And it was announced at $300,000.
And I went...
Hello.
And then I heard the questions from the two or three other
journals that were there.
They're going, why is it so affordable?
I went...
Affordable?
Yeah.
So a normal G-Wagon, right?
Yeah.
A V8 thumping, throbbing V8 G-Wagon.
Yeah.
You talk at $450,000.
Wow.
So this is actually a ridiculously affordable...
Okay.
G-Wagon.
I'm assuming it's the first electric version of it.
Yes.
Right.
And now the G-Wagon for people that don't know
is, you know, a boxy SUV with proper off-road credentials,
right?
Yes.
But its common environment is, you know,
your Turac tractor, your eastern suburbs,
soccer mom, that kind of thing.
It's actually a show-off mobile.
This is not a car that you see regularly
out on the bus tracks.
But if you wanted to,
it would handle the great outdoors or not.
Now, that's where it came to dancing.
Okay.
I actually took it to the country.
And by the way, in the country, no recognition.
This car, no one turns ahead.
In the city, everyone turns ahead.
Yeah.
But in the country, it's like, what is that?
Yeah.
But I took it, I want to do it right.
So this thing has a feature called the G-Turn.
And the idea of the G-Turn is you're going down a country
like a bush track.
A narrow bush track and you've got to turn around
because you've come the wrong way.
Yeah.
Or you can't.
It's hard to do a three-point turn.
So you put...
It's actually quite complex.
I'll be honest with you.
You've got to put it in neutral.
You've got to put it in rock mode.
You've got to press low range.
And then you've got to put it in G-Turn.
And then you put it in drive.
It's a complex set of things.
Wow.
And then you pull one of the pedals
and you hold the wheel straight
and you push the accelerator
and it goes round and round in circles.
But not doughnut.
So a doughnut is when the front of the car
is in one position and the back of the car spins.
This is what they call a tank turn.
Right.
So it's...
It doesn't move.
It spins on a dime.
Right.
You know?
So what happens is the left-hand wheel...
The wheels turn on a road.
Go forward.
The right-hand wheels go backwards.
All vice versa, which are being tuned.
And it spins, man.
It fits cool.
I saw your video.
You weren't quite wild on your spin.
If you happened to live in regional New South Wales
near a town called Wombat
and you got up last Sunday morning a few weeks ago
and you drove out of your property
and you went, what the hell happened here?
What's happened here?
There's all these circles on the road.
It wasn't a crop circle.
It wasn't a crop circle.
It was tea long.
Yeah, Trevor.
Trevor had a bit of fun out there.
I took my brother on a...
Not many places we could do this in the city.
I did it for my brother and he lost his mind
with excitement and videoed it and the whole thing.
It's an impressive thing, but it's not really...
And it works on any dirt road, normal road, works anywhere.
You wouldn't do it on a road that's not wet
because it would chew up the tyres.
It would chew through the tyres.
Really?
Yes.
You would not do this on a bitumen.
No, not at all.
But aside from that, it's just a Mercedes, isn't it?
It's just inside and driving.
Very similar to my car.
The system is the same.
What impressed me, of course, is just the size of the thing.
It's such a tall car.
I'm normally driving my sedan,
which is like sitting on the road.
This is the opposite where I'm sitting in traffic.
I could see the roof of every car in front of me
and getting in and out.
I'm not a short guy,
but I had to really make an effort to get up in the seat.
You got to use the side step.
I picked up my mother a couple of times.
I actually had to help her in and out of the car.
Well off the ground.
Same, I took Mum and her partner Gary
and it was a bit of a help required to get him into the car.
But it's not really made for that kind of assistance.
The thing is, it is a different ride
because it's made for the off-road.
We drove to the city and the man was like,
this thing's a bit bumpy and chunky.
He didn't love the ride as a passenger.
I think it's meant...
To me, what impressed me was just the build quality.
How strong the car looks.
See the door.
Had the loudest unlock and lock of any car ever.
Mechanical cinch.
Just like bang, wow.
It doesn't have a big boot.
It's not a seven-seater or anything.
Plenty of room for five people.
I came to Ikea one time to pick up some shelves.
I put the seats down and she was alright.
No dramas, happy days.
Not a problem.
The one we had was in a bright blue
so it stood out a little bit.
That was the edition one.
It did get a few people were asking about it.
The fact that it's more affordable than the petrol is wild.
By the way, they sell 400 plus of those G-wagons,
the petrol ones, every year.
There's a real dedicated band of fans.
I think it'll be fascinating.
It won't be broken down in the sales numbers
but it'll be interesting to see how many they sell
because I actually think for your eastern suburbs,
wealthy individual who's looking at the G-wagon,
this is just as appealing if not more
because it's electric.
Some people want the G-wagon for the sound
but others want it for the G-wagon.
I took my 14 year old daughter, she had to go to the city
and I picked her up at the school
and she went, you've got a G-wagon.
I went, how do you know what a G-wagon is?
Turns out all the influencers have them.
We had to bring another girl home for a lift home
and we walked to the car park, I went,
and she went, you've got a G-wagon.
I had no idea this thing would be so popular with girls.
I thought the market was just, you know,
it's an off-road car, but the influencers made it.
My daughter said I want it in white.
Yeah, nice.
Black could be nice too.
Most of the G-wagons are black.
But look, honestly, great car.
Very nice.
Yeah, well, you know what, if you can afford it,
and I'm assuming it's a very safe car too
because it's built like a tank.
I think you could run over cars in it.
Did you notice the traffic light camera?
Yeah, that's on every Mercedes.
Every time you stop at the lights,
there's traffic light camera, you press that,
and it's like, man, I can see this.
What are you showing me?
My car offers that too, but I don't use it.
We worked it out.
So I think it's more American thing.
You know, a lot of American lights are
on this side of the road where you're parked,
there's a light hanging over you.
It's so that you can see that light.
Yes, because I press it every time
and I go, I can see that from the...
What are you showing me?
It kept offering me the option.
In my car, I turn that off at the settings, right?
But in this one, it just kept offering it.
And once I touched it, I said, OK, I'll have a go.
Look, I will say, finally,
on-road energy efficiency, very poor on the highways.
This was not a...
Ranges.
This was...
Oh, ironic, isn't it?
It's a car that you would take on a trip like that
out in the middle of nowhere.
That would be my main criticism.
At $300,000, I would want a bit more range.
OK.
So disappointing.
Anyway, I handed it back the keys.
You can have it.
But they called me and said, where is it?
Not OK.
They didn't really.
Great car.
A bit of fun.
And it was good to drive.
We enjoyed that.
We got a bunch of cars coming up.
We got cars we haven't talked about yet.
Yes, we have.
We've got MGs.
We've got J-Cous, Super Hybrids.
We've got...
What else have we not talked about?
What do we have while we had the G-Wagon?
We had the...
Do we have a Kia?
It's a Kia.
Which it was at the EV3 at the same time.
I think we spoke it at the EV3.
We already spoke about that.
Anyway, we've got a lot of cars coming up.
Yeah.
We're going to hear about them here.
Right here on Two Blokes Storing Electric Cars.
Great to have you company on Two Blokes Storing Electric Cars.
We'd love to hear from you.
Oh, four, double seven, six, five, seven, six, five, seven.
Send us a text.
Thanks to Vodafone.
We'll take your call and have you on the show.
Whatever you want to talk about with electric cars.
Benita is on the line.
G'day.
G'day.
Hey, how are you guys?
Very well.
We understand you've just taken delivery in just the recent days or weeks of a brand new car.
What'd you get?
I got the Kia EV3.
And I got it on Monday last week.
Wow.
So you're fresh.
That's awesome.
Fresh in the Kia.
What did you consider?
G'day.
Are you always going to get an electric car?
No.
When I was looking for a new car,
I had a Duke before, a 2015 Nissan Duke,
and I was just looking for like a similar small SUV.
I was looking at the, maybe the CHRs, the Toyotas,
and then the Sportage.
And then when we went to look for the Sportage,
I saw the EV3 and I was like, yeah, I want that one.
So hang on.
So you liked it because a look of it,
or did you know it was an EV to begin with?
I knew it was an EV, but I liked the look of it.
Like I saw both the air and the GT in the lot.
And I just, I don't know.
Yeah.
I'm an emotional decision maker.
So I liked it.
It didn't matter to me.
Emotional.
You were emotional too.
But so how soon before you saw it and then you had it,
was it a long time you had to wait or you got it straight away?
No, it was like a month, I want to say.
Okay.
It's not too bad.
That's not bad at all.
That's pretty short.
But having made that decision to look at an EV,
did you then go,
I should look at other EVs or you were just sold on the key
or at that point?
I did.
I did try and get influenced by a certain person that is maybe
a producer, Rob, to get a REY bikini.
So that's just for context.
Benita's dropped.
Benita's dad is a longtime friend of the show.
Friend of the show, Rob.
Helps me with the ESGN podcast.
He's a mad BYD owner.
Very early adopter, wouldn't you say, Benita?
He was, he had one of the early BYDs.
He's only second one.
Yes.
So he tried to twist you into the BYD, did he?
Yeah, he'd sent me the links to the sea lion and the
hybrids or whatever they were.
I didn't find them as pretty on the outside as the Kia.
He does send annoying links a lot.
Oh, does he?
Imagine he was here.
So I can ignore him.
Benita's daughter, you can't ignore him.
So you ended up with an EV3.
What was delivery day like?
Was the Duke a brand new car when you got it?
Or was this your first brand new car?
No, the Duke was used car.
So this was the very first time I'd got a new car.
And it was fine.
They put the bow on it and they took the photo and he
explained the app to me which was helpful.
So good delivery experience then, was it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I didn't end up getting the car from the lot where I
saw it the first time.
That kid was really busy so we ended up going to
a different one but they were nice at the second one.
Shop around, you're entitled to.
Benita, what sort of driving do you do?
Is an EV going to suit your driving?
Do you drive long distances and have you
considered where you're going to charge it as well?
So I do drive about 30Ks to work every morning
and 30Ks home so I'm about 40 minutes in traffic
if I'm lucky.
So that's kind of why the EV worked for me a bit more
because the depreciation on a petrol car,
just the Ks would have gone out way too quickly.
And what was the second question?
I forgot it.
Your charging situation.
Do you're charging at home?
Have you got a wall charger?
Are you doing public charging?
How are you going to charge your vehicle?
I do it at home.
I just chuck it on every night.
We switched, me and my partner,
we switched to an EV plan on our electricity provider.
You get like 20 cents off
between the hours of 12 and 6 in the morning
but I just chuck it on when I get home
it gets me through the week
and then I actually did go to a charging station
thingy for a test.
And it wasn't as cheap as I thought it would be
so quickly to get out.
Like 25% is enough, that's fine.
So you actually had a bit of bill shock there
on the cost of public charging.
That's kind of like the old petrol days, right?
Like I don't realise anymore.
And again, you're young.
Your father's very old.
He would appreciate this.
Stephen, that's saying something.
But the thing is, when you get to our age,
although your father was tired now,
so he's now gone back to penny pinching, right?
So when you're working and you're like,
hey, I don't really worry and think about the cost
of running the car.
Whereas Jackson, my 18 year old,
he's looking at prices of petrol and going,
Dad, can I drive your electric car please today?
That's not a bad thing.
You know how people go rich?
They watch the pity sometimes.
Life lessons from the given.
So you're happy then with the,
is it the trickle charger?
So you got it just into a normal power point at home.
So what we call it the granny charger.
Yeah, it was quite shocking
when I first got it, not going to lie,
because I put it on charge
and then the app said, oh, 30 hours
until it's complete and I went, oh my God.
So I had a little freak out,
which I'm sure when you're new to the EVs,
you probably don't realise
that it's not as simple as just chucking it
on charge and then going to 100.
Other than that,
I've got an experienced EV driver
who explained to me
how it all works.
And he has,
Dad has a wall charger anyway,
so I'll just scab his electricity.
Let's just go around and just say,
Dad, I'm popping round to see you.
Let me just, let's make it a four hour dinner.
I'll just plug in.
A long dinner.
Yeah, every Wednesday.
I'm going to take it if I can
if he lets me, but I'm sure I'll get a bill.
Oh, no, you won't.
He bloody will to. He'll invoice you.
He will.
After just a week or so,
have you had any gripes about the EV3
like legitimately things that you go,
wow, this is maybe,
I'd prefer it wasn't like this,
or just little things that maybe
you've got a learning curve for?
Not really.
The only thing that I think
anyone would possibly
have a problem with
is just the inside.
Then obviously there's no gear shift
or whatever you call the thing.
Open space.
So the only gripe I feel like anybody would have
is just that there's no
center console where you can put like storage
and whatnot.
My Duke never had that, so my car was just
I'm used to that, but it is kind of
a little bit jarring just seeing all your belongings
like just out in the open
or, you know,
just got to be careful. You've got the glove box
obviously, but you know, most people
I would say most people have a center console.
And the cup holes, I recall the EV3,
they're quite low.
They are.
They are.
And I have long limbs.
I'm five foot nine, so they're a bit long for me.
So yeah.
But other than I think that the car itself
it's so roomy.
Like I said, I came from a Duke. It's very sleek.
The CHRs, when I was looking at them
super sleek.
I think it's a bit small. I'm not sure,
but it feels big.
My friend got in and she got two kids.
She said it feels big and that's the smallest
SUV I've got.
My wife drives the Kia, but
petrol Kia and
I said, she said, oh wait, it's big. And I said,
really, this is the smallest one they've got.
She said, too.
Well, that's a win.
You've had a win. You've got a great car.
It's going to last you a long time.
You know, you're going to trickle charge it.
We've learned just quickly. We've learned over last weeks
and we talked about it recently, but, you know, trickle charging
your car or slow charging your car, even at your dad's
place, but not using public charges
excessively. And we mean, use them whenever you
need to, but not if that's your only way of charging.
You're going to get really good battery life.
You can still get by. It's going to extend.
It's going to give you good battery life.
So in five years, eight years, that car is
still going to be an absolute cracker.
So you've done well. I think I own a Kia as well.
I think they're a great car. So well done,
Benita and lovely to hear it. And if you do
have feedback on the car, positive or negative,
because everyone learns from each other,
we'd always love to hear from you. Okay.
So I'm the old man and plug your car in as often as you can
too. Okay. Yeah.
I took it around there in the first day
and it was pretty dirty. I had a better car than him.
So. That's the best ever.
All right. Lovely to hear from you, Benita,
and enjoy the driving.
Thanks guys. Have a great rest of your day.
No worries at all. Yeah. Well, I mean,
it's a great car. There's no doubt about it.
I said to Joe, I said, this is
your next car, I reckon. And Aaron
got in touch. He goes, mate, whenever, whenever she's
ready. He jumped on it.
He dropped into my DM.
I slipped into my DMs and told me,
he said, mate, when you're ready.
All right. We'd love to hear from you.
If you've got an electric car or you're in the market,
get in touch. 0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Oh, yeah. You're more
of the drum bongo man, but I thought I'd join in.
You know, that's what I'm saying.
Hey, I'm not calling you a bongo. No, not at all.
That would be a great sledge, though.
Sounds like a good sledge.
Yeah. Anyway, 0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Paul's on the line. Good day, Paul. How you doing, mate?
Good day, guys. How you doing?
Mate, really well. What do you want to talk about,
mate, in the world of EVs?
I'm still looking
for driving a
camera hybrid at the moment.
But
I'm aware until I listen to your
podcast was that the range that they advertise
is not the same range as if you
drive in highways. And I do a lot of
highway miles. Yes.
And so
the thought I had was the same way that
in the petrol cars,
there's this sort of highway efficiency
versus city.
In terms of kilometer range,
I thought of an idea of them putting out
that saying this is what our range is
for city versus highway.
So you had an idea of what to expect on highway.
That's a good point. So on a fuel
consumption sticker for a petrol car,
you get a fuel consumption number.
So I'm looking at one now, a sample on the
Internet, 6.5. It says that's
combined test. And then it says urban
8.2 extra urban
highways, 5.5.
And so you're saying, given everything
you've kind of heard and learned from us here now already,
why don't we do the same thing
with electric cars?
Exactly. So to give me some more
of an idea of what to expect,
so some cars are saying, I'm looking at saying
5.5 and that sort of thing,
but if that's from what I've heard you guys
saying is more, if you're doing
a lot of your short drives,
what's the kilometers I'm due to expect
if I'm doing sort of like going
a couple hundred kilometers at a time?
It's a good point.
My cars are not sitting here, but on both
our cars, I've kept the fuel
efficiency sticker on. It's called an
energy consumption sticker on an electric car,
but I've actually still got them on the window.
But I'm looking at a sample one here from
Infrastructure Department,
which obviously regulates these things.
So an electric car will show you energy consumption,
which is watt hours per kilometer.
It'll show you fuel consumption zero,
because obviously a hybrid will show you this as well.
It'll show you CO2 emissions,
which a petrol car does as well, but it'll also
show you a range in kilometers.
And so what we're saying, and I think this is
a great idea, honestly, Paul, it should
say range,
I don't know, combined.
And then it should say range,
highway. Yeah, it should be the same.
Yeah.
Didn't we say that an EV
is kind of opposite to a petrol car?
So a highway drive,
you're going to burn through the
battery faster, whereas a petrol
car has more efficiency.
So that was news to you.
You didn't realize that there was this disparity?
No.
I've been contacting various manufacturers
and none of them have been
able to give me those figures.
No, they don't publish them.
If you go to a website and you download
the specs for a car,
all that stuff there
except any difference between
highway and city driving.
So where are you in the world
of the market, mate?
Are you driving a hybrid, you said?
Are you contemplating electric?
And this has kind of put a bump in the road?
Yeah, this has put a bump in the road, yeah.
I was reluctant to
the first, but then knowing that
here were people saying they've been able
to do a trickle-charging and granny-charging
overnight, that's the thing.
Okay, fine, that sort of has eased that
because it's not really charging around where I am.
But then the whole
thing of highway range
is taking
a step back to think more closely about
different cars and range
in that respect.
Why driving, obviously?
All I do is I'm
doing sort of 50Ks each way
for work, but then on my days off
I'm doing two, three hundred
sort of each way. I sort of go after
friends out and double and that sort of thing.
Now it's important to look at,
but you know when you see on some
range figures
it has WLTP
That's the standard here in Australia.
That's Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles
Test Procedure. So that's the same
across petrol cars as it in
for EVs as well. Which is why
a petrol car publishes a combined
range, which is urban
and extra urban.
And all Paul's saying, and it's a bloody great point
mate, you've made a great point.
The bottom line is petrol cars tell you
the efficiency in the city and on the highways
electric cars don't, and we need to
think about that, especially as an educational
thing, Paul, because obviously
you just finally got over the range anxiety
or the charging anxiety issue
or the trickle charging of work and now you've got
to deal with this. You're going to have to wait
until cars do some serious
range because this is never going to change.
And I can tell you right now, Paul, from doing a lot
of driving on highways, mate stick to 80
you're all good, but I'm tipping
that on the weekend you do not want to stick to
80 driving to your mate's place in the country.
Yeah, exactly right.
But I think though that it would
be a surprise for drivers
or new EV drivers to learn
that it's the highway
is the most inefficient
part of the drive.
So because they'd assumed that like
my petrol car, I got better
fuel efficiency on a highway.
So yeah, if you really have a crack
it's going to impact. Well done, Paul.
You've come up with a great idea. I do have one last
question though. It's very, very important question, Paul.
Are you two new voiceovers? Are you working radio
mate? Because what a voice!
You should do radio.
In the past life I sort of did
but haven't really.
We heard
your voice, Melan. Stephen just
went this blank sort of voice for radio.
How good is it? You're a good man.
We appreciate you jumping on the line so quickly, mate.
Thanks a lot, buddy. Good luck. Here you go.
If you end up buying an EV, we want to hear about it.
Thank you.
Good on you mate. Paul jumped on the line
and he did have somewhere to go so we were
jumping in there. His mates called him John Laws.
He's got a great voice.
So I'm committed to
we'll write a list at some point.
I said to you let's do a restart
of this show
essentially because we've grown
and changed the stuff that we used to
every week do these little things and I think we need to go
okay let's do an episode or two where it's just like
okay, you know if you're an EV owner
you might skip these episodes but
for the new to the EV world let's just go
back to basics exactly and we'll think
about what we can do. But also too
we should maybe
between us sort of split up a list of
manufacturers and contact them about this
issue with the
what information
do you have for customers who are asking
about the highway? Well I think
it's something we can ask Julie from the EV
it's really an industry thing
and maybe we could reach out
to government and say
why have we created this sticker that
doesn't have the same information? Does it give you the information you need?
We learnt this about petrol cars
why didn't we do this the year? Hello.
Funny enough anyway. Alright
two black story electric cars are always great
to have your company and you can get in touch
yourself 0457 657 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
0457 657
Get it get it to us digital suggestion. Well, you know what if you want to hear about something ask ask the question
Yeah, but just so you know
We will ask you to come on the show because it's so much easier if you ask us then ask just going well
We had a call from something like come on get on the show. It's not hard. We're just two bikes talking like your cars
That's all we are that's it. Steven wait bite and not well you might sometimes
That was in a formal life
He's not talking literally should have left it alone, but yeah moving on all right
Let's get back to your calls Gary's on the line. Good a Gary
Hi good to hear from you mate Gary. We've spoken to you before you are the Gary the man behind the care EV owners association
And we've talked about a lot of things over recent weeks that that you can kind of feed us on and let's let's break it down
There were a couple of things the 12-volt battery the storage issue. You've got some numbers on that
We had a call last week or so who'd been at an airport for a lot of time
What can you tell us about storage time and also the 12-volt battery issue?
Yeah, it was fascinating when I heard your guy because I was in the middle of the same sort of scenario
I'd I'd head away for nine or ten weeks and
Before I left I thought well, what do I do?
I say I decided I'd charge my car to 80 and just let it sit there and see what happened
I hid the keys from the kids so no one could touch it and drive it
And all was good now my cars a bit different. So it's a Kia EV6 all-wheel drive
And I had it for three years and done 60 odd thousand cars
It does not have Kia connect which might be different for other people
It would be for Kia connect existed
And I'm in an apartment block. So I actually have a dash cam that sits there
And I think I think each night you know checks if someone runs to the back of the car on the car park a few things like that
So
Not normal mode
I notice each night my 12-volt battery drops a little bit and then about two or three a.m
The big battery kicks in and tops it up each night. It's been doing that for months and months
I just want to stop you there
Yeah, so so you're saying to me because I mentioned that in my Cooper I get this little 12-volt warning
Are you telling me that so for example if the car's
Park sitting there and you do have a dash cam it's it is draining from that 12-volt battery
But are you saying the big battery kind of kicks in at some point because most people go what are you talking about?
It's got a huge battery. How's it draining? So it kicks in and and like an alternator actually gives the 12-volt back charge
Yeah, correct. Now, I mean I've got all the latest software
I've got a relatively new 12-volt battery, but it's been doing that religiously and a couple of people said to me
Oh, you shouldn't stop the the 12 volt draining. You shouldn't change your settings. I said, well, I don't care if it's stopping up every night
That's fine. Yeah
So anyway, so that's that's the normal behavior. I went away came back
And the big battery's gone from 78 down to 66. So 12 percent in nine or 10 weeks about a percent
Not too bad a week. Not too bad. I think that's all right
And then I looked at I'm going to 12-volt monitor. So I then go and look at the 12-volt monitor and for the first
Yeah, yeah, correct. Correct. Well
it's
People with Kiri these know this is a necessary piece of equipment
Um, so after the first 10 days I went away. It's kept doing that
Nightly top up and I thought that's not surprising. But then after about 10 days it stopped
and the 12-volt stopped draining
And it did that for like a week. So it's 12-volt stop draining. So it stopped dropping up
Now the only thing I wonder is if
It's in like a sleep mode. So it's not my dash cam draining at all
But it's in some sort of sleep like like your laptop. Yeah, so it's using some power to keep alive
And then after two weeks it says you're not coming back
I'll go into full shutdown mode. Now that was my theory
One of the things that we I think when we had that caller about his car and I talked
I think Genesis was his car. Yeah, we were wondering whether the things like, you know
Waiting for your key fob to arrive your car's always kind of
Searching for you to come near it. And one of the torque Gary was like with an e
Okay, even if some of them there's a fingerprint sensor. It's always
Waiting to be touched
Weirdly. Um, so I'm wondering whether that might have been it but it sounds like you discovered what it was
Well, no, I didn't really because it's two weeks. It didn't charge and it didn't drop
And then it went back into doing it every two nights
It would drop a bit and every two nights it would top up again. So I got back
So in the middle of that whole period it went to deep sleep and then it went into medium sleep again
Yeah, that's that's what happened
I'm I'm sort of and to me that I guess what I've been telling the key of people a bottom line is
Go away now charge at 80% go away
If you've got the latest software and hopefully a relatively new battery, I guess
This shouldn't have a problem. I mean if you lose
Yeah, Gary
You'd be in the best position to answer this question. What is the sentiment among key e v drivers? Are they happy?
Are they are they like their vehicles? What's what's the great question? I
I
I'll answer it
The most diplomatic while I can I guess I mean people love the cars
But
Are uncomfortable with the key a customer service
No, we've heard that about we've heard that about dealership sales stuff
Yes, um, I like my my personal example
I mean, I've only had it had its service twice. I've taken it in off. I've gone
I I guess I haven't needed customer service in what circumstances is the
concern mainly coming out
It is things when there's a problem when the 12 volt battery fails
You know, it's I mean when mine failed they said well
It's probably a warranty thing that would need the battery for two days to to confirm that
So we'll need your car for two days now. Well
Okay, I can't you buy that
I'd rather just go buy a new battery. But is that still I mean
Why are the 12 volt issue much less much less two months into owning the car because we left it on charge overnight and a lot of things happen
But then the software update came and it was fixed. So is the
Issue still the 12 volt battery and the ICC. Yeah, people are still having some issues
But I'm in my heart. I actually won. I wonder whether everyone's got all the updates
Yes, so if you've taken it to a dealer who doesn't know a great service and he doesn't do all the updates
And then you have the problem, you know, so people are still having the problems
But but when they're great cars and when you get it working properly, it's great. Yeah, you know, I think
I think I mean my relationship with here is a bit interesting now that they they didn't like some of my frank advice
That I gave my customer service. So so we're now self-funded here organization
um
The history there for people is that uh, gary was got a little bit of funding from the kia company to start this user group
And then essentially they they they didn't love the way it was very frank and honest group
And so they they they decided not to renew their funding
So, you know, you've become essentially any like almost any other car club and that's that is what it is
But it's still a fascinating kind of insight in in your direct contact with with owners
That are out there in the market, uh, isn't it steven? And there's a lot of other data you can get from that
I want to ask too about and you've you I don't know whether you heard recently about my tyre dramas
with Sadie
Um, and you've done a bit of a survey among your members too about dry tyres
Tell us what what that what that turned up. Yeah, sure
So I think and and this goes back to the kia australia relationship thing
one of the things I said to them was we can give you a lot of
Interesting information how you use it is use your progress, but I mean and a good example
Which is is not the tire one, but but 25 percent of our owners have never used a public charger. Wow
All right, you think I guess that's just people who do their 30 or 40 case a day
You know
So we have all this fuss about what the public charging infrastructure is like
A lot of people don't have never used it in a year to you
But also on top of that you could look at those same numbers and you could probably extrapolate you might even know it already
That and then of the 75 percent that have it's probably 50 percent of them are only using it like once a quarter or something like that
Yeah, correct. Correct. Yeah, correct. Now when you need it, you need it
and
But but it's it's all those sorts of things. So we've got a lot of that sort of information and
So we're about to do another another annual survey and get a whole heap of stuff like that
Tires was the other one. Yeah, and in fact it was it was prompted partly by your conversation around tires
so
We asked we've got we've got about 400 members. So
We we've asked every on their their their experience now
We really only got enough information from ev6 owners because
Needless to say ev3s and vv5s even ev9 not many of them done enough pretty enough kilometers to have a problem
so
Let me let me give you the numbers and you might you might come from another interesting conclusion too
So we have best part of 100 people
Replace tires
One guy replaced his before he got to 20,000
Wow
But 20 got over 60. Wow
40 got got over 50 so 40 percent of people got over 50,000 cars. That's
Wow, that's a difference for sure. Wow. Yeah, you know
One guy got 70
And and see I wonder how much of this again
Where was I I was with uh, I was a little harry teenager in a 13 year old and we we took a bike bicycle
Which had flat tires. I took it to the service station. We pumped it up and then I drove away and I went
Oh, god, I'm an idiot. I should have checked the tires. He goes. What do you mean? They're fine
He I said, no, no, no, you've you've got to check them regularly. Yeah, there's an owner
And and unfortunately and with respect steve and I said this to you recently
I said you should check your tires and you're gonna have the car all alert me
But I genuinely think you've got to go and check it yourself to find out what it is
Because what we learned in our experience from the from the tire people I went to anyway was over in flight
And and so the car was not asking me to over inflate
Do you have any knowledge or feedback from people that might have given you ancillary feedback other than just the data
About why the tires went early. Yeah, I I guess I asked the question about driving style
Because I don't know and the guy who didn't get 20 said he's got the he's got the full gt version
And he loves driving aggressively. Yeah, that's easy. There you go. Yeah, that's easy
That's easy
But a couple of the guys who didn't get 30 said they drive like a granny every day
You know in economy mode, they drive like a granny
Now I wonder whether it's tire pressure or I wonder whether it's alignment alignment. Yeah
Yeah, I'd say the alignment for sure. Yeah
I remember when I had my tire issues
That's what the guy at the store said to me said all my alignment was out on my car by a long way
And you know alignment goes out, but you know, should it be out from the start?
Well, he said well, his quote to me was you know, these
But these cars bounce around on boats for months and that's what stuff's up to the the alignment
Fascinating. You think it'd be part of a pre-delivery experience. Well, you'd think so
Maybe it needs part of the you know, again, that's that's one of those ones you think well
Maybe we should be checking those things a bit more. You know, but it might also be it might also be people hitting curbs and
Potholes and yeah, true. Yeah, Potholes. Yeah, that's me mate Pothole. I'm Pothole King. Yeah
You're a pothole magnet my man. Yeah, and I was the customer at the month of my local bow repair. Well, it's uh
It's he made they were they had a Christmas party. They had a holiday to Hawaii
And the Pirelli reps loving life too. Oh, yeah, he got a promotion the guy
So it just finally because it's great data and everything so for people that do own a Kia EV and we've we've had
Many many new owners over recent times. What do they do to to reach out to join your your car?
Go to kevoker. So kia EV owner's club. So it's
www.kevoker.com.au
It's free
It doesn't cost them anything and and
There will be a survey and I'd encourage anyone especially people with an EV nine
That's a member that you know when they get the survey to please fill it in this time. I feel I feel
I feel like I didn't fill in the last one. That's Gary saying Trevor
Yeah
That's part of the deal you fill in the survey. I'll keep giving you the numbers. All right. Okay. It's a deal. All right
You know where to find me. All right, mate. Great to hear you again. Gary. We love it. Thanks, mate
Thanks guys. Thanks. Great to hear from you. Yeah. I mean, it's it's data and that's yeah
That's what makes the world go around. I like how kia said well, you know, that's a bit too honest for our
For our blood there for maybe uh, I don't think they knew what they were getting when with Gary, you know
Yeah, well, you know, good on him though
He's not going to sugarcoat the world. Well, you know what if there's information that can help other people then, you know
I mean it out there. I'd have them to say that
Kia BYD is a few other companies that we've been quite critical of their dealership style
I don't think they'd want to fund a club with us at the time that they're running it
you know what but mate if it's if it's
You know how you often get us you just ask you about a survey you often get asked to fill
You know, you do something with a company and they say, oh, do you want filling out the survey?
And if you've had a good experience, you're likely to fill it out. That's true
Well, that's the that's why I was also kind of thinking about how much you dig into the data because
If you if it's front of mind like let's say the 12 volt battery issue, right? Yeah, honestly
If you're a kiviana listening that you're going holy crap. What's this issue? Yeah, gotta tell you
I've had my
Can't I'm what's called ev9 now for a couple of years
Yeah
It was an issue in the first month and then it's never been issued because we got a software update
So the I'm just I'm not degrading Gary's numbers
I'm just saying you've also got a question how many people didn't fill it out because I don't know what you're talking about
What's a 12 volt issue? Yeah, but most importantly for I think from Gary's call and the message is
When you're when you're getting your car serviced if you're not getting it serviced at the dealership
Totally a prerogative but ask them do they know how to do a software update and secondly take it to a dealership and say
I think it should be free if it's a new car under three years
It should be free to get a software update. How long will it take you to do the software update?
I don't want to book it in just for that. Yeah, make sure you've got the latest software
This applies to all cars. You can't do this over the air at home. It should be over the air like mine. Mine's doing over the air
It only works. Okay, so yeah, but but maybe there's some so like Porsche is an interesting one. They
They they say they have OTA, but they do the dealership like they run the OTA
Similar I've got I've got an update that's been it said it's going to happen for the last couple of months
And and it says oh it's going to install after the next drive and hasn't done it
Yeah, right. I might have to go back to the dealership myself. You might need to force it in or something when you park
Just go in and I've tried I've tried. It's not going to do anything. It doesn't want to do
Your car. Well, that's probably a good thing. Unlike a tesla. They'll do things
Okay
To black story electric cars, we'd love to hear from you. Oh four double seven six five seven six five seven
We've got a lot coming up in the weeks ahead. We're going to talk to a guy who
Mentioned Julie from the EV council a couple times in the last couple of weeks
But she put me on it. She mentioned a new member. She had we're going to talk to him in the next couple of weeks
They're they're reusing car batteries
Yes, and and the way they were using me is awesome and I'm going to catch up with them
So we'll do that and we'll we'll open your suggestions anything you want to talk about
We'd love to hear from you on the two bikes talking electric cars. Oh four double seven six five seven six five seven
Steven see you next week catch you then all right
Oh
Request an explanation for:
7 cars
Scroll for more
7 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars
More from Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast
122 - The all-electric Ute? This landscaper owns one!
May 31, 2026
121 - The Farizon Electric Van owner review, and our Skoda Reviews
May 24, 2026
120 - Why is Zeekr booming? Plus Government incentive clarity at last
May 17, 2026
119 - Another month of EV sales booming, and your calls on your first EV!
May 10, 2026