095 - Polestar 4 Review and Vehicle to Grid explained by Ausgrid

This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Steven Fenwick and Trevor Long. Thanks to NRMA

Insurance and UNIDEN. And we appreciate their support. NRMA Insurance, a help company helping

Australians protect what matters most for 100 years and 100 more to come and UNIDEN smart dashcams.

So you can get yourself a dashcam front and rear. They've got plenty of models out there for every

award-winning dashcams. They just want a design award too. Yes, a design award for the Dashcam 40.

So yeah, they do not only are great functionally but also look great. Yeah, and Dashcam gives you a

bit of peace of mind when you're out on the road and when you get back home after something happens.

It's just that little peace of mind that'll keep you going. Completely. We've got a bunch to talk

about today. We have your calls to get to on 0447657657. We're also going to talk to Nick Black

from Ausgrid about vehicle to grid and curbside charging. A lot of infrastructure conversations

happening about electric cars and your calls. But Stephen, we've been driving the Polestar 4

over the last little while now. We both took the same car but different. You took the dual

motor, the single motor and it's funny because I didn't know which one I got. I just drove it away

and then I went on, there's two of them and I realized mine has 200 kilowatts of power and

it's written on the side of the car. You know, they put that on the front door. It's kind of a

very Polestar-ish thing to do. Very much. I thought they just did it. In case you forget what the

car's called, it says it right there. I thought they did it just at the press cars when they first

launched the Polestar 2 but then you realize them driving around there. It's on everyone.

So 620k range on the single motor, about 590 on the dual motor. I was driving here.

Let's talk negatives first because there's a couple. Negatives first. I want to get this

past and through. There weren't too many but there are a couple that stood out for me.

Weirdly and we are tech guys. We have a 15-year-old podcast called Two Bikes Talking Tech and I'm

going to tell you it's the tech that I don't love about this car. It's a little too much.

I get that it's all possible but my question is why do you have to do it just because it's possible?

So first and foremost, you look at the back of this car and it's got like a hatch, a hatchback

and there is a clear space there where the window would be. It's like there's a line where you would

think that's the rear window but it's not. It's blacked out and instead of a rear window there's

a camera on the roof which gives you a digital mirror. Now digital mirrors are not new. They've

been in cars for five more years and some cars have them as an option. You flick the little thing

that goes to digital, flick it back, it goes to standard mirror. That's not an option in this car

and I'll tell you why that's a problem for me. These glasses that I wear are for reading. So

up close. And so I wear multifocal. So the bottom half of this glass, excellent here. I can see my

computer screen. The top half I can see everything in front of us. It's great. I've gotten used to

it in a way but I don't really wear them out. I don't wear these glasses when I'm driving.

No, you shouldn't because they blur the distance. I can still see distance well but

my problem with the mirror was that... If you wear the glasses, fine. Even without the glasses,

I have to... If you wear the glasses, the mirror's fine. Yeah but without them you're right. So I'd

have to sort of pull focus a little bit like whereas the mirror is a mirror, right? So just there.

With the digital mirror I had to actually... We're not the only people with glasses.

Yeah, exactly. There's some advantages to what I get. You can change the

aspect so you can have it up and down and it's good. And you know what bothered me,

I don't know whether you found this but it seemed that the cars behind you through the camera were

closer than what they actually wear in class. I thought these guys tailgate me but he actually

wasn't. But the other side of it, this might make you laugh, the other side of it which was the

outside is you couldn't give a thank you wave. No! Mate, the number of times I did these ones...

I wear this and they're like, it's not going to see me. Yeah. I'm wearing the wind all the way off of

the wave and if someone doesn't give me a wave I think, come on mate, give me a wave. Yeah, you merge.

But no, the pole start, no wave. So the other tech thing that I find fascinating, now this is

context for us. We drive a different car every week and it's complicated. We don't own the car,

we don't have the app and the setup and all that stuff. But I'm like dude,

I every time I had to set up Apple CarPlay and I spoke to Scott from Polestar and he organized

for me to pair my key to the driver profile and I got most of that sorted so that when I get in

it's all connected and working right. Yes, well that explains a few things for me then.

Why you have to, every time you've got to turn on the location settings. So as an owner you would

never need to do that. So I'd have to go in and what I'd do is my phone wouldn't be, I'd press

CarPlay and go there's no phone connected. I go in the phone list and I'd see my phone and just

press the CarPlay symbol. All of that, let me say, is down to owning the car. I think that's

overlooked. I've overcome with that. But there's still, the key has no buttons. There are no buttons

on it. Now we have had an issue in the past with a car that had a dead battery and we couldn't

literally drive the car at all. But we'll get into it. And this one, there was a day where I

walked out the front, the car was just parked at the front, I walked out the front and I'm standing

at the car going, hello? What's happening? And I'm pushing the button. That happened to me

two or three times. I'm next to the car, nothing. I'm even tapping it on the windows.

I'm here. What's happening? So I know I had a heart attack because I didn't want to have to do that

thing again. Yeah, I was the same. But there's other times where I would walk out and what happens

is it's like a two-phase system. I'd walk out of the house in the dark and the Polestar logo on the

front would light up and that's like it knows there's a key here. And then you get closer and the

door's unlocked. Oh, that's awesome. It presents itself to you. But other times where I'm like,

you'd have to tap your finger on the door for it to come out. And there was one time where it

didn't happen at all. I feel like, honestly, let's just come on. Just bring back the button, folks.

I agree. And even like walking away from the car, that was good. It was only short distance,

like five or six meters and it locks up. Although the radio and the music still playing in the car

Where's it off? Where's it off button? So that wasn't there. But yeah, I had a couple of close

calls with the studio. I understand that we've worked out that you can see where the key is

and the technology's there. But honestly, just give us back a button. I do believe though,

wholeheartedly, I'd get used to all those things as an owner. I just want you to know those things.

They're trying to create this sort of frictionless experience with the car.

And I get it because Tesla has this whole thing with the keys and the cars and the phones.

And again, there's a phone app and all that stuff that we haven't tested because we haven't paired

that. But let me tell you, this is a beautiful looking car. Lovely car. This thing drives

beautifully. The interior on this thing is gorgeous. I never felt I needed it,

but I can tell there's more. So I understand the dual motor would have gone better.

I just the luxurious appointment of the Polestar interior is almost second to none.

In this class, in the sub one hundred thousand dollar class, right? Absolutely.

Even though this would challenge the Mercedes, just just compare this to everything else in

the class. I don't think there's an interior that comes near to it. I would argue Zika are doing

an excellent job probably close. Yeah, I think and I think expense not bad either. Maybe not

quite to this class, but I think this is in a different level. Zika, you're right. I agree.

Zika punches above their weight. This is beautiful. I think this car

sets the standard for Polestar. The Polestar two was was like a first attempt. It had a transmission

tunnel and stuff. Polestar four is sedan like with a hatch. Yeah, but built to ground up as an EV.

But the Polestar three is probably the one of choice because it's more of like an SUV size and

it's got a rear window and it has a bit of extra space, but it also takes you to another price

bracket. So yeah, Polestar four at, you know, mine does the single motor seventy four thousand

dollars, which is I think is reasonable for what you're getting. The style, the quality, performance,

I think that's a pretty good deal. I think if you are willing to consider a new brand, so if you're

not going to buy a legacy auto car, so you're not going to buy a Kia or whatever it is, or you're

considering those and you're willing to consider others. Yeah, if you're not considering Polestar,

you are mad. Absolutely. Yeah, that Polestar worthy of a there are people who would see would buy

Volvo. No, no, no, it's just yeah, Polestar is part of the again under that one Gilly

group. Gilly. Yeah. Right. They're not even like, so they bought them or something. They are. Oh,

yeah. Volvos owned by Gilly and everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Gilly is yeah, but that you

but you can tell that there is a bit of a layover of the Volvo design to it. Yeah, very much so,

which I think is why it feels so luxurious. Do yourself a favor, test drive the Polestar 4.

It's quite beautiful. Yeah, great range too. I had to do a couple of decent drives.

Because by the way, it does 22 kilowatt AC charges. I know, I texted you the photo.

It was so good. Great. Yeah, I charged it here. 22 kilowatts. Nice and fast. I connected it like

my Mercedes only does seven at home and I plugged this in. I sent you the photos, screen shot,

I said 22. How good's this? No, great car. Well worth a look. Do the price configuration online,

but head down to one of the places that are selling Polestar and get yourself seats in and

enjoy the beautiful interior and take it for a spin. We don't mind it at all. Highly rated.

All right, two more story electric cars. More from Ausgrid. Your calls coming up.

Two black story electric cars. We will get to your call shortly. 0477657657. If you want to talk

anything about electric cars, we'd love to hear from you. But in the meantime, Stephen,

Ausgrid, a very, very large infrastructure provider here in New South Wales. And you think about

power infrastructure, it's poles and wires as they call it, but it's so much more these days.

And it's a lot of it is also in the testing and I guess validating of new things like vehicle to

grid, curbside charging. There's a whole range of things that they need to be involved in because

all the money in the world will, will, will buy charging. Like we talk about highways, right?

They will buy a big building. It'll buy land. It'll buy charges, but it won't supply the power

and the powers there. Right. Nick Black is Ausgrid's head of EBC and infrastructure.

And he joins us on the line to talk about all such things. Nick, great to have you with us, mate.

Thanks, Trevor. Mate, let's talk vehicle to grid first. There's two key things I really

want to unpack with you a bit to help everyone who's in the market for electric cars or own

electric cars. And they are there, vehicle to grid and curbside charging. We have talked about

VDG before. I feel like maybe six months ago, we did a bit of a chat about it. Where are we at

today with vehicle to grid, which in principle is the concept of I park my car and my driveway

at night or in the day. And when I plug it into the wall, my car might actually push power

outwards that energy, energy providers can then use for other people.

Yeah, it's a fantastic opportunity. And I guess to answer that, we're getting closer and closer

every day. And I think like a significant step towards a more flexible and resilient energy

future that allows you to not only use your vehicle to be transported around, but also

allows you to export to the grid through vehicle to grid and use that as a battery at your home

for backup and also revenue generation. Why don't we have it today? What's required? Because

obviously it sounds like, oh, the car can do it. Like what is it that's required? Is it a

rubber stamp? Is it a validation process? What is happening right now with vehicle to grid?

Yeah, so it's a little more than a rubber stamp. I guess the rubber stamp is behind the outcome of

what's been delivered, but it really comes down to safety and ensuring that one, the network is

safe for it. And two, the customers and our workers on that network is safe. So there's quite a few

providers out there now that are developing the charges. So there's star charge, there's Numbath,

there's Red Earth, and there's probably more. And for them to be able to connect to Osgrids Network

in a safe way, they need to make sure that they apply to the regulation and rules. And

one of those is called AS477.2. And basically what that does is ensure that if the charge is

connected and the car's exporting, and the power goes out, which we hope it never does, and it

rarely does on our network, that the car, that the charger doesn't then export power onto the grid.

So if our workers are out there working on the grid, we want to make sure that the grid is not

live. Yeah. So it's really about a safety aspect. Now, a lot of those providers now do have AS477.2

certification. The next step for that is Clean Energy Council certification. And they basically

certify inverters to connect to distribution network service providers, our networks. And that

is also required for mainstream. But what we've been doing is we want to sort of test and learn.

So we've been working with these providers to say, look, if you put what we call a preliminary

investigation in, you can apply, show us your certification, we'll get our engineers to have

a look over it, we'll check it complies, we'll do some tests, and then you can start connecting

those vehicle to grid charges. But for it to get mainstream, it needs to get the Clean Energy

Council certification. And of course, the car manufacturers need to be on board from a warranty

perspective, that that's another challenge that needs to be overcome.

So Nick, just to get it straight in my own mind, so the V2G isn't just vehicle to the house,

so that charge could potentially go back onto the grid so other people can access it. Is that

how it's going to be designed? Yeah, exactly. So with vehicle to grid, there's different types

of V2 that there's Vita home and Vita L vehicle to load and vehicle to home. With those, it does

not export to the grid. And you shouldn't be connected to the grid at the same time, you'll

trip your circuits. So now rules and regulations don't allow for that. But with vehicle to grid,

it lets you export and it lets you participate in, I guess the energy transition, the wholesale

energy market to really turn your vehicle into revenue generation. Which is one of the things

we're seeing from this. We're seeing that there's been 100,000 home batteries installed or something

crazy under the government scheme. We're seeing people use home batteries to export through

wholesale providers. I think AMBA is one of the ones that does it most where they pay you,

probably not as much as they get paid, but they pay you a higher amount if there's high demand.

So you can actually kind of make money selling your electricity back. But I'm curious now you

talk about vehicle to home, vehicle to grid in the event of an outage, which might be rare,

but it's one of those things I think if we're going to have a blackout, I want my house to

still work. In an event of an outage, if my car's plugged in and it's been certified,

all those different things, will my home still get power even though the certification you've

mentioned stops it exporting that power to the grid to keep your workers safe?

Yeah, that's part of ensuring that the certification is there and the safety measures

are there. It gives you the ability for your home to continue to get that power in the blackout,

but ensures that it's not exporting onto the grid where our field team and safety workers might

be working. Because I've got 160 kilowatts of batteries sitting in my driveway. I don't ever

want to be without power, so I want it to be powering there. But I also definitely want to

charge my car off solar, and this is the perfect world right, isn't it, Nick? Charge my car on

solar because I'm home during the day, and potentially use that battery that's been powered

by free energy, clean energy, to power my house at night. And if there's a, you know,

high peak demand, it might be during summer for air conditioning in the area on the grid,

then my car will also help power the grid and I might make a bit of money. I mean, it's this

amazing, you know, clean energy circle for those, and it's a small number of people in the complete

ecosystem. Yeah, it really is. It's a fantastic opportunity. I mean, you can get your car,

you get there, the government's done a great job with fringe benefit tax exemptions, and then not

only that, it's your car, exactly as you said, you can sell that energy back to the grid at peak

times and generate revenue. So how soon is this going to happen, Nick? Like, what are we looking

at? Is this like next year in five years? Like, when can people, you know, a lot of people obviously

looking their next vehicle, potentially B&EV, when can they be shopping knowing that when they

take this car home, the V2Gs, they're ready to go? Well, we're really trying to support it being

rolled out. So as I sort of touched on before, there's a few aspects to it. And one is ensuring that

the charges and comply and can be connected. And we're very close with that CC certification from

what I've heard and read and heard back from the V2G charging providers. And then the next aspect

is the car warranties. And there's been quite a few announcements with AMBA. AMBA, I think we're

one of the first working with BYD to start trialing some of this V2G technology. They've got some

arena funding. And then Origin and AGL are also out there. So I think as the charges start to get

CC certified, the car manufacturers get on board, and then we can see it more mainstream. But the

technology fit, and I should also point out there's two types of vehicle to grid. There's DC, direct

current, and there's AC. And what we're talking about today, what the near future is, you know,

hopefully by the end of the year, we see more of this rolled out, it's DC V2G.

Yeah, really, it's like a B2 versus VHS battleground.

It's just, yeah, it's a different technology, I guess. And the AC will need another level of

testing and certification. And just to put it in perspective for people as to where this is at,

I was lucky enough to take my Kia EV9 to Ausgrid's facility in Sydney, where they've got a test set

up, because they hadn't seen an EV9 yet. And so while I was out of plug it in and AMBA were doing

some tests on their little charger there to kind of see how it worked. It was fascinating because

the car had never been done this before. We know when your car says 22 kilowatt charging,

it showed a negative number because it's obviously pushing it out. It's amazing,

but that's what needs to happen. We're at that point now where they're working at which cars will

do it, then they need to talk to manufacturers. There is a lot of hoops still to come, but we're

devastatingly close, Nick, is I guess the general and broad since then.

Exactly right, we are. And yeah, I understand you're actually out there with Jeff,

who's in the broader team and he was helping you test the EV9.

I mean, it's a cool thing to think that my car could potentially power my house,

but I need to keep my powder dry until everything happens. And then as you say,

I'm not going to do it until Kia says, hey, it's okay for your warranty. But we also just,

as a sidebar, we've had a lot of conversation with people who do battery testing and there's a great

sense that as long as you're not ultra-fast charging and I'm assuming de-charging a car,

a battery, then there's actually limited impact on the battery life through the

battery cycle. So there's kind of good news coming out in that space.

The other part of what you're working on is curbside charging. Steven and I both live in

homes with off-street parking. So this is not an area we think about, but there's some,

there's a lot of people that live in the inner suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, where

they park on the street. And so what is it that you refer to as curbside charging? Is that little

pop-ups out of the ground or is this on power poles? What will it look like?

What we're proposing is curbside charging on the power poles. And we've put a public debate out

there that we believe distribution network service providers, we own the poles and we own

the wires. We believe that there's a model where we can create more equity and price parity at the

curb. So people can charge at the curb for the same price as at home by allowing DNSPs,

ourselves, to own and maintain these charges. But that requires a change to the regulation.

Because you're not allowed to sell power directly to people, are you? You're a wholesale provider,

you're a poles and wires company. Is that what you've kind of mean by that?

Yeah, we're a poles and wires company. I mean, you could think of this as sort of a toll road.

To run those poles and wires, we charge for the electricity getting run down the poles and wires.

And we're restricted, we can only do those poles and wires. But we're proposing,

we still don't propose to buy or sell any energy, we're just proposing to own and maintain.

So you're going to maybe partner up with someone to do this, is that right?

Yeah, well, we're looking to create, I guess, a neutral host where there's competition at the

socket so that you can choose. Right now you've got 13, 14 different apps. We're proposing that

let's create a neutral host type model where the customer who doesn't have access to

off-street parking where they can charge can choose which one they want to use to charge

on the street and get that price parity. So would this be, say you're a customer for a certain

energy provider, you turn up at one of these charges, you can say, well, I'm an AGL customer,

I mean, let's charge through the AGL. Or a ChargeFox might do a deal. Or an EV network.

You're already a customer provider. Exactly. We want to open the access,

everyone gets to the same playing field. It's truly public infrastructure. It's really good.

It's low cost. So it's being delivered for the same price as it is to your home. And then it's

up to exactly, as you said, those providers where they be electricity retailers or charge

point operators, e-mobility service providers, they have access at the same price so they can

then compete. Well, I guess same question about V2G then. We're already out with it because we've

seen, I've seen some videos or social media posts of poll charges. So they must exist.

So obviously for your plan, your proposal is going to require some legislative regulatory

changes. It feels like that's a long period, long process.

There's a battle ahead of him by the sounds of that.

It does. I think the good news is we've been working on it for a while, but it does take a

while. And in the meantime, I think there's been some great government funding. Minister

charging and that sort of shown the model and really what we're saying with this regulatory

change is that we could do that at scale and simplify it and create the competition while

lowering the cost to charge on the curb. Because I guess right now, if you can charge at home,

you can refuel your car for half the price or if not free, then someone who doesn't have a

driveway. So we're staying with this model. Let's just level the playing field and offer

that same opportunity to people who don't have driveways where they can park so they can

refuel at the same price as those people that do. Yeah, democratising the price structure,

because at this point, if you live in the inner city and you don't have your own charger,

wallbox style thing like we do, you're essentially forced to go to a charge force,

even at West, wherever it might be, which they're awesome, but you're paying more.

And so this democratises that a little bit. It's a great process, a great thought. So hopefully

you can have some wins with that. Nick, there is so much we could talk about. It's an awesome space.

It's a weird thing to say, but I guess you're on the cutting edge of electricity provision for

the first time in a generation or more. When was the last time electricity provision

actually had innovation? I don't know. Is that a weird thing to say?

I like to think we're always innovating, but I mean, this company's been around for over 100

years. And I think that the first electricity innovation was running the cable out of the

post office to light up the area for the horses to come and have water and people to feel safe at

night. And we've come a long way and it's been a one-way flow generation down to homes. But now,

as you said, it's super exciting. We've got this fantastic opportunity for two-way

energy flow, consumer devices, and really having that network that's a community benefit,

connecting all the community together and allowing them to trade energy.

Good on you, mate. Really appreciate your time. Thanks, Nick.

Thanks, guys. Thanks for joining us. Nick Black from Osgrid there.

Taking your calls, 0477657657. Send us a text or a WhatsApp. Thanks to Vodafone. We'll get those.

We'll get you on the show if you want to talk about anything electric car in your world.

We're happy to talk with you about it. Sean's on the line. Good day, Sean.

How you going? Really good. Where are you at in your electric car journey?

We currently have an X-Pen G6 long range, which we got a little bit earlier this year.

Nice. How did you land on the X-Pen?

A lot of research. A couple of years of research. We bought a car five years ago,

knowing our next car was going to be an EV. Of course, I've been doing a lot of research as

that's what I do. The wife's not interested in the research. She just wants to drive.

Fair enough, mate. What other vehicles did you look at? What was on the short list

before you decided on the X-Pen? The short lift was D-Pel SO7, the C-Line 7,

ID-4, the Bullswagen, the Taviscan, Z-Correx. There was a handful of cars,

and we whittled it down from that point. Did you drive all those other cars? Did

you go out on test drives? Yes, certainly did.

Yeah, wow. The X-Pen did well to win through all those. There's some great brands in your name.

I mean, the driving feel of a Volkswagen or a Cooper are very different to an X-Pen.

What two things could you narrow down and say, that's why we bought the X-Pen?

Okay. The salesman in the end basically is we had a bad time with BYD.

We'd gone back to the second drive because you do the initial drive and then you whittle it down

and then you go back and go, righty-oh, let's nail it all down. I don't drive it, it's the

wife who does all the driving. She had booked with BYD another test drive, so we go out there

and they say, oh, you can only have the car for 15 minutes.

Hello? No. So in the end, they brought down to salesman knowledge and just the service that

the salesman gave us in the end. That is fascinating to me, and we have had so many

conversations about how the dealership experience at many brands can tip you one way or the other.

By the way, we've had good dealership experiences with pretty much most brands and bad, so it's

not always a specific brand, but it's amazing the impact it can have. I have to know just quickly

what previous car brands have you owned, because to be someone in 2025 that's considering,

that's bought an X-Pen, but also considered a D-Pale, considered a BYD, considered a Zeke,

you're considering brands that people haven't heard of. What's your history with cars, Sean?

Well, over the years, we've owned Ford, we've owned Mazda 6, the diesel, which was not the

best engine in the world. Subaru, X-V, my wife had a Mazda MX-5, so yeah, we've had various cars

throughout our lifetime. But you know, we've got to say, we've both driven the X-Pen

and really nice car. You've made a great choice. So being your first EV though,

how have you adapted to the charging and how has it suited your driving? How has that been?

Well, we went for the long range, mainly because being here in Western Australia,

you know, there's a lot of gaps between towns, unlike, you know, you've got the infrastructure

over on the eastern states. WA is lagging a little bit. It's getting there, but it's still lagging

compared to, say, New South Wales or Victoria or even Queensland. You know, and the government

here has gone and spent a lot of money, so there's a lot of, you know, around the tourist spots. But

anyway, so basically is that, sorry, I've lost one. How are you charging the car at home?

Okay, yes. Initially, we started off with the granny charger as everyone does

and found that the wife was driving from home to Fremont and back again, which is around about

120 to 130k a day. It just wasn't quite putting back enough because we're trying to use

the solar as much as possible into the car. So we're down the path of, okay, we put in a

seven kilowatt charger. We've got three phase here and the installer didn't realize that you

can only pick up on one phase and we were only getting two kilowatts off our solar charger.

And I went, no, no, that's not good enough. You know, I spend nearly $2,000 to have this

charger installed and only get two kilowatts, which is the same as what else. Yeah, exactly.

It's the same as the trickle charger. Anyway, so and they said, oh, okay, we'll put in a three

phase one then. So we put in the three phase and when the electrician came in, they came and found

out, oh, there was a few little things that they have to fix. So my two and a half thousand dollar

bill blew out to a $4,000 bill. But that's because of the laws now that the electricians have to

come in and go, if there's something wrong, they've got to fix it because they're the last ones in

the board and they're reliable. That's a safety issue. Not just about that's not about solar or

electric cars. That would have happened if you just put an extra safety switch in your house,

they would have gone, hang on a minute. It's all these problems here. We've got to fix them all.

I guess that's life. But it's a big cost. But you've now got it to the point where you can

fully charge on solar and take advantage of that. Yeah, oh, yeah, we, we're now

charging only on solar access. So it's a smart charger. So we bought the, we ended up with the

EV in X, X 22, which grabs any excess solar now that goes into the grid and just dumps it straight

into the car. Nice. Nice. That's good. So, you know, your issues with the drive. So your wife,

you said about 130, 140,000 kays a day. You're now 130,000. 130 kays a day. So you're, that's

all sorted now with the charger. You do it overnight or what's the charge? We generally,

we can charge it now during the weekend. Yeah, we charge it during the weekend if we're not going

out. And that gives it plenty for the week and to travel to and fro to work. So

So you get a chance to drive it short? Or is it just your wife drives it?

No, my wife drives. I don't drive much. I'm just the main passenger. But that's okay. That's,

that's because of my eyesight. It's a safety thing more than anything else. I'd love to drive it.

And if, if I was to buy a car now, for me, I'd be looking at the Zika X myself.

Great car. Great car. Was that not a consideration at the time? Was, was it not available?

What? It was available. And the guys out at Victoria Park were really good. You know, they

lent us the car for over half a day, gave us a really good chance to try it out. The big thing

was that Zika on their website was using the, the ADRs for its range, which they were saying

550K, which in reality is nowhere near what you're going to get. And that was the main reason was

the fact that it just didn't quite have that range, which I felt we would have been happier with

because we've done. But you're saying on reflection, you probably don't need that

extra range. Is that what you're saying? That why you would have got the Zika now?

On 90% of our driving, even 95% of driving, no, you don't need that range.

Yeah. That's, I think that's most, honestly, that's most people's experience with electric cars,

I think is we think we need this, but actually it's like two times a year when you're really

like packing for a holiday. You always put the extra clothes in there. I think, Sean,

just to wrap up then Steven's favorite questions. You've had the car for a little while now.

What do you love most and what do you, what would you change or advise

about the car perhaps that hasn't been something you'd love?

Love most is the comfort, the smoothness and how cheap it is to run. It is fantastically cheap.

And the biggest bad point is the phone integration with it. It's, you know, to

approach when it unlocks and locks. We have had issues with that, which seems to be everybody

in the world who has a G6 or owns an X-Pain has that problem.

I mentioned this at the Starless Show when we were talking about Polestar. It's just some of these

cars are stunning, beautiful cars. And then you've just gone too far with tech and we're tech,

guys. It's kind of wild that we even say this, but it's like, guys, I just want a button to open

the car. Why is it so hard? Well, I mean, our previous car, the wife would just walk up to it,

put the fingers on the handle and it had unlocked. Yeah, that's my Cooper. Yeah, exactly. Well,

without fail. Mate, these are the little things, but you get used to it. And I guess you can deal

with it. But you've got yourself a beautiful car. You're a lucky passenger, Sean. And we hope

you enjoy many years of savings because you're powering that thing off Solar, mate. So lovely

to hear from you and look forward to hearing about your journey in the future, mate.

Yeah, fantastic show. And thank you very much.

Good on you, mate.

Great to hear from you. There's Sean, who is in WA and has an X-Pain. I mean, it's

we've driven and I like that. I see them on the road and I look at it and I go,

what is it that makes someone choose the X-Pain, you know, because there's so much choice out there.

That's a dealership experience to make that difference.

That is that's critical. That's really shocking to hear that that was the

thing that prevented them from potentially becoming by purchasing that car was the

yeah, keep it simple. Yeah, keep it simple, folks. You can you can actually sell cars

if you're a salesman. It's not rocket science. It's really not rocket science.

We love to hear from you about your electric car and your experience buying the electric car

and researching the electric car. Get in touch, send us a text 0457 657 657.

It's like I got you going. Oh yeah.

This is like talking electric cars loving taking your calls. Rick's on the line 0457

657 657. Good day, Rick. How are you?

Yeah, really good, mate. Where are you at? You've got yourself a shiny new electric car, mate.

Yes, I have. I've had I've got the IM6.

Yeah, that is a we've driven these and we spoke about them a little while.

Yeah, we the MG motor IM6, which we describe as the as Lexus is a Toyota IM is to MG.

What drew you to the IM, mate?

Well, here's the thing. I was ever since

a long time ago. Actually, Steve, Steve and I actually know each other.

Back in the news limited. Okay, okay.

It's sort of clicking slowly. Yes, it is, Rick. Yep. Okay.

Yeah, I was on the Sunday. Tell me why you were.

Yes, mate. I know now. Okay. Yeah. No, I look, I've been looking at electric cars ever since

I'll be honest with you still. I remember seeing on the old tech guide there when

Steve came home with a Tesla and the wall on the tech guide there and watched it for years.

But there were sort of a lot of criterias that had to had to meet and the third thing was range.

Yep. Was battery and range. So, but I sort of got back interested again, probably three years,

three years ago when they were sort of getting getting up to that sort of battery quality and

the range quality that I sort of it's been a phenomenal jump over the last few years and range.

And I think, to be honest, I think the next five years is going to be the same, not quite as quickly,

but there will be another generational leap in range as well. What Rick's referring to back.

I bought my Tesla in 2018. So, yeah, then weren't many places to charge it. I had a charger at home,

but also my range, I think was around 420, I think for the Model S, which at the time,

you know, I wasn't suited my driving. And Steve doesn't drive more than 30K,

he must come to see me anyway. So, it's fine. The furthest I drive is to come and see Trevor here.

You keep bearing the lead, mate. It's an IM. No one's ever heard of it.

What the bloody hell drew you to an IM?

Well, here's the thing. I test drove the Mercedes EQ350, the BMW, the Polestar,

the Hyundai. I got the EQ350 now. You know that, don't you? He does.

I'm admittedly the only one I didn't test drive was the Tesla. I had no interest in it before.

Yeah, I didn't. And then sort of after test driving those cars and

BYD, I sort of stepped into that to the Chinese make. And once I got into that BYD and realized

what you were getting, sort of the price that you were paying, I sort of realized that

they all had one thing in common and that was just electric driving and the quietness and the

response and so forth. But when I sort of took a look at what you were getting, the value for money,

I sort of lent toward the BYD. Right. And then all of a sudden, which BYD seal?

The C-Line 7. We look at that. Well, it was the seal, the performance, but I was

wanting the long range edition, the premium, I think it was after that. And I was close until I

seen, as you do on YouTube and stuff, this IM was coming. So then it was released.

You could order with a 12-week wait. And I did my due diligence and shopped it and really looked

into it. And then, look, I put a thousand dollars deposit. And then when the demos arrived, I just

went, yep. The what I was getting for the price. You just knew, didn't you?

You drove the six. Is the six the SUV or the sedan? I'm forgetting. Six is what I was driving.

I drove that one, yeah. I would describe them as a Model 3, Model Y competitors in many ways.

Seal, C-Line, whatever. I drove the IM5. Stephen drove the IM6. Very similar cars inside,

very similar cars to drive just different space. So, look, it's a beautiful, beautiful car.

And I guess that luxurious feeling, that feeling of I bought a, I'm getting banged for my buck,

Rick. Is that the feeling you get? I've spent all this money. I don't want to feel like I've got,

you know, I didn't get leather seats or something. You know, remember back in the day,

you get fabric seats and then, you know, in a luxury car you had these days, all cars

kind of feel the same. But the luxurious appointments of these premium cars is the thing

that makes you feel good about your purchase every day, Rick. That's exactly right. And,

you know, it's something my wife and I enjoy getting into. You know, the seats were different

compared to the BYDs. They were more luxurious instead of the sports feel and stuff. Look,

yes, it's got the massage function and the cooling and stuff like that, but it was just

the comfort alone. There was the, once you get into it and you set it up to your, the way you

want the car, it's a beautiful car to drive. Absolutely. And I think if you look, listen

back to what I said about the car. It was, we both loved it and sort of the luxurious look and

feeling. My quote was, if there was a Mercedes-Benz logo on the wheel, it'd be over a hundred,

it'd be $120,000 car. Yeah, sure. So you've done well there. So this is your first TV there,

Rick. So how are you going adapted to the driving electric car now? Oh, look, love it. I think it's

my mates that are really shocked with it. They're sort of dumbfounded in the way that I've gone

electric. The same with my house. I sort of got the battery system onto the house and the solar

panels and everything like this and they thought, well, you're going green. It wasn't the fact that

I was going green. It's the fact is I'm saving money. Absolutely. I think we've both said this

several times. Honestly, we put green backgrounds on the video because people think of EVs as green,

but at no point have I made a decision in my life about these purchasing decisions because

of the environment, not because I don't love the environment and I don't want to do my bit.

I just know that, look, if you've got the money to pay the extra, because granted, not everyone

can afford the extra that is an electric car, but there are cheaper cars coming. If you can't

afford solar, I get it. That's different. But when you can or you've budgeted for it, the savings,

Rick, are enormous. Are you a bit of a nerd on the dollar side of things in your family in terms of

this is going to be the saving year on year? I'm going to be very honest with you.

Three years ago, I had all intentions of retiring within three years.

So I got the house fully done on solar and fully on battery system with a nice Alpha S,

35 kilowatt battery system and signed up to Amber and stuff like that. And

monthly, I was seeing money come into the bank account because the bills were getting ridiculous

up here in Queensland. And as electricity rates, everybody's going up. So I went over to the battery

and stuff and realized, well, I'm finally getting money in my account a month, not much,

but it's something. At least I'm not forking out a quarter, four, five, six hundred dollars,

I'm now getting maybe 145 a quarter and stuff like that. So then I sort of, like I said,

with the cars, I had to meet a lot of boxes to go over to the car because I've got a Jeep Gladiator

and I've got a Mazda 3. We did the math with the Mazda 3 for the five years with the

servicing tyres, the running costs, the fuel and everything for my wife to get from where we are

to the hospital she works at. And when we did it with the electric, admittedly, we did it based

on the same running costs and what it was going to cost to charge. And I'm $6,000 better off a year.

So that's simple. That system will pay itself off after three or four years then.

More than, you know, everybody's saying, oh, you're going green, going green. No, no, no,

this is about money. You're green money. You're a man after our own hearts, mate. We thought the

same way. So is this your car, Rick, or your wife? So who drives this one? Is it yours?

I bought it for my wife because she has to travel 140 kilometers a day.

Oh, what a great husband you are, Rick. Well, she was driving that Mazda 3 into the ground

five years, same thing. Fair call. And it's a fantastic little car. And I said to her, I said,

look, my Jeep is just a fuel guzzler, the Gladiator. And as soon as they come out with an

electric vehicle or a hybrid with at least 200 kilometers on the battery and then a two-litre

motor, I'm in. A BYD shark, mate. I was going to say, what's up with the shark, bro? That's not

about options. I took a fantastic look at it. I just need that battery to be at least 200.

Just a bit bigger, at least 200. You know what? I genuinely think it's only 100. Yeah, I think,

I think, as I just said earlier, I think the next couple of years is going to be big advance. I think

BYD, we'll see when the Ranger and Toyota's Broad Attempted Hybrid come in. I think BYD will go,

we could go even better with this. They'll say, hold my beer. Let's try this out. On the IM,

let's just get back to the IM quickly. You've had it for a little while. Is there anything you

don't love about it? Because now that you own it and you've had the experience out of the dealership?

Look, on the Facebook pages, you hear all the complaints and the stuff. And you sort of think

to yourself, you've got to set yourself up right in the car. You've got to switch off and set the

buttons that you want to do it and take time with it. But turn off the speed limit warning, mate.

Is that the first thing you do? Yeah, you know how it is. Look, I had to teach you how to use the

Eco mode because that's sort of sports mode that we've got a little bit heavy for up that motorway.

But look, I can't complain. It says 555 there that you're getting on the WLTP range.

We're averaging about 517 to 523. That's pretty good.

Is there been a highway in those daily drives for your wife though?

Straight motorway. So that's pretty good there.

That's pretty good. Yeah, that's pretty good.

So it's a two-kilometer, it's 70 kilometers each way.

She goes, it's two minutes to the motorway, no traffic, straight up, straight back,

47-minute drive for her. You've got yourself a great car. You've got an obviously great little

home set up. So you've got savings ongoing. Basically, you're in a great position over the

Jeep, Gladiator replacement will be. And I'm absolutely certain, I forget the name,

Denzer or whatever the BYD brand is, four-wheel drives coming in. The hybrid BYD will push

the plug-in hybrid market so hard that the legacy automakers are going to absolutely

suffer in some way. They're not going to struggle because high luxes and ranges will forever be

sold. But if they don't start to think about people like you and the market generally,

it's going to be really fascinating to see how that plays out, Rick. So glad you're loving

that I am, mate. I'm excited that you were drawn to it and it sounds like you've had a great

experience with it. Great to talk to you again, Rick. And I think we need to hear from you with

like a six-month, 12-month report, okay? A bit of an ownership report. What's it like to get it,

take it to the dealer on those kind of things as well? Sounds good to me. All right, good man.

Good luck to you, Rick. Great to hear from you, mate. Take care, mate. Thanks, guys. Thanks,

Rick. Good on you. There you go. I am. That's our, I think our first, I am owner. I do remember, Rick.

Yeah. Rick, you look okay. Great bloke. Mate, anyone that worked with you was obviously a great

person. They put up with you in some way, shape or form. Well, I didn't work directly. I knew, Rick.

You're in the same building. That's what happened. Yeah, but I didn't work directly with him every

day. Yeah, but I used to say good day to him, mate. Very nice. Yeah. Well, it's so good to hear

from someone who's bought something different. Yeah. Doesn't matter whether you bought the same

thing as everyone else. We raided the car, so, you know. Yeah. I mentioned, we talked about

Polstra at the side of the show. The thing about the IMRM member is just this tiny little rear

window, but I'll take that rock, tiny rear window over an electric mirror every day of the week.

Me too. Yeah. All right, Stephen, let's do it again next week with another episode of Two Blokes

to it. I'll be right here waiting. You're going to stay here? There's no shower here.

Probably not. That's going to be bad. I'll have to go home then. There is a lot of diet coke,

though. Oh, well, that'll do me. Yeah, you'll be all right. That should do me.

All right. Thanks for listening, folks. Great to have you company. We'll do it again next week.

Get in touch. 0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7. See you next week, Stephen. Ciao.

095 - Polestar 4 Review and Vehicle to Grid explained by Ausgrid

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