099 - The KIA EV5 review, and your calls on Electric cars

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

NRMA Insurance helping people protect what matters most to them for 100 years, and they'll progress and do another 100 if they can.

And they're one of Australia's largest insurers of electric vehicles as well.

And of course, UNIDEN, the smart dash cams you can trust, you can find them at major retailers and at UNIDEN's own website.

Look for a front and rear camera, so you've got a bit of rear protection there, because peace of mind happens all around.

You need it. See what happens out the front, see what happens out the back.

But award-winning dash cams from UNIDEN. Stephen, great to be with you, mate.

Good to be here, Trevor. Lots to talk about.

Once again, we're going to take callers, we're going to talk about Kia in a moment. Plenty to look forward to.

That's right, and we'll take your calls.

Shortly, you can be in touch with us if it's your first time listening.

Welcome. Great to have you company.

And where have you been?

What's going on? What's happened? What have you got against?

Better late than ever though. Better late than ever.

100%. We'll take your ticket at the door.

You can send us a text, so open up your contacts, save it as the two.

Blocks 0477657, text or WhatsApp. We'll get your text, we'll try and get you on the show.

It doesn't matter what your question is, and there is no such thing as a stupid question.

I love the thing when people say that to us here or on the radio when we talk about tech.

I've got a stupid question. No, it's not because you think that you're the only person thinking that.

Trust me, someone else is thinking the same thing.

You'll help a lot of other people, correct.

You could be an EV owner with a stupid question.

Someone knows the answer, and someone else wants the same answer.

So let us help you both out, and we'll do that whenever we can.

But you mentioned the EV5, we drove it recently.

Look, obviously for me it's the baby brother, baby sister of my EV9.

And we talked about the EV3 a little while ago.

So this is the 5, so there's nothing between this and your car?

So it's a strange one with Kia, because really what they started with the EV6, right,

which is a sports coupé more likely. This is not an SUV.

So the 3, the 5 and the 9 are SUVs.

And I suspect there's more to come if they want to, but unlike Stephen Collins from BYD,

it's not like Kia's trying to fill every gap in the market with an SUV.

Although as we talked about three or four weeks ago, sales are pretty good overall.

They're not selling EVs more than they are petrol cars.

But they're doing okay.

The EV5 is a good, stout, good looking car, I reckon.

It's a good size family SUV.

Look, you can fit five adults in it.

You would absolutely fit a family of five in it.

Certainly spacious, yeah.

But you've got your kids in the back row bumping each other,

which is why we went for the third rows on the EV9.

But it's a good size car and I think bigger in simple proportions

and I think broadly interior space than a Model Y.

So a lot of families buy a Model Y

and because of that aerodynamic design,

the headroom in the back of the Model Y is not amazing.

Getting little babies car seats in and out, things like that are actually difficult.

So the Kia's got a pretty flat roof as well

so that it is consistent space throughout the vehicle.

It starts at 56, 770 on-road

and that's for the air standard range

and goes up to the two-tone GT line at 75, 990

and the Earth sits right in the middle at 68, 990.

Look, I genuinely think that if you went to all the car dealers

and got a great experience from every dealer,

that seems to have put a lot of people off care over time.

So if you were able to walk in

and maybe you went to the electric vehicle show in Melbourne or Sydney

and you got to drive cars,

I think the Kia would be top of most people's list.

Top three, brands.

You mean like Drive Quality and the whole thing.

The great fit and finish, they're a recognisable brand.

Their drive is amazing.

The roof infotainment is slick.

It all just works.

Ticks all the boxes, you're right.

And you're right about the roominess too.

I like how to me this car seems halfway between a Tesla

and another car.

It's not quite as busy as some cars

but not quite as sparse as the Tesla.

It's a nice balance.

The buttons are there for the right things like air conditioning.

Let's talk range.

The air two-wheel drive is 400 kilometres range.

The air two-wheel drive long range is 555.

So that's your pick if you're doing a bit of driving.

The Earth all-wheel drive long range is 500

and the GT line is 470.

So I would struggle not to recommend the long range

every day of the week.

So that's 550K range

and that'll set you back 63, 990.

Now when you compare that to a Model I

or the Zika we spoke about last week,

that is great value.

That's the drive away price too.

Yes, I'm talking drive away price.

That's pretty good.

That's cheaper than a Model Y

and even what's slightly cheaper than the Zika 7X then,

is it or?

Yeah, with that kind of range probably.

Wow.

I think the main thing is that they're comparable.

Well Joe drove this.

Joe drove the Kia at the moment.

She's got a Sportage

and she really loved this.

And while it wasn't exactly like her experience in the Sportage

she did appreciate the feel of it.

She thought, okay, yeah, it feels like a Kia.

Yeah.

And yeah, so she quite liked that.

She's very fussy with her EV.

She doesn't like all the EVs I bring home

but this one she particularly likes.

She doesn't like them all.

Well, most of them, you know, she goes,

oh, too small, too big.

And this one seemed to be the Goldilocks.

This one was just right.

I think most of our listeners would be amazed

to find out that Joe's fussy.

Yeah, mate.

She's got a very good taste.

It's still on you by the way.

Yeah, I know.

It's still on you.

Fussy.

Hey, she won Lotto every week.

Oh, hey, hey, hey.

Who won Lotto out of the two of you?

Yeah, I think I did.

Yeah, I think so.

Let's be real.

We both won.

No, but she liked it.

And so did I.

I actually started to see a lot of these on the road,

the EV5.

Yeah, very popular.

Yeah.

Because I think it's a great family car.

Yeah.

The only reason I didn't give it my family car award

is because I do think for most families

the size of the seven CDV-9 is the optimal

and there's just nothing like it on the market yet.

Yeah.

But that's a big car, eh?

The nine.

Your car's a big car.

Not everyone's comfortable driving.

It's also double the price of this friggin' thing.

I understand.

But the size, just talking size alone,

not everyone's comfortable driving a car that size.

Spot on.

This is a good size.

Yep.

Like I said, it's sort of the Goldilocks car.

It's just the right size.

Not too big, not too small.

Fits well.

Goldilocks car.

Yeah.

It's just right.

I like it.

Yeah, I like it.

I genuinely recommend to people that they check this out.

It's a great looking car.

And I will say again, and we say it every now and then,

but our mate Aaron will absolutely be able to hook you up with a deal

if you're interested.

Once again, we get no kickback.

There's nothing in it for us.

Others will recommend.

It's all for you, not for us.

Others will do the buying attempt and help for you.

They're getting kickbacks.

We're just here to help you get a good price

because if you're thinking about an EV

and you've got a quote from a deal

and you're thinking, ah, you know what,

let's just sharpen the pencil for you.

That's all we want to do.

That's all we can do, absolutely.

No commitments.

We're in the market for IKEA and a bunch of other cars,

but not all of them, especially the Chinese brands

are not covered by Aaron's motor group.

But yeah, IKEA is definitely one of the marks you can get.

Send us a text.

Say, hey, I heard you talking about it.

I'm thinking about buying X, Y, Z.

If you don't ask, you don't know.

And you might, you could save hundreds.

You could save thousands.

I don't want to give you a number

because it depends on the car, the stock

and all those different things.

But yeah, well worth a look.

And all you need to do is just tell everyone

about this podcast.

That's right.

That's all we ask.

That's a fair deal.

Tell all your friends.

It's a very good deal.

Definitely.

And then what you can do is you can text your friends,

share the contact.

You've got the contact in your phone, two blocks.

Yeah.

Share that contact with your friends and say,

hey, talk to these blocks.

Yeah.

If you've got a question about electric cars.

They'll sort you out.

They'll get you straight.

Well, Stephen will set you straight.

I'll be very kind and generous.

It's what I do.

We've talked about it before.

I'm a very outgoing.

Yeah.

I love talking to people.

You love talking to people,

but not at a charger.

Don't go near Trevor to charge you.

You won't talk to you.

Absolutely.

Talk to you.

You've got to initiate the conversation.

If they said,

aren't you Trevor from the Today Show?

Would you say hello?

I'll be like, let's talk.

Say hello.

You need to initiate it.

Those are the rules.

Really?

Those are the rules.

I'm not initiating conversation.

That's my rule, mate.

It's remarkable that I'm married.

You've got to initiate.

Yeah.

It's remarkable that I'm married.

It is a miracle.

See, Blake's talking electric cars.

We'd love to have you company.

She deserves a medal, Amanda.

She does.

I admit that.

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

Lovely to have you company here

on Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars.

As we do every week,

it's lovely to hear from you, our listener.

Listeners.

Listener.

We know there's more than one, I hope.

We know there's more than one of you

because we've had more than one of you

on the show.

Yes, that's right.

If only we had a production team.

Imagine we had a production team.

They'd tell us how many calls we'd actually had.

Yeah.

You mean all together?

Yeah.

Since we started the show.

I mean, it'd be a lot.

We'd be getting up there.

It'd be a couple hundred.

I reckon well over a hundred.

Yeah.

Easy.

Yeah.

Easy.

How many other people have spoken

a hundred electric car owners

or prospective owners in Australia?

Not many.

No, we knew as many as we could.

Well, you know what?

Whatever the number is, let's add one.

And that is Chris.

Chris is on the line.

G'day, Chris.

G'day, guys.

Mate, how long have you got

an electric car?

How long have you owned it?

Well, I've had it for just about a month.

Nice.

What did you get?

And what drew you to it?

That's a really fascinating thing to me.

All right.

I got the Zika 7X long range.

Nice.

EV.

Beautiful.

Beautiful car to drive.

Yeah.

I researched it over the year.

And I was listening to this guy on YouTube

and he was saying that the Zika 7X

was going to be over 70 green when it came here.

And so when they came up with the price of $63,900,

I jumped at it, you know.

Wow.

And it was beautiful, beautiful to drive.

So could I ask what were you looking at

before you settled on the Zika?

Did you do other test drives?

Yes, I did.

Me and my wife did the BYD C-line 7.

We took that for a drive.

And we thought we were going to get that.

And then I listened to this guy

and he was talking about the X-Ping 6.

Yep.

So we went and did a test drive of that.

And that wasn't going to be available until next year.

And then with the Zika 7X,

I never took the Zika 7X for a test drive.

Anyway, we jumped at that.

We went to a function and jumped at that

and put the deposit down and away we go.

So you were one of the first wave of owners.

Is that right?

You were one of the first?

Yes.

Yeah.

Straight in.

I mean, we asked that question

because I feel like in the last couple of months

we've had so many people that were

in on it before it even arrived.

It's got test drives as quick as they could

and shipped them in that first batch.

It's kind of fascinating.

And it's interesting to hear that price was affected

because I spoke about it last week,

but I looked at and I went the price.

Entry price is pretty much the same as a Tesla Model Y.

The Model Y can go much higher when you add the range

and performance and all those things.

So this kind of actually sits at a value proposition

compared to Tesla.

Was anything, was a Tesla a possibility for you?

Well, I looked at the Tesla early on

and I listened to a lot of people about it

and they were talking about the technologies in the Tesla,

a lot of the safety concerns, you know, so,

and then when the design of these,

the data cars come on,

I like the design more than the Tesla design, you know, so.

And this suits what we,

the 7X actually suits our lifestyle as well.

So you say this is your car?

The price was affected.

Is this your car?

Your wife's car?

Both of your cars?

Who was the decision maker here, Chris?

We both were.

Because I bought a couple of cars for my wife.

I bought a couple of cars early on and my wife wasn't excited.

And this was the first car that she was actually excited about.

She was really geared up for it.

Was that an instant?

Like, was it when she first got in the car

or was she excited just with the idea of an EV?

No, no.

When we went, they had a function here and they had the car,

and I lived in Perth.

And they had the function here in Perth.

So we went along and she said, I don't know,

she was on the other side,

I've seen all the smiles on all that.

She chose the color.

Happy wife, happy wife, happy wife.

Yep.

No, we got the blue.

Okay, interesting.

Mount some blue, I think it is.

And you should have the long range or two?

Long range, too.

Yes, yeah.

So let's talk about that.

You do a lot of driving then?

Is that why am I right to assume that?

Well, I do, I do urban.

So we do it for doing the urban work.

So it works out really well, yeah.

So you can catch an Uber in Perth

and you could pull up in a Zika 7X.

Yeah.

Wow.

And being the funny part about it

is being the first one.

I get a lot of people come out of the house

and I think some of it's due to them having a look.

And when we park up in car parks

and that get people taking photographs

and video and all sorts.

Wow.

Well, when we were in Channel 9,

Danica said to me, she saw my video

of the 7X and thought it was awesome.

Yeah.

So there is something about the look of that car.

It is attractive, yeah.

It is attractive.

It really is appealing to people.

So let's talk about what you're doing at home.

Obviously, you know,

what are you doing for charging and the like?

Well, the good thing about it

is the early adopters got the Zika home charger.

So I got that fitted on.

So that cost...

That was free.

Wow.

Come with a car.

Sweet deal.

Is that seven kilowatt or 11?

Whatever the Zika one is, I'm not sure.

Or 22 because it is a 22 kilowatt car.

It might be.

One of the things that charges you.

Your three phase or your place three phase?

No.

No, it's not a fast charger.

Okay.

So I plug in it at night time

and I program it to charge between 11

and four o'clock in the morning.

Cheapest.

Yep.

So you get the...

And they recommend charging it at 90%,

up to 90%.

Yeah, that's for the battery health.

Is that what Zika said to you?

Is it?

That's a common, common for a lot of batteries.

I know my Tesla, I used to charge to 90%.

My Mercedes, I charged to 80%.

So Zika has given you the same advice

by the sounds of it.

It's got it on that.

When you go to energy management on the screen,

it's got it on there.

You know, safety charge to 90%.

If you do a long trip,

100% of course.

Yeah.

And look, I think just for people who are new to this,

and you might be discovering this show for the first time,

that doesn't mean you can't charge it to 100%

every single time.

It's totally fine to do that.

But what the belief is,

is that the 80% or 90%

will help prolong the life of the battery

and the extended range of the battery.

Although a lot of the data we've had

from Pickles and others is that

as long as you're only doing slow charging at home

and not using ultra fast chargers on a regular basis,

range or battery health is not directly affected

in a big way.

So it could well be that we find that, you know,

we're actually over protecting our batteries.

And, you know, it's a personal choice

whether how hard and fast you stick to that.

But, you know, is this a car that you think

you'll hang on to for a long time

or do you feel like it's the kind of car

you'll turn over as the years kick on

in terms of the new ones that come to market

and the like?

Well, no, this is the end car for us.

This is one we'll keep.

Yeah.

I'm sort of heading into retirement.

I'm 66.

So this is the last car.

Nice.

And the boss has put a foot down on that.

The Minister for War and Finance has spoken.

Yeah, yeah.

How does it go, as obviously, as an Uber driver,

you're out, you know, hours at a time.

How does it go?

Is it living up to its range?

Oh, yeah.

Expectations?

Oh, very much.

Like, we deliver and I use,

for about five hours, I use up about 15%.

Five hours work.

Wow.

That's all.

Wow.

Not much at all.

Just on a complete side note,

how long have you been to Ubering for, mate?

Three years.

And do you do it at your own time,

your own pace?

Like, it's a funny thing,

because we've been talking about Uber

for a long time since they launched,

and people talk about,

ah, the pay and it's not a job.

It's never meant to be a full-time job.

Do you just see it as a way of easing into retirement?

For example, is it something you plan to do

for a while just to get that cash

and get out of the house and meet people?

Or are you doing it as a, you know,

this is our income?

This is our income.

I lost my job,

so this is our income for the last year.

I've done this.

So it works out really well.

So I looked at the EV to cut down the fuel

and the maintenance costs.

Yeah, I mean, that's smart, right?

And on the Uber app,

there'll be people that choose the EV by default

and you get paid better, don't you?

Electric, yep.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, no.

And on, I was going to say,

so it works out really well.

We've taken it along on a trip as well.

What's that like in Western Australia?

What's the charging infrastructure like

in Western Australia?

I don't think we've spoken to too many people.

It's fantastic.

They've got the Tesla Chargers all around the place now.

So I can charge them on the Tesla app,

on the Teslas as well.

So the charging infrastructure's there pretty well.

So you can plan your trips

and I've got them all the way across the Nullable

from the guys up to me.

They're that perhensive about bringing them across

the Nullable at the moment.

But yeah, it's getting better.

And Western Australia is good.

This being your first EV, Chris,

but before you bought that,

were there any, did you have any doubts

and sort of fears about the range?

Was there any, you know, you hear a lot of myths

and people sort of maybe bad, bad-mouthing EVs.

How did you approach that?

Did you do your homework

or was there still a little bit of a worry

at the back of your mind?

No, well, as I said to you guys,

I looked at it over the period of time

and there was this YouTube channel guy,

he's got a guy in China

and I had range anxiety

when they first come out as normal.

You go, oh, you know, can I go here, can I go there?

And the reason, that's the reason I got the long range

because I was said, look at the long range

because it's got 680K range.

So you're looking at about 630 highway trill, you know?

So that's the reason I went up to the long range.

Yeah, and it's paying dividends,

literally with the lower costs of maintenance,

lower costs of ongoing fuel, as we would say.

Are you getting the comments from your passengers

that complimenting you on your car, Chris?

Oh, no, I do Uber Eats.

I do the eats, I don't do the drive.

Oh, you don't do the passenger?

Yes, right.

Interesting.

I don't have the passenger out there.

Different type.

I wouldn't deal with mugs like us

wanting to get in your bloody car.

You don't want anyone in your city in your car, do you?

No, I had you two in the car.

It was quite entertaining, I think.

Well, mate, if we come to Perth, we'll look you up, Chris.

We'll look you up, Perl, looks at the very least, mate.

We'll get picked up at the airport in the Zika 7X, mate.

Yeah.

Listen, I'm going to say something.

Can I just say something about the 7X?

Yeah.

When people buy it, I listen to Trevor the other day

about the automatic doors.

Yep.

And you only get the automatic doors,

the air suspension, and the blinds

on the all-wheel drive with the extra motor.

All right?

Okay.

You can get them on the 7X.

Well, I've got the long range, but you've got to pay for it.

Right.

So are you recommending to take my advice

and get the long range and just use the bloody handles?

I find them fantastic because the thing is

you've got to get used to when the handles come out.

You can't pull them because there's no, they're frameless.

So you've actually got to wait until the handle comes out

and then the window comes down a little bit,

and then you put your hand behind it,

and then the door just opens.

Yes, it's not mechanical.

You don't pull it.

Hang on.

So you're saying even with the handle,

it's still a motorized opening?

Yeah, because you put your hand behind the handle.

You don't pull the door.

And that activates it.

You can pull the door.

Yeah.

But it feels weird.

It feels like you're pulling against resistance,

like you're pulling against the motor.

No, it's quite, because you've got to get used to the electrics.

Everything's electric, so you've got to get used to it.

Honestly, just give me a bloody hinge, OK?

I just want a hinge.

That's all I want.

A hinge.

A handle.

From a two-h kind of guy.

A handle and a hinge.

That's all I want.

Anyway, I'm a great car.

But learning about what the car is and all that,

I just Google a lot of it and the information's there,

and you learn piece by piece by piece, you know.

You'll have a great experience for a long time with that car, mate.

You've done well.

Well done, Chris.

Great to hear from you.

I hope you're enjoying it.

And hopefully some people,

the Uber Eats is arriving in luxury.

In style.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's quite quick.

And it's great.

And it's quite quick, too.

Lovely to hear from you, Chris.

Thanks for getting in touch, buddy.

You're welcome, Chris.

Oh, you're welcome, guys.

And I've listened to you guys for a long while

on your different apps.

Even when I was driving between Perth and Sydney.

So, yeah, yeah.

Mate, very kind of you.

Thank you for taking the time to listen, mate.

We appreciate it.

No worries.

Thanks, Chris.

You have a good day, guys.

Cheers, buddy.

You, too.

Good on you, mate.

That's awesome.

What a great story.

Look, I talked about it last week,

but the doors,

it's the only thing I changed on that car.

It's the only thing I changed.

But glad to hear it's...

You can't have it in the door by yourself.

Is that what you're saying?

Is that what you're telling them?

This is my review last week.

I just want to open the door on my own.

It's really, really quite simple.

Thank you, Zika.

Anyway, if you're like Chris,

and you've just bought a new car,

get in touch.

Hit it, sir.

0-4-0-7-657-657.

Ah, two-bike story electric cars.

Great to have you company.

0-4-0-7-657-657.

The number you can not call.

Text.

Text or WhatsApp.

And we'd love to hear from you.

And we'll try and get you on the show

the next time we're recording.

It's hard because we only recorded

a certain time of the day,

a certain time of the week.

And so it might not suit you,

but we'll be in touch and see if it does.

And hopefully you'll make changes

to your entire week schedule.

Just for us.

Just as...

It'll be worth it.

Well, I mean, that's what people do for us.

That's exactly what people do for us.

I can tell you right now

that our next guest

has changed everything about his day for us.

He's off the couch

and he's talking to the two blokes.

G'day, Lucas.

How you doing, mate?

Good.

So how you going?

Well, you're still just on the couch, mate.

I'm on the couch.

I was doing the fennec head bump

to the stinger.

Ah, there you go.

Oh, hey, hey.

There you go.

There we go.

Nice.

Well done.

All right.

Fantastic.

So, mate, what's your EV story?

You own an electric car.

What do you own?

Yes.

We've chatted before.

I drove to Tassie

in my Y with the misses.

Model Y Tassie.

Yes.

Good.

Still got it.

Yes.

Still got it.

Still loving it.

I still love it.

It's good.

I'll think of that.

Nothing wrong with that, mate.

Nothing wrong with that.

That's great.

Nothing wrong with that.

You're thinking about the next one already.

Ah.

Yes.

Will that be an addition

or an upgrade?

The model Z.

X, Y, Z.

Upgrade.

Ah.

So you're going to go

a better model Y.

Is that what you're saying?

I'm thinking about.

Well, okay.

Well, I'm thinking about the model Y.

Yeah.

I told you about my travels to Tassie

and how we almost ran out of juice.

It was tight.

Because we had the bikes on the back.

We've all been there.

Yep.

And I'm planning a trip to Uluru.

Wow.

Okay.

Once I get to Renmark,

there's just not enough range

in my current car

to get to Alice Springs.

Right.

Because there's only two charges

and one of them is pretty unreliable

according to plug share.

Yeah, right.

That's not a place in the market

you want to have a potential

for unreliability in a charger.

It's fine.

It's fine to have to wait

and queue up for someone,

but you don't want to have

literally not working.

Unless you want to strap

a solar panel to the roof

of your car.

I'll take you five days

to get another hundred kilometers.

Yeah.

So your thinking of the upgrade

for the purpose of getting

more range from the newer vehicle.

Yeah?

Yep.

Yes, with a bike strap

to the back of it.

Yes.

Very important

because that really does ruin

the aerodynamics, mate.

You're aware of that.

Yes, it does.

Wait to the car, too.

Just stop cycling.

What are you doing?

Okay.

You're a grown man.

What are you cycling for?

I'm getting fixed for a time

and getting fixed for a time.

That's what I'm doing.

We're doing the opposite, Trevor.

We're doing the opposite.

Yeah.

So what's been your experience

then with charges?

Because your message

to us via the text line

was pretty full on.

Pretty frank.

I'll read it out directly.

EV charges are shite

and getting worse.

Yeah.

There it is.

Please explain, Lucas.

I was pretty frustrated.

Probably...

So my experience with EV

in general has been pretty good.

But in the last three months

it's just gotten worse.

And you know how they set up

that thing where you can

just plug and go

so you're telling the app.

Yes.

Auto charge, they call it.

Yes.

And I discovered

that it was only certain

of their charges

and the ones that Sutton's

forest on the way back

from my mum's

were not auto charged

but they have just been

out of action for a week

to be upgraded.

So now there's new charges

with auto charge.

So good news.

So I like that feature.

I should specify too

that we're talking about

the EV...

EVIE brand of charges.

Not just EV charges.

Yes.

Like a competitor to charge

Fox essentially.

Yes.

So you don't like

the auto charge

or is there a problem with it?

No, I love it.

And

there's a charge in me

that I used all the time

and then for whatever reason

it just doesn't work anymore.

Like it's not on the app.

It's not working at all

or the auto charge

doesn't work anymore.

Well the auto charge

doesn't work anymore.

I used to plug in

and just walk away.

And now it's saying

well actually I've had a few

issues with that particular charger

and it's actually locked

the charger in my port

for 10 minutes.

Oh my God.

So you couldn't get it out.

Well I was waiting for it.

You couldn't get it out

for 10 minutes.

No.

And then it finally

released it

and then it was like

yeah I'll not plug it

back into that one again.

Did you report it?

Is there any sort of recourse

you have there?

Could you talk to somebody

about it?

Yeah.

There's a

1-800 number that you can call

and I've had to use it

a few times now where

you plug it in

and it just doesn't communicate

for whatever reason

and then they have to

start the charge.

Oh.

But it's a bit of a hassle

because they

like all help desks

they have a script

that they go through

and it's like yes yes

I've done all that

just can I just get to the

you know

let's plug it in

then let's go

but I just noticed

because there's

probably three

that I use regularly

in my area

and

I used to be able to do

the auto charge

on two of them

which I knew worked

the other one was

yeah it didn't matter

but yeah

it just

recently hasn't

sort of

picked up the car

and

done the right thing.

Well I've just gone through

our logs

and found

we spoke to

Bernard

Canoplia

from EV Networks

now I don't know

if he still works there

but I assume he does

I'm going to send him a text

so let's hit this straight

out of the park right now

name the locations

if you want to

and I'll tell him

what's happening with auto charge.

Okay

well there's

Wright in the ACT

as in WRIGHT

Yes

yeah

Franklin in the ACT

all right

which is near my work

and the other one

is in

Deakin

ACT

which is near the swimming pool

because there's

I think there's two

and so to be clear

charging works

you can get a charge

but auto charge

is no longer working

at those locations

and it was before

yes

and

at

those sites as well

the comms

has been hitting me

slightly

when you plug it in

and then it'll just go

oh

can't communicate

pull it out

plug it back in

this is a real issue

for yeah

it seems like a minor issue

and

a bit of a hassle

but

a non-EV owner

listening to this

will go

that's another reason why

I don't want to buy an EV

it's a bit of a black mark

against the whole thing

which normally

let's face it is

99% of the time

it's all fine

works well

but it's these little

1%

that can come back

and

leave a bad taste

in your mouth

yeah

Yes

and WRIGHT's

just

a new

kind of built up area

so

it gets hammered

yeah right

okay

and

the other thing

with that one in particular

is

it's in a

car park

so

I don't know

it might be

phone reception

or something's not good

in that one

and you know what maybe

I'm just going to

self-diagnose

on the behalf of

EV networks here

but

if communication is

poor

therefore

the telco connection

isn't great

I think that would

affect auto charge

you've got to remember

you plug it in

and your car

your car is transmitting

a number

it says okay my number is

73191227xy

and then

the charge has got to go

to the internet

and say

okay is this car

on our network

yes or no

and then boom

if it doesn't

within let's say

20 seconds

if it doesn't say

it knows what it is

it's just going to

sit there

and wait for you to

initiate the charge

another way

so my guess is

that it's actually

the communications issue

that falls here

issue

I think that's probably

what's happening

possibly

but the other two

sites I mentioned

they're out in the open

so

I don't know

what the problem is there

there's no communications

issues there

okay

what about

Tesla charges in your area

down there mate

are they Tesla charges

superchargers

there's only two

there's like

and they're

both on

the opposite ends

of camera

which kind of sucks

for me

because I'm in the middle

I feel like

people are driving too

for tourists

not for residents yeah

yeah

I've never had an issue

with either of those

when I've used them

they have

like

bugger all down time

I don't think

I've even seen one

that's been dead

and they get hammered

yeah

alright well look

I've sent a text

to our man at

Evie

we'll find out whether

there's any known issue

and we'll report back

as best we can

but we appreciate you

no worries

thanks lads

look forward to talking

when you get that fancy

new car

we want to talk to you

from Air's Rock mate

on a live report

yeah

no worries

I'll do that

the Evie at Air's Rock

that we're going to install

just for you

and get a photo

at that NRMA

motoring services

charger that's

fueled by diesel power

that everyone gets

the ear it's about

because it's

in the middle of nowhere

and it's like

how else are you

going to get power

idiots

thanks buddy

here's no worries at all

yeah

I mean

it's a great feedback

and this is a challenge

with running a

charging network right

is

yeah you've got to know

you know what they say

the squeaky wheel

gets the oil

you tell them

they don't know this problem

unless you tell them

like you can't sell a secret

you've got to let them know

I was pretty delighted

that they upgraded

the Sutton's forest ones

because that's

the one that I would

use most if I could

it's kind of perfectly

located for me to

stop there on the way home

and it just felt like

such a really

just being drive to

your mum

all the way young

and this is

it's also

it's like the biggest

mackers on the run

it's a big stop

for people

so it's the perfect place

to have a presence

so I'm glad they upgraded it

because it gives the

it's like

it gives the

the real experience

or the modern experience

of charging as opposed

to the old school one

definitely

all right

two blokes

talking electric car

we'd love to hear from you

get in touch

anytime

doesn't matter what

you want to talk about

if it's about electric cars

we'll take your text

I love doing the look

towards the end of the show

isn't it

I love doing the look

where I'm disappointed in you

we just

we just have a bit of fun

that's what we do

we have fun

nothing wrong with having fun

expressing ourselves

thank you very much

for listening folks

we're

we're rounding out

the year

let's be honest

we're early in December

it's my birthday

it's already December

can you believe it

Steven didn't get me

electric car for my birthday

that I know of

you never know

there's still time

there's still six days

so that's fine

but

yes

we're rounding out the year

we'll pump through

another couple of weeks

before we take a little

Chrissy break

and then we'll be back

in mid January

the January the 12th

so we'll do a show

up until 22nd December

our 101st show

so

actually next week

is our 100th show

unbelievable

really

this is huge news

100

huge news

100

let's go baby

congratulations

yeah well done

I didn't think we'd make it

we're probably only

still here because

we've got other shows we do

every weekend

just pray as well

just part of it

put another log on the fire

will you say

we'll do episode 101

on December 22

and then we'll be back

mid January on the 12th

so you can have

a couple of weeks off

Christmas

if you want more of us

just go back to the start

yeah we've got

a 99 other shows

I'd probably push through

to about episode 20

that's when we can't

start to hit our stride

oh you reckon

episode 20

mate we hit the ground running

what are you talking about

okay

I think people might disagree

but also

over Christmas

feel free to download

all of our other shows

we have the best movies

you've never seen

that's our movie podcast

where Stephen introduces me

to a new movie

each and every week

two weeks talking tech

which is our longest running

podcast

coming up at 15 years

in a few months

my god

February 15

I've been saying

in our 15th year

trying to make it sound good

but now we're actually coming

close to 15 years

it is

that's unbelievable

yes it is

we should definitely do

a big outreach at that point

of course

we should go back on the telly

and talk about it

why not

let's go mate

of course there's a

tech guide podcast

from Stephen Fenwick

and my own EFGM podcast

there's lots going on

if you want

entertainment over Christmas

best value podcast channel

you can find

two blokes have got you

covered

and if you do enjoy

our mad witty banter

we do a private feed

every week

which is a little bit

hard for the kids

but it's just us talking

rubbish with each other

about the world

it's us being us

yeah that's it

anyway that's enough for us

and we'll be back again

next week

with episode 100 Stephen

100

lucky I looked at that

happy days

see you then mate

bye bye

099 - The KIA EV5 review, and your calls on Electric cars

About this episode

Kia EV5

Kia EV9

Kia EV3

Kia EV6

SUV

Tesla Model Y

aerodynamic design

MSRP

on-road price

two-tone

infotainment

drive away price

Kia Sportage

EV

Zika 7X

BYD Seal

Tesla

energy management

running out of juice

Tesla Supercharger

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast