107 - Sarah's New BYD, and thoughts on PHEV after years of ownership

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

You mucked up the close-ups mate.

No I didn't do them.

I just chose not to.

Okay, just okay.

It's like Seinfeld.

I chose not to run.

Oh I mean there's a lot of pressure here on me.

Buttons.

Do you want me to take over the controls mate?

Are you good?

There you go.

All right.

TubeLokes talking electric cars.

Thanks to NRMA Insurance, ensuring Australians and helping them protect the most valuable

things to them for 100 years or more.

And of course UNIDEN smart dash cams.

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In front of you and behind you with the rear cameras.

It's got an R on it.

If it's got an R it means rear.

People can't see you Steven.

Rear.

Right there now.

You've got to go the R, UNIDEN.

If you've got an R behind it it means there's a front and a rear camera.

Because you know what?

A lot of accidents happen from behind.

So you know you've got to do that.

Push that button.

There you go.

We'll back on the white button.

Put it in that little button there.

I'll manually control it.

Don't worry.

Okay.

Fair enough.

I'll push that one.

It goes on auto mate.

Okay.

It's shocking to me that I've failed the nation.

I've failed the nation.

What?

I haven't set up anything to congratulate Steven on his 60th birthday.

Which is as well.

It's not this week.

It's not my 60th birthday.

Isn't it?

No.

I'll be turning 58.

Wow.

It's close.

Tomorrow.

Damn close to 60.

What's today the 16th?

You're far closer to 60.

17th is my birthday.

Same birthday as Michael Jordan, by the way.

So great people are born on this day.

Your only answer to me is that I'm closer to 50 than you are closer to 60.

Yeah.

So you're 50 this year.

I'm 11 months away.

So yeah.

I'm 58 tomorrow mate.

Happy birthday mate.

58 years young.

Happy birthday Grandpa Steve.

And everyone, from everyone in the Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars community.

It's great to have you here the day before your birthday.

Pumping out the content.

I hope you have a great week mate.

But there's some important things to do before then.

And that is take your calls folks.

Send us a text.

Save it as Grandpa Steve.

0477657657 and we'll take your calls.

We've got plenty of calls coming up right here on Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars.

We'd love to take your calls 0477657657.

I'm confident in saying it's the only talkback electric car show on the planet.

Haven't heard of another one.

I mean, can you, I could think of a couple radio stations you might be able to dial into

to get some advice.

Yeah.

I've done a few of those calls on radio.

I'm talking about calling a car expert.

I'm glad you've taken the calls.

I was the expert that were calling.

Yeah, right.

You didn't call one through on eight seven three yourself.

No, that'd be weird.

But yeah, we like that uniqueness about this show.

So get in touch.

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Tim's on the line.

Hey Tim.

Hey guys, how you going?

Yeah, really good mate.

Where are you out in the world of EVs?

I work for a company and they're sort of like providing two vehicles.

Either the Tesla Model Y rear wheel drive or the RAV4 air long range.

They're also going to install a charger at my house.

Hang on.

RAV4 or Kia?

Oh, sorry.

Kia.

EV5?

Yeah, EV5.

Yeah, sorry.

I'm thinking of my current car, which is a RAV4.

All right.

So the choice is Tesla Model Y rear wheel drive or the Kia EV5.

Did you say in the air?

Yes, EV5, the air long range.

Right.

Nice.

And obviously for me, there's no cost involved or anything like that.

Like it's just, you know, yeah, exactly.

And like, you know, I thought it was a great opportunity to, you know, get to sort of experience

what the EV lifestyles like, you know, does it work for me?

And essentially without having to put any money on table.

And so I'm just sort of, you know, wondering what you guys think is sort of the best, you

know, the best one.

Like for me, I'm driving long distances, do a lot of driving for work.

And what's the most comfortable sort of ride?

Well, that was the question I was going to ask.

Like what sort of driver are you and how many Ks would you generally do?

Obviously, this is a company car, so you're going to be driving it a lot.

But also for your own use, is it going to suit, you know, do you like to go for camping trips

and long drives and stuff like that?

So is that what you like to do?

Yeah, yeah.

Let's establish that first and work backwards.

Yeah, yeah.

So like I'm doing 30,000 Ks a year, or that's what I did last year.

So and like that, that's included a lot of country runs for work, but as well as like

going, as you say, going camping.

And usually we drive to a spot and then we'll go hiking, that sort of thing.

So it's never been, I've probably been more remote places for work than like camping.

Just thinking off the top of my head.

And you said that your company is also giving, putting a charger at your home.

Are they at your place?

Yeah.

You're on a good package, mate.

Dude.

Yeah, that's for sure.

That's for sure.

Well, yeah, I've just moved into a new sort of like block of units.

So townhouses.

And I've had the guys come out and essentially start doing the quote.

And one of the guys on the phone was like, it's going to be like $5,000, $6,000,

just for the trench, like potential trenching work, just based off the photos you sent us.

Okay.

And I was like, and I don't know, you know, whether the company's going to sign it off.

Because, you know, at the end of the day, they're like, maybe 10 to 15 to him.

So, because they've sort of got to run it up, run it down the roof,

then run it down the wall and then dig a trench, take out half the visitor car park.

Get more quotes, mate.

Get a lot of quotes, I reckon.

Yeah.

Well, for me, like, because like for me, the thing is, I'm not paying.

So I'm like, well, and this is the company that the work doesn't through.

So they're like, well, these are the only people we can sort of, you know,

have a chat with.

So we'll see what they come back with.

Right.

Range wise, look, there's more K's in the, in the Tesla.

You said the rear wheel drive.

The rear wheel drive Tesla.

Oh, sorry.

So the rear wheel drive standard Tesla.

Yes.

It's actually got less range than the Kia EV5 long range.

So like you're talking 466 versus over 500.

Yeah.

So the Kia's got 5500.

On range alone, I'm all in on the Tesla.

WLTP, the air long range is 555 K's, whereas your Tesla is going to be 460 odd.

So on range alone, you're there.

And look, Steven and I may be absolutely torn down the line here, but what I love about

the Kia, the EV5 in particular is it just feels like a normal car, but you've got that,

you've got that quiet ride.

I think the ride is more refined on the open road.

I think for Australian roads, it's a better, especially if you're going on some kind of

B or C roads, not just on the A roads and highways.

I think it's got a better suspension tuning.

By the same token though, and this is coming from a former Tesla owner myself, the Tesla

has some quality to it.

It's a true high-tech spaceship EV experience.

And if that's what you're after, I would heavily recommend you go down the Tesla.

We're going to argue over this.

It just depends on what sort of how Tim is.

Does he want that experience?

Does he want to sit in this car and think, how good is this?

This is like I'm in a spaceship.

Or does he want to feel like the Kia with all respect?

It's like being in a normal car that just happens to be a normal car.

So do you want one that looks like a frog or like a normal car?

Well, that's the beauties in the eye of the beholder, mate.

We don't know.

That's up to you.

Yeah, that's it.

Because they're really beautiful.

You know, the princess and the toad, the princess and the frog.

Like, you know, you kiss the frog and now...

Yeah.

Probably more.

Hopefully the frog.

But what, I mean, genuinely, which way are you leading?

Where are you at right now?

I'm probably leaning more towards the Tesla, just because like, as you say, it's got that

futuristic, that tech feel.

I've taken it for a couple of test drives.

Unfortunately, the one I drove was like the Model Y performance with full self-driving.

And so like, I'm like, for me, I've always thought like, you know, you go out places

and you're like, oh, it'd be so nice to just have someone come pick you up.

And it's like, oh, it'd be so nice if it's like something could self-drive me.

And then I don't have to pay for it.

And then I was like, oh, my God, I need a self-driving car.

And I tried it.

And it was like, I'm sure you don't try it.

It's mind-blowing.

And the thing with the Tesla and the Kia.

The Kia has software updates and everything, but the Tesla seems to be more with an eye

to the future.

You get a lot of updates.

And I remember getting a Model S when I had my Model S.

I had a software update and the software update meant that my car would go faster, 0 to 100.

I picked up like 0.2 of a second.

It went faster after a software update.

There's really no point in me even trying to convince you at this time.

I'm pretty sure here that you just, what you wanted to hear.

And look, no disrespect.

We get this a lot in tech.

Like we get people on the radio and on the podcast and stuff.

Essentially, and genuinely, no disrespect, wanting to validate where you are at.

And mate, I think if you end up with a Tesla, you end up with a great car.

Don't get me wrong.

I think the range on the EV5 is worth considering.

You're talking nearly 100 extra kilometers range.

And if you're doing highway driving, remember that 466 becomes 350.

The 550 becomes 450 because you lose all that range.

You lose huge percentage of the range.

On highways opposite to a petrol car.

We've said that many times.

So think about that.

That's all I do.

And then the other thing I do is do some sit down and do some nerdy mapping and go, okay,

if I was to, where are the four places I've been personally, not on a business trip in the last year,

and plot them out and go, where can I charge and remember?

If you check out the Tesla chargers, a lot of them, but not all of them you need to check,

can be used with the Kia.

That's important to know.

But the great thing is, every single Tesla charger can be used with the Tesla.

Yeah.

That's for sure.

It's a big selling point.

We've said that a heap of times, mate.

So what's the timeframe on this, mate?

When essentially you've got a hand in your decision?

April.

April, that's when they're currently on the R4.

That's right.

How good is it they let you choose?

Yeah.

Normally it comes in as a car.

This is what you're getting.

But that's great.

So yeah.

So what sort of, can I just, I don't want to ask who you work for, but what sort of work

do you do?

Like what is your profession?

I'm a field service engineer.

Okay.

So you're in the field, obviously.

Yeah.

I mean, you need your car to get into the field.

Your engineering and have good service.

It's so much easier when, when you're 12 and you say I want to be an astronaut or a

tetra.

Yeah.

Like, you know, I'm not saying I want to be a field service engineer.

I feel like I'm going to make a guess a field service engineer.

I think if you were in the, in the renewables, you might be out engineering and servicing

wind turbines.

I feel like it becomes a specific thing.

Absolutely.

He's a mobile.

You're on the road, aren't you, mate?

That's the whole your job.

You're on the road.

Yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

I mean, when you go to that.

There you go.

Just busy.

You've got a great choice ahead.

I feel like we want to know after April, you said April, you're going to get the car.

We want to know.

We want to call back and give us your, do we want to hear your decision and your verdict

on the car, mate?

Yep.

Yeah.

No worries.

Sounds good.

I've got to give the key or a test drive and stuff as well.

Cause like, as you say, like, I, I wanted to have that chat with you because you got

at the end of the day, you guys are the experts.

And like, I'm really, exactly.

I'm leaning towards the test.

It's like, well, maybe the key, it does make more sense cause it's got that longer range.

Cause like, you know, it's got that more familiar style, like getting in the Tesla, like, yeah,

it's sick, but like, are you just going to get bored of that in, you know, a week or

two?

And then like, I'm like, oh, trust me.

I'm stuck with something I actually don't like.

As a former Tesla owner, your wife, that will not bore you.

It'll, it'll put a smile on your face every time.

Again, I'm just fighting the good fight for the people at Kia here, but I own a Kia EV9.

Well, my wife drives at 24 seven.

But every now and then I get to jump in and take it for a drive.

And I nearly always, we get press cars, we're driving beautiful cars every week, but if

I'm at home and I need to go take the kids somewhere, I will nearly always take the

Kia because I want to get back in it.

And I got to tell you, I love getting in that car.

I still love getting in that car.

It's a beautiful ride.

It's a, I love the infotainment system.

I love the buttons.

When you go and test drive the Kia, just tell yourself this when you're driving along go,

okay, I want it to be a lot colder in here.

How do I do that?

And it's a reach over and there's some buttons for that.

I want to switch to the radio now or back.

Do some basic things because those buttons that exist in the Kia that do not exist in

a Tesla.

And yes, a Tesla owner will tell you muscle memory, you learn where all the buttons are

and everything on a screen.

But there's nothing better than just reaching over and going temperature up, temperature

down, little things like that, make a difference.

And I, yeah, I think the Tesla will always win on front space and boot space, most likely.

But on overall comfort, I think you might be torn down the middle.

So we will hear from you again once your decision is genuinely made, mate.

We can't wait to hear you and we'll talk to you from the car.

Yeah, definitely from the car next time.

Thanks guys.

I appreciate it.

Thanks for getting in touch, mate.

See, that's a, and you know what?

Harp back to when we spoke to Bren and Pickles, an episode or so ago.

And we talked about how Teslas were a big component of the sales and it's because in

fleet buying, they're offering them up.

I said that to Bren and I said, you know, companies are proud to say we can get you an

EV.

Would you like a Tesla?

It feels better to say, would you like a Tesla or would you like a Kia?

That's why they make these decisions.

Absolutely, mate.

All right, great chat and we'd love to hear from you as well.

If you like Tim.

Oh, four, double seven, six, five, seven, six, five, seven.

Two likes on your electric cars, taking your calls.

If you want to chat anything EV, we'd love to talk to you.

Graham's on the line.

Good day, Graham.

Good day.

Mate, you're on the best line of the road.

We've spoken before.

Some time ago, I think, Graham, you own a Cooper plug-in hybrid.

That's right.

Yeah, I've got the Cooper for Minster.

I think I was on one of the first couple of those that you guys had.

Wonderful.

And how do you like it, mate?

You've had it a couple of years.

I know Trev's a Cooper, man.

He keeps bragging about it.

How do you like yours?

We still love the car.

It's a pocket rocket.

We absolutely love it.

It's a great little car.

It's a plug-in hybrid.

I talked about this a couple of weeks ago,

which is probably what prompted you to get back in touch.

But I had the Mercedes over the Christmas break,

and I felt like I worried that a lot of people don't bother plugging in.

What's become your routine for getting the most from the battery

and the least from the tank?

Yeah, well, we keep the thing charged all the time.

It's only got about a 45-page battery range,

but for my wife, she only works a few days away from home.

So we run it pretty much all week.

She has the capability to charge at the office,

so she keeps it plugged in and topped up all the time,

and we've also got a wallbox at home.

So if we do need to charge up the solar, we can.

So we try and run it as easily as much as we can.

And then it's really only if we exceed that 45-page range

or we're going on a road trip,

then we drop into petrol mode.

So really, we run it as an easy most of the time,

but then when we want to go away, we've got that flexibility.

Do you go away often?

Do you get on the road often?

We do go away a fair bit,

although a lot of the time we're running in the Land Cruiser

and apparently going by caravan,

which is why I'm a bit stressed in the audio.

We blame Toyota, right?

I wasn't going to bag it because it was a Cooper,

but you're in the Toyota.

It's crappy Bluetooth, unbelievable.

Yeah, so we do do a couple of road trips,

but generally it's in the big V8, so not so much.

But even trip like out to Windsor and stuff to visit family,

we'll often go outside the battery range

and it'll drop to petrol.

But as soon as we get back, we'll charge us back up again.

So are you comfortable?

Do you think in future you're going to stick with the hybrid?

Or you got a bit more lean towards having a full EV in the future?

No, we're still thinking of the hybrid part.

We're actually waiting for the new RAV4 plug-in hybrid

to come out later this year.

The lease is up in November, so we're looking at that.

I know you guys talked about doing a review

of the Lexus plug-in hybrid,

so that's the same platform as the RAV,

so we're quite keen to hear how that goes.

With the extra range, 100 km range is claimed on the battery on the RAV4.

So yeah, we're still full of leaning towards the hybrid.

We're still not ready to jump straight for the full EV.

Okay, even though you've been kind of living EV,

and you think about those, even if it's drive to Windsor,

and you've got the second car,

it's not like you're talking about going full electric,

or even FEV and electric.

Going EV and having those savings

and that kind of stuff hasn't given you that push towards full EV?

Look, I could probably do it.

My daughter's got a Model 3,

and they love that, and I've driven that quite a bit,

and I really enjoy the electric experience,

but I'm just not sure that my wife's really ready to go that way.

When the lease comes up, we may be a bit more open-minded.

We might have a look.

I think you're downplaying the wife skills there, mate.

You're charging every day already.

She's charging at work.

You're charging at home.

How dare you, Graeme.

This is unbelievable.

I do have her well-trained.

I must admit.

She would probably argue the same of you in other ways.

If it was up to you, mate, would you go EV,

or is it the misses that you want to keep?

Happy wife, happy life, mate.

I understand, but if it was up to you,

would you go full EV,

or you just want to keep the peace at home?

No, I think we're both much the same.

My biggest issue with the EV

and doing the road trips, which we would do

if we had a slightly bigger car that's full electric,

is the country charging situation.

I still am a little concerned about that.

That's charging in the regional areas.

But if it was just around town

and what we're going to do around town,

then yeah, they probably would fit the bill reasonably well.

So we're really on the edge.

Just to give you some peace of mind,

the charging situation on highways and country areas

is absolutely increasing.

Trevor, we spoke last week about

there's Tesla superchargers in a lot of places,

other chargers, so you are seeing more.

There is way more chargers out there,

so if that gives you some peace of mind,

then yeah, it might be worth exploring.

What have you learnt over the couple of years

about not just the Cooper, but plug-in hybrids?

Is it not a mental challenge,

but is it something you need to stay on top of,

or has it become second nature?

No, it really has become second nature.

I think because of the low battery range

on that vehicle and a lot of plug-in hybrids,

we've just really trained ourselves

as a synergy of pull-up anywhere,

at home or at work, we will plug it in.

So effectively we're driving it like an EV.

So as you say, we probably could

transit into a fully relatively easily.

I guess it's that security blanket

of just having that petrol engine there just in case.

And you said you've got a warbox too,

you've got a warbox, didn't you?

A charger at home.

And so you're only charging like what,

a pretty small battery at home.

You've got your charger in place

if you decide to pull the trigger on a full EV.

You're absolutely right.

We went all out.

I got the full, free-paid,

22kW charger only to find in the Cooper charger.

I'll be brought an EV tomorrow.

Steven will drop by on his way home.

I'll swim by, mate, if that's all right.

It's the only time we ever see our daughters

to talk in the plug.

Oh, there you go, there you go.

That's the new version of,

most of the memes are, you know, kids come home.

Bring over your washing.

Your daughter's coming over to get the car charged.

Bring your washing over and have dinner

and charge your car at the same time.

Yeah, she'll be like,

oh, should we watch her moving after dinner, Dad?

And you're like, Evan, you got much charged.

I'll say this just quickly

about the 45km range.

I'm thinking now that the Mercedes

that I had 100km range,

I think that that lulled me into

a non-daily charging routine.

So that's three days worth of charge.

Unless I've done channeling like three times

in a week or something.

That's 100km battery range

is actually not a need to daily charge.

And so I wonder whether

my experience of going,

I don't charge it every day,

was because of the size of the battery

and growing with a smaller battery,

you're forced into that and therefore,

it's a good training,

but I wonder where the longer range would change your habit.

You know, that's

that's the interesting part.

I hadn't really thought about it that way,

but I guess it's,

I'll tell if we don't

that part just to see how it is.

But I think because we've got in the habit now

of charging and I think we'd probably

just continue doing it.

Well, mate, very interesting feedback

because I'll be honest with you,

given it's been a couple of years,

I kind of got a sense that you might be moving

towards the world of EVs,

but you know, if it does what it does for you,

so be it,

but you did well to invest for your daughter there

among anyone else.

I mean, look, Graham, as you as you progress

to that later part of the year, we'll have the Lexus

I haven't got the date in front of me,

but we'll have it later in the year,

but we'll keep you in the loop on how that goes.

And that's going to be the platform for the RAV.

Yeah, exactly, similar platform.

Similar car and you'll get the sense

of how it handles

the electrification. So all eyes

on your lease ending later in the year, mate,

and I'm sure we'll catch up then and see what the next

decision is.

Yep, can't wait to hear the reviews and

we'll keep across it. Good on you, Graham. Thanks for getting

back in touch, mate. Good on you.

Good stuff, mate. Lovely to hear from you.

It's good to hear back from

people too. And again, I'm not

trying to tell you how to, you know, get in touch

with us so regularly, but it's great to

follow the journey. We followed Penelope's journey

to find, we should catch up with Penelope

again and find out how the Smart Hashtag 3 is going.

Absolutely. Yeah, great to hear

from you anytime, 0447 657 657.

If you're listening

to the show in the car,

on the podcast app, on Spotify,

do miss out on Stephen's silly face

suggestions.

Get on the video and

we'll have a look at

what's going on.

We'll have a look at our antics. A couple of weeks ago

I started uploading the video version to Spotify

as well. Oh. I don't know. Have I been doing that?

Nah. Mate, you're leaving.

You're leaving money on the table there. No, they

left, they changed something and you can do it for a while.

But I accidentally did it and I'm like,

this is taking a long time to upload and I realise it was

the video version. So I'm hopefully

still remembering to do that.

And if I am, you can get the video version

on Spotify too. Get on YouTube.

Spotify, YouTube, YouTube is great because we love the comments.

Comments and the conversation that occurs

in the YouTube version is fantastic.

Oh, four, double, seven, six, five, seven, six, five, seven.

Sarah's on the line today, Sarah.

Hello, how are you? Excellent.

Where are you at in your EV journey? We believe you've

just got a new car.

Yes. This is my first one.

I had got it about three weeks ago.

Okay. I've got a BYD

Addo 2. Okay. That's the new model.

We spoke about that last week on the show.

Lovely. We were driving that ourselves

and we did speak about it a week ago.

What drew you to the

Addo 2? Because obviously

the three, the dolphin, the seal,

the sea lion, the shark have been out there.

Addo 2 is quite new. Did you see it announced

and go, I want that or how did that come about?

It was a little bit like that.

I don't need a huge car.

And I didn't really like the look of the dolphin or anything

like that. And I've sort of test driven the

three and it was just a little bit too big.

And then when they said that they were bringing out

the Addo 2,

I needed to try it straight away and I really

liked it when I did.

And so tell us, we've

been speaking about BYD a fair bit

recently, both positively

and negatively. Some people had some funny

experiences there. But tell us about your

experience from the moment you decided

and test driving. So

how was that for you?

I had a really positive experience

which I know that's not a common

thing that I've heard about on your show.

But I

booked in the test drives. I actually booked

in for the Addo 3, I think two years ago

or one year ago. And there was

no issue with my booking. I got it straight away.

I didn't have to wait for anybody.

The salesman that showed me the vehicle

and took me for a test drive was really friendly

and helpful.

And then when I did the, that was at Haber Field

and then I test drove the Addo 2 at Gosford.

And again, no problems

with my booking. I didn't have to wait for anything.

I had a decent

amount of time to drive and I had to test out

all the features before and during

the drive and they weren't too pushy

and just really, really helpful and

friendly. And I, yeah.

Was it a set route on the test drive

that they would take

on? I don't know

if it was a set route but I'm really familiar with the area

and we went to the places that

you'd normally go to if you were testing a car

I suppose. So I didn't

feel restricted in where I had to drive but

I didn't actually ask about if this was

planned or if this was

what we decided to do because there's

sort of one road in and one road out.

You said this is your first

EV? Yes.

How are you finding being an

EV driver? I love it.

I love it.

It's just

everything just works really well.

So it really goes like when I'm leaving

the traffic lights it just really goes.

What did you have before Sarah? What did you

own before you came out? I had a

Subaru Impressor before that.

Which, yeah, I

loved that car as well but I just have that guilt

of emissions when I'm driving

a petrol car. So I finally

got the option to

drive an electric car.

The things that just

to me make a lot of sense and these might be

very normal for people who've had EVs

before but things like

the lights automatically come on when

it starts to get dark or the windscreen might

automatically come on or when

you're going down a hill it controls

the speed so you take your foot off the

accelerator and it doesn't just roll

beyond the speed limit

and things like that and it does have

the lane

awareness so it looks at me

and the adaptive cruise control

so you're driving and then when

the car in front of you starts to slow down

the car starts to slow down that you're in as well

like that's so good.

I love your passion for your new car.

It makes me so happy because

it reminds me that everyone

can have that experience no matter what they spend

because and with the

greatest respect most of the things you just

described are just new cars

okay headlights coming on

adaptive cruise control that's in

petrol cars and electric cars but what you've

also got is this fantastic

performance and

peace of mind around being green

so I love that

you've got to experience all these things

and you get to experience them every day. Do you live up the coast like

because you get freeway driving the adaptive cruise controls

are huge deal.

It's so good

and even if I'm just going up to

Wyoming so I live in Gosper if I'm just going up to

Wyoming I can just click on the adaptive cruise control

and it just does all the

all the work and I can just enjoy

the scenery and the drive it's really pleasant

and you know the fans are

so good like they cool the car down straight away and I can turn them on

when I'm not even in the car

like you know it's so good. How do you like that big screen

too you like that big display in there.

The only thing about the big screen

is that you kind of have to

it's a long way to get to the fan button

on screen but you know

what a first world problem you know what I mean

I can move everything else closer to the

driver side but no the screen

the screen is fine like I don't really need to use it too much

because I'm driving but yet

love the screen. What about

can I ask what is your

driving an EV now of course you've got to charge it

so what is your charging situation

do you have a charger at home

or are you using the granny charger

I live in an apartment complex

and I haven't brought it up with Australia

to get my own little charger there

but I've only had to charge it twice so far

and I go to

I've just gone to a BP around the corner

and it takes I use

the you know the CS22 charger

and it takes about an hour

to go from about 15% to 100%

okay but

and I know you're not supposed to let it run that low either

so I'm getting used to working out

Yeah that's honestly

trying to keep it between

what I do is keep it between like

30 and 80

and on Sarah the reason

to keep it between

30 and 80 or where it's just

for that convenience so for example

you said you're going to a charger

a BP charger in your case Sarah

if you were to do that at 30%

it would take probably

20 minutes or 30 minutes to get to 80

and then you're only there

for 30 minutes instead of an hour

but if you're if you're trying to go from 15

to 100 that that last

20% is probably

15-20 minutes at that time

so don't worry about the last 20%

just keep it in that range and when you decide to drive down

to the Sydney or up to Newcastle

yeah fill her up to 100 but the rest of the time

just keep it at 80 for the simple fact

that charging is

less time and you don't need to basically

yeah thank you that's

good advice for a person

so you said you're in a strata building

are you are you applying to get

a charger in your parking spot or how's

it going to work yeah I think

I will I just I want to call some of the companies

to work out how it all

gets installed and what what I need to

tell the strata to do because

I know they can't say no because of you know

cosmetics reasons now I saw that that's a new

law but I don't know what they're going to

have to do like where do they dig or like

there's definitely a PowerPoint in there but I don't own it

well you know your power point so you got

a PowerPoint in your parking space

it's not my PowerPoint

it's kind of in the

in the whole like there's two floors

and it's on my floor so I don't own it

because what I was going to suggest is did you

get the granny charger like a cable

with the car to plug into it

because you could that could get you out of

overnight charging but if it's not your

PowerPoint you might not be able to do that

to be honest I think that's going to be your main

go on Karin

the PowerPoint is kind of like for the whole floor

and it's not in a spot so

I couldn't just park there because I wouldn't be able to get through

I think what you you're up for

a fun time with Strada because

the issue won't really be

just putting one in it'll be

because they've got a

if it's your spot and your charger

it needs to be on your bill so that's a different

deal because it needs to be wired back essentially

to your part of the power box so that it's

built to you whereas if

you got agreement if there was a visitor spot

for example that it could be put

where anyone could use

but maybe you know what and maybe you're

willing to pay for it then

it becomes a little bit easier and it just puts everyone's levees up

or whatever but that's they're the

challenges you're going to have unfortunately is those

conversations about the complexity

of doing it just for you as

opposed to doing it for everyone

but it sounds like you've got like

charges around you plenty of

up the coast there's heat to charge

and great

there's so many apps that you can find them on as well

couple weeks ago we spoke to

Brennan from Pickles and he

confirmed to us that they

see no crazy

degradation in batteries for people that are only

using DC charging so

it apparently from every

bit of research we have thus far is not having

a negative effect on your car doing fast charging

yeah that's perfect

I was looking into sort of batteries

that the EVs have and I was

I was very reassured by the BYD

sort of batteries because they seem to be able to cope

so you're happy with this car by the sounds of it

so you're going to hang on to this for a while

did you get it on a lease or did you buy it outright

or how did you get it? I've done it

on a no van at least through work so

yeah

do you get a chance to charge it at work?

is that a place you can charge it? No there's nothing

here there's actually a fleet

I know there's a fleet car park that I asked

if I could use but you can't use the fleet car

park and there's no other places

to charge EVs here so but I've seen

there's some in the shopping centres and there's some

you know there's some around the place that

that are free but I think I saw

on some forums that people

who aren't EVs try to use them

as well and they call them ICE which is where

it is so I'm getting on a lingo. I've been ICE

a few times myself

I've been tough on the local Facebook

group and embarrass those people because that's what you do

I take photos of the cars and share them on social media

shame

you love the BYD

I'm excited for you did you consider anything else?

I did

I hired a

Kona actually

I went to New Zealand and I needed to hire a car

so I thought why not try an electric car and that was okay

it was it was okay but

I just didn't and this is so dumb

I'm not a car girl but it didn't really excite me

so I didn't really

didn't really go back to the Kona and I've been

one of my mates who's got a Tesla

and that was fine but I kind of wanted

like a you know more like

an SUV kind of looking

be cool and I

could have test driven a hundred of them but you know how

you get decision fatigue

so I was still interested in

the BYD and once I had driven it

and I liked it and I read about the slower charging

in some of these cars and it doesn't really

you know I can organise my time

and you got a good deal too

I think the Ado2 is a great value car

you're getting a lot of bang for your buck

yes and it's

sort of improved since when I drove it

for the test drive as well in that small amount of time

I think I got the next model across

because I was asking can you do like

you can unlock it from your phone and all that sort of thing

but when I test drove it you couldn't

so yeah it's and I know that when they

do those software updates things get better

as well so yeah

well the most important thing we win each

and I do you remember the name of the sales rep

who kind of got you over the line

because shout out to them mate

yeah so his name is Cooper

and he's actually left that BYD now

but the other guys that helped me were named Lee

and Will and they both were

all three of them were super helpful

and and definitely got me

over the line and that was in Gosford

that was in Gosford, Gosford BYD

just a really

really good place

well we're very happy to hear that

that's excellent news and if you're looking for a BYD

then Gosford's a place to go

we've had positive experiences

Sarah congratulations on the new car

enjoy it

thank you very much guys

fantastic, great to hear from you wonderful stuff

I mean that's a thing

that's a great story

the dealership makes a difference

in that case look at it

and you know I don't even think we talk fully about it

but you know Sarah in her text to us

talked about the salesman taking for a drive

and letting try all the features but most importantly

she said he drove a he owned a BYD

and so she she loved the fact that he was that passionate

about it he bought one

he liked it so much he got the product as well

I mean that's good

you've got to find the right experience

and she sounds very happy

she's in new to EVs

and loving it

she's more happy than any person

you've had on the show

good luck to you, good on you Sarah

great to hear from you, we'd love to hear from anyone else

who wants to talk EVs

great to hear from you all

Tim Graham

Sarah BYD

loving it

the passion, I love that passion

for a new car

those calls are great

people have taken

made the move

they're happy with their decision

it also reminded me

how different cars are today

cruise control

is so much different in a modern car

because it slows down for the car in front of you

it stays in the lane

it's awesome to get a new car

if you've got an older car

go and test drive something new

if you're driving a petrol car

test drive an EV

you never know

this might be my next car

and they're Sarah with the guilt free driving now

they're not worrying about those emissions

that is absolutely the reason a lot of people buy an EV

it's also not the reason

for a lot of people

saving money is a big example

have you seen the cost of petrol lately

if we could do some

sort of breakdown of why everyone bought an EV

that's a good

40-50% of people

would be fringe benefits tax

there's a financial

I think there'd be 20 or 30

it's fuel cost

then there'd be 30% that are just

environmental

and then a smaller percentage of all of those

it's a drive

it's the feeling, it's the style

of that kind of thing

that's a good survey

we should actually put that up

on our socials and get people to

link in and vote

I did mud map an actual survey at one point

like a questionnaire

draw on how the flow of the questions would go

because designing a survey is pretty hard

because if they say no to this you've got to say yes to that

so you and me can just go out with a clipboard

and just talk to all these people at all the different dealerships

would you be dressed as a koala?

no, koala

I do hear like taking donations

no mate

I'd have my tech guide shirt on

or should we get two blokes talking to electric car shirts

and do it?

it sounds like an extra expense

maybe we could go somewhere and they come to us

and we do the survey

we'll just sit in a booth and have people come up

we'll work it out maybe with a dealer

some car brand might want us to

out there and chat to their customers

we're available to do appearances

record our show from your dealership

absolutely, yeah

maybe BYD

I want to invite us and say boys

they might not want to as well

hey, we're not saying it

we're just on the sideline

we're just a conduit

they're the messengers, we're a conduit

happy birthday this week Steven

and have a great week and we'll be back next week

with another episode of two blokes talking to electric cars

we'd love to hear from you

0477

send us a text folks

ciao

107 - Sarah's New BYD, and thoughts on PHEV after years of ownership

About this episode

Toyota RAV4

Tesla Model

Dodge Charger

Kia EV5

WLTP

EV

full self-driving

self-driving car

Tesla Model S

0 to 100

software update

Kia EV9

pocket rocket

plug-in hybrid

battery range

Toyota Land Cruiser

V8

Tesla Model 3

Lexus

BYD Atto 2

CS22 charger

DC charging

BYD

EVs

ICE

Hyundai Kona

slower charging

BYD Atto 2

cruise control

petrol car

emissions

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