107 - Sarah's New BYD, and thoughts on PHEV after years of ownership
Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast
107 - Sarah's New BYD, and thoughts on PHEV after years of ownership
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Car
Toyota RAV4
The Toyota RAV4 is a small SUV that is known for being reliable and having a lot of space inside. It can also come in electric versions.
Car
Tesla Model
The Tesla Model Y is a fully electric SUV that can go long distances without needing to recharge. It has many high-tech features.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a big car that looks really cool and can go fast. It's popular because it has a lot of space inside for people and things, and it’s fun to drive. People talk about it because it mixes style and performance well.
Car
Kia EV5
The Kia EV5 is a new electric car from Kia that is expected to have a lot of space and modern technology.
Term
WLTP
WLTP is a way to test how far cars can go on a charge or a tank of gas. It gives better numbers that are closer to what you would actually experience on the road.
Term
EV
An EV is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas, so it doesn't produce exhaust fumes.
Term
full self-driving
Full self-driving is a feature in Tesla cars that allows the car to drive itself in certain situations, like changing lanes or stopping at traffic lights, but it still requires driver supervision.
Term
self-driving car
A self-driving car is a vehicle that can drive itself without needing a person to control it. It uses special technology to see the road and make decisions, like when to stop or turn.
Car
Tesla Model S
The Tesla Model S is a high-end electric car that can go very fast and has a lot of modern technology. It's popular among people who want an eco-friendly vehicle that still performs well.
Term
0 to 100
'0 to 100' is a way to measure how fast a car can go from a complete stop to 100 kilometers per hour. It's often used to show how powerful a car is.
Term
software update
A software update is like getting a new version of an app on your phone. For cars, it can make them work better or faster without needing any physical changes.
Car
Kia EV9
The Kia EV9 is a new electric SUV from Kia. It's designed to be spacious and has a lot of modern technology, making it a good choice for families.
Term
pocket rocket
A 'pocket rocket' is a small car that is really fast and fun to drive. It's like a little sports car that you can easily park and maneuver.
Term
plug-in hybrid
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can use both electricity and gasoline. You can charge it up like an electric car, but it also has a regular engine for when you need to drive longer distances.
Term
battery range
Battery range is how far an electric car can go before it needs to be recharged. It's important for planning trips and daily driving.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road adventures. It's a favorite for people who like to travel and explore outdoors.
Term
V8
A V8 is a type of car engine that has eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. It's known for being powerful and is often used in larger cars and trucks.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is an electric car that is popular for being affordable and having a long driving range. It has a simple design and features that make it easy to use.
Brand
Lexus
Lexus is a brand of luxury cars made by Toyota. They are known for being reliable and having nice interiors.
Car
BYD Atto 2
The BYD Addo 2 is a new electric car made by a Chinese company called BYD. They are known for making electric vehicles and batteries, and this model is part of their effort to offer more electric options.
Term
CS22 charger
A CS22 charger is a special station used to charge electric cars. It's faster than regular chargers and is designed to work with many electric vehicles.
Term
DC charging
DC charging is a way to charge electric cars quickly. It uses direct current, which is faster than the regular charging method that uses alternating current.
Company
BYD
BYD is a car company from China that makes electric cars and batteries. They are known for creating good batteries that work well in electric vehicles.
Term
EVs
EVs are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They use batteries to power an electric motor, which makes them cleaner for the environment.
Term
ICE
ICE means cars that run on gas or diesel. These engines burn fuel to create power, unlike electric cars that use batteries.
Car
Hyundai Kona
The Kona is a small SUV made by Hyundai. It's popular for its good looks and features, and there are also electric versions available.
Term
slower charging
Slower charging means it takes more time to refill the battery of an electric car. This can happen because of the car's battery size or the type of charger being used.
Car
BYD Atto 2
The Ado2 is an electric car made by BYD that is known for being a good deal. It's a budget-friendly option for people who want to drive an electric vehicle.
Term
cruise control
Cruise control helps you maintain a steady speed while driving, so you don't have to keep your foot on the gas pedal. Newer versions can even slow down if there's a car ahead of you, making it safer.
Term
petrol car
A petrol car is just a car that uses gasoline to run. It's one of the most common types of cars you see on the road.
Term
emissions
Emissions are the harmful gases that cars produce when they burn fuel. Lowering emissions helps keep the air cleaner and better for the environment.
LIVE
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.
Great people, great products, great quality and get everything recorded.
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.
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.
Send us a text 0477657657.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
About this episode
Sarah shares her experience with her new BYD electric vehicle and reflects on her years of ownership with a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The hosts, Steven and Trevor, engage in a lively discussion about the pros and cons of both vehicle types, emphasizing the practicality and efficiency of electric cars versus the flexibility of PHEVs. They also take listener calls, providing personalized advice on choosing between popular models like the Tesla Model Y and Kia EV5, highlighting factors such as range, comfort, and driving experience.
Original notes
Picking between a Tesla and a KIA - tough one, and Stephen and Trevor share differing views.
Got an EV question? Get in touch, text or WhatsApp to 0477 657 657
Plus living with a PHEV - does it become second nature to charge?
And Sarah calls in about her brand new car!
Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast
Trevor Long and Stephen Fenech
0:00
40:57