111 - EVs: Safe from rising petrol prices!
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Term
dashcam
A dashcam is a camera you put in your car to record what happens while you drive. It helps prove what really happened if there's a crash or something unusual on the road.
Concept
electric vehicle (EV)
An electric vehicle is a car that runs on electricity instead of petrol or diesel. It uses batteries to power the motor, which can save money on fuel and is better for the environment.
Concept
solar
Solar means using sunlight to make electricity with special panels. You can use this electricity to charge your electric car at home instead of buying fuel.
Concept
battery
A battery is like a big box that holds electricity to power an electric car. You can also have batteries at home to save solar power for charging your car later.
Concept
renewables
Renewables are types of energy that come from nature and don't run out, like sunlight and wind. They help make electricity to charge electric cars without using fuel.
Concept
fuel supply chain
Fuel supply chain means all the steps to get petrol and diesel from the ground to your car. Problems like wars or floods can make fuel hard to get or more expensive.
Term
panic buying
Panic buying is when people rush to buy lots of fuel because they are scared it will run out, which can actually cause the fuel to run out faster.
Term
EV
An EV is a car that runs on electricity from batteries instead of petrol or diesel. This means it can be cheaper to run and better for the environment.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, strong SUV that can drive on rough roads and lasts a long time. Many have diesel engines which use fuel efficiently compared to other big cars.
Car
Toyota Prado
The Toyota Prado is a medium-sized SUV that can handle rough roads but is also good for daily driving. It usually has a diesel engine that uses less fuel.
Term
Jerry cans
Jerry cans are small containers people use to carry extra petrol or diesel when they might not be able to get fuel easily.
Concept
charging at home
Most people with electric cars charge them at home by plugging them into a charger, which is easy and convenient.
Term
EV charging costs
Charging an electric car costs money, just like filling up a petrol car. The price depends on where and how fast you charge.
Term
price gouging
Price gouging means charging way too much money for something, especially when people really need it, like petrol or electricity.
Term
public charges
Public charges are the prices you pay when you charge your electric car at public charging stations.
Car
Kia Sportage
The Kia Sportage is a small SUV made by Kia. It is good for families and can drive on many types of roads. Some versions use diesel fuel.
Term
vehicle to grid
Vehicle to grid means your electric car can send electricity back to the power company when they need it, helping save energy and maybe even making you some money.
Car
Kia EV3
The Kia EV3 is a smaller electric car made by Kia. Because it costs less, more people have it on the road.
Car
Kia EV9
The Kia EV9 is a big electric SUV made by Kia. There aren't as many of them on the road because they cost more than smaller electric cars.
Concept
concept vehicle
A concept vehicle is like a test car made to show new ideas. It might have cool features but may not work perfectly or be easy to fix.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a medium-sized truck made by Ford. It's used for carrying things and driving on different types of roads. Some versions have special engines that use less fuel.
Car
Tesla Model Y
The Tesla Model Y is a small electric SUV made by Tesla. It has cool tech features and drives only on electricity, not gas.
Term
full self-driving
Full self-driving means the car can drive itself using special computer systems, so the driver doesn't have to do everything.
Car
Mercedes-Benz GLE
The Mercedes-Benz GLE is a luxury SUV made by Mercedes. It is a big, comfortable car with many features and can have different types of engines.
Company
BYD
BYD is a company that makes electric cars and batteries. They work on technology that lets electric cars give power back to the electricity grid.
Term
bi-directional charger
A bi-directional charger is a special charger that can both fill up your electric car's battery and send electricity from the car back to your house or the power grid.
Car
Mini Cooper
The Mini Cooper is a small car that is fun to drive and easy to park because it is small and quick.
Concept
plug-in hybrid
A plug-in hybrid is a car that uses both petrol and electricity. You can charge its battery by plugging it in, and it can drive some distance using only electricity.
Term
early adopter
An early adopter is a person who gets new things, like cars or gadgets, before most people do. They try new stuff first.
LIVE
This is Tubeloaks Talking Electric Cars with Stephen Fennick and Trevor Long, thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden.
And you are listening to Tubeloaks Talking Electric Cars, NRMA Insurance, one of Australia's largest insurers of electric vehicles,
helping Australians protect what matters most for over 100 years and Uniden Smart Dashcams.
If you've got a car you need a dashcams, it's really quite simple because why wouldn't you want to have a record of what happened on the road around you?
In the case of something bad happening to you, it's proof and it's back up to your word and in the case of something silly happening in front of you,
it's dope for dashcam owners.
Also, get the rear, get the one with the R because you get the rear camera as well.
You want to go front and back.
We'd love to hear from you, 04777657657.
We'd love to hear from you and have a chat about your journey with the electric vehicle world.
If you're an owner of an EV, we'd love to hear from you.
If you're in the market for an EV, we'd love to hear from you.
But most importantly, get in touch to send us a text or a WhatsApp.
Thanks to Vodafone, 04777657657.
Before we get to our first caller who's waiting patiently on the line, on the line RAF,
Steven, I mean, we don't want to kind of crow too much, but it's not a bad time to own an electric vehicle.
Every news bulletin is about petrol prices.
Yes, and running out of supply.
I think there's a few EV owners with a little rye smile on their face right now thinking,
well, that's not going to affect me.
I think without glorifying war and the whole circumstance there,
but I think that if there were people who were maybe on the fence about an EV,
this may tip them over.
This may tip them into the EV.
Think of, well, there's more security around my fuel,
which is electricity than there is around petrol.
I mean, not to go too deeply political,
but even as a layman, you realise that we as a country,
let alone as individuals now, have more control over electricity than we do things like fuel.
So we've got solar.
A lot of our listeners have solar.
That gives you the potential to literally charge your car at home.
If you've got a battery, there's that potential as well.
But broadly speaking, whether it's coal, firepower, wind or renewables, whatever it is,
the ability for government to control and supply electricity is far easier than it is with fuel.
And we're seeing that right now.
We're not relying on supply coming from the Middle East and other parts of the world
where obviously there's big conflict in the Middle East right now
and putting pressure on people.
It doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.
Well, depending on who you listen to, it could last weeks, could last months, could last years.
We don't know, but they're already starting to feel the pinch in rural areas.
They're running out of diesel and depending on which politician you're talking to,
they're thinking, well, no, it's because people are going to buy petrol.
Hello, they claim there's a lot of panic buying going on, but people need petrol.
The other defence of the government is there's also major flooding in Queensland,
which is causing supply problems for trucks to get through and deliver the fuel.
So there's a lot of factors.
But the bottom line is I don't think anyone could ignore the fact that
over many decades, fuel prices has always been our story.
Oil price, you know, the barrel.
It's something that's listed in the news sometimes, you know, the price of oil by the barrel.
Not that any of us have ever bought oil by the barrel, but we know intrinsically
that if oil prices by the barrel have gone up, then there's going to be a knock on effect at the bowser.
Absolutely.
And that's a genuine advantage to owning an EV is that price rise.
And I feel for people, especially diesel, because it's gone up so much,
you see people driving a diesel Land Cruiser or Prado
and you think that's a great car, great fuel efficiency.
But if your cost has just gone up 50 cents a litre, then that's a huge percentage increase
in your fuel cost and your daily cost of living.
Yeah. So I think now, you know how the people who were a little bit wary
or a little bit reluctant to go EV, their concern was, oh, where am I going to charge the car?
Well, now, if you're a petrol car owner, where are you going to get your fuel?
If this conflict continues, are you going to be sitting in a queue for an hour to get 20 bucks worth of fuel?
I mean, we live in the city where the supply issue isn't that bad.
And I saw a bike yesterday with two Jerry cans.
And I'm thinking, bro, I don't think that's for your lawn mower.
I think you might be hoarding a little bit.
Maybe, yeah. It's the toilet paper during COVID.
Everyone's thinking, oh, God, the guy with the Jerry cans is an example.
But I think if you take that concern that you had about EVs and thought, oh, where am I going to charge?
Well, you know what, 95% of EV drivers charge at home.
So how's that for convenience?
So I think that this may shift a few people's opinions on EVs and whether it's right for them.
I'll just say one last thing.
I want to make sure that we all, as EV owners, keep our eye on those EV charging costs.
I'm worried that there's a little bit of a tweak goes on.
I do not want to see fluctuation in electricity prices in the same way that we do.
Well, they're already talking about price gouging at the bowser, right?
So petrol prices.
So if that price gouging then transfers over to public charges,
then I think there should be an inquiry about that.
Yeah.
Well, let us know what you see out and about.
Let us know whether you've had those conversations with any of your neighbors or mates
about a little bit of humble bragging at the same time as them being in a little bit of financial pain.
I've had a few people say, oh, mate, you'll be fine.
I said, mate, haven't had petrol for eight years, mate.
Well, let us know.
Oh, four, double seven, six, five, seven, six, five, seven.
Raf's on the line.
G'day, Raf.
Hey, guys.
How you guys going today?
Mate, really, really good.
Where are you at in your EV journey?
Red to go all in, to be honest.
Hi, guys.
The wife.
We traded in a sportage diesel, which glad we got off that boat into a depot.
Depot, SO7.
Actually, you got the SO7 here.
We've driven that.
Nice car.
Yeah, nice.
And so when you say go all in, are you looking to get the second car as well now?
Yeah.
So getting the second car.
I think I've got the, I've got like a Serato, so sedan probably doesn't suit the work life
and the everyday life and probably being careful about how we go in, you know, all in with the second car
because I think this choice makes a big, big difference, I think.
So this is the second car is obviously for you, and it's going to be a work vehicle as well.
So you're looking for something that can suit both, you know, casual driving and for work as well.
Not even that.
I mean, thinking big scale, right?
I'm a mortgage broker working from home.
I'm, I work in the golf industry as well on the side.
It's obviously neither space, but I'm working from home a lot.
I guess this whole vehicle to grid scenario just adds to the, to the mix in decision making.
You know, it's a tough one.
And there's been some, there's been a little bit of movement in that space.
I saw, I'm going to say it was AGL maybe, producer Rob will annoy me with the emails again,
but they came through and they talked about how they were ready to push forward with the trial.
They had a lot of people put their hand up for the trial and they said they were starting with the Ato3.
That was the first car they were essentially certifying for.
I had a conversation with the guys at SIG Energy.
They've got, you know, batteries and they have a 25 kilowatt DC bi-directional.
And I said, oh, great news.
I'll be able to test a million cars for you to see which ones actually do and don't work because the problem is right now.
We don't know in Australia which cars do support it and which cars don't because even if they support it in the, in the spec sheet,
some of them need a software upgrade.
So you've got to be very careful about what you believe.
Yes. And a lot of the support from the, from the manufacturers in the, in the sense that if they're not backing it for a warranty,
have you, have you lent towards anything that is bi-directional?
Well, that's what I'm sort of trying to work out, right?
Because I feel, and again, I'm a big value for money guy, right?
Like, you know, originally looking at J5s for obviously the cost price is fantastic.
But when you think about it, when you chuck an extra 10, 20 grand in and you get an extra 20, 30 kilowatts in the car battery,
suddenly it makes a lot more sense for that investment to spend a little bit more, you know, with a bigger battery.
That's fair enough. So you're driving, Raf, how, how, what, what you, how many K's you do a day?
You said you work from home as a mortgage broker and what did you say you're in the golf industry?
I knew you'd pick up on the course mate.
Golf industry mate, yeah, I work for Future Golf as an event manager.
So essentially in, in SA, I mean, let's be honest, I mean, the, the furthest courses from the CBD are probably 150,
180 kilometers return. So on a, on a, on a Sunday, you know, when you're heading out in the morning,
my dad's got an out of, out of three as well and, you know, driving the, the SO7 around.
It is effortless driving those distances in the morning and back again without any stress.
So what are you leaning towards?
Because DeepL has got the EO7, which would have huge space for that.
A lot of room.
EO7 worries me about the support or how much they're selling of them.
I think the SO7, I feel a little bit more comfortable that, you know, I guess it's the devil, you know,
now that we've had the SO7 for the last.
DPS, what, what, what gives you the worry?
Because, okay, every, every manufacturer has some cars that sell more than others.
Like my car at EV9, there's not many of them on the road, but there's plenty of EV3s and that's a price thing.
So, you know, we had the conversation with the caller a few months ago about whether or not the warrant,
it was all weird about using it as a work car and all stuff like that.
I honestly can't imagine that would come up, but it might be a concern for you.
But if you've enjoyed this service and support you've had thus far,
it's not worth ruling them out, I would have thought.
It's more the, the type of car.
The EO7 looks fantastic, but still leans towards that concept vehicle type thing.
Lots of moving parts, lots of, lots of motors, you know, I guess, you know, anything can go wrong
and look, supports all well and good, but you can't open the boot up, you know,
because the motor's broken, sort of, sort of gets me a tiny bit worried.
Well, what else? What's, what's next on the list then?
Well, again, going from the Ranger, I like definitely taken off any, any super hybrids or whatnot.
Love the Cherry to go nine, loved it, drove it.
But then with all this petrol stuff, I went, you know what?
I just, that's what, this is the thought of going all in.
What's the, it feels silly now that we've got a SO7 to go down a hybrid route.
You know, might as well go and get the, get the right box, get the vehicle to grid.
He's a, he's a BYD in the mix, mate.
Are you like maybe a C-line seven? That's a big, decent size car.
I think the problem with BYDs is they're still catering for the normal,
I guess the, the, the car owner that's transitioning to an EV.
So they still have the push button starts, I'm not the, not the new ones,
but since push button starts, the gear stick in the middle.
Whereas I feel like there's this movement in the Chinese car industry where, yeah, you know,
you're in the car, it's automatically off.
So you are actually thinking, I want to go, you're not thinking all in.
I want to have two electric transformation.
You want to, you want to shake yourself away from all of the legacy parts of the car.
So for example, and we talked about this before, my Cupra, you know, it's sit in and go.
It's, there's no stop.
I've left the Kia EV9 running, running on several times because I get out of the car and walk away.
And then, then it beats and it's like, oh, I've left it on.
So I like the idea of not having a power button.
I do know it's even the simple things, right?
Like indicator on the, on the left-hand side, right?
Let's not own one car with the indicator on the left and then another car with the indicator on the right.
Or push button starts a big one, right?
Yeah.
So I noticed, Ralph, there's a distinct lack of a mention of Tesla.
You have, because if you, if you're talking about like full tech transformation, you know, there are no, there are no,
there are no stalks on the, on the wheel, everything's on the screen.
Have you considered the Tesla?
It did.
I feel like that's too far.
I feel like it's a goalie locks thing.
I'm sort of finding myself in at the moment.
Too hot, too cold.
I reckon that's too far down the track.
That's right.
Interesting.
I think it is.
I feel, well, look, I feel like with the Y, they, they put the indicator back on the stalk.
They did.
So I feel like that's already in, there's an indication there that they realized they went too far.
And I feel like the change of gears also on the screen, that probably is that, that same notion.
What about the GLE?
What about Trevor's favorite feature, the full self-driving?
Yeah, nice.
I do love that.
And obviously that new, that Tesla with the six-seater that, that potentially is coming out probably.
Yeah, the Y.
The long Y.
They won't come out here.
They'll never approve a car with people sitting that close to the rear window in Australia.
It just won't happen.
Yeah.
It just won't happen.
Okay.
What about the GLE, the EX5?
Similar to your D-part, really?
Definitely.
GLE didn't mind.
I think with the, with the cars we were looking at, it was a J5, another SO7, a GLE, and probably
as far as the Zika, to be honest with the main ones.
Yeah, I was going to suggest the Zika, yeah.
I quite like the Zika.
Would you go to the 7X?
Yeah.
7X, a long range for the big battery, because then I can justify as well that okay, if I'm
working from home 60% of the time and it's sitting on the driveway, it's a portable battery,
basically.
Zika just, I just got a press release from the other day, they've just revealed a black
special edition.
Like it's, it's a slick looking thing, you know.
It's a common thing for cars to do, but you know, nice little special edition there, mate.
So I have to look up that, limited edition car, limited edition things tend to catch my
attention.
$75,900, mate.
So what's your, what's your, is a, is a budget, you got a budget in mind, mate, or are you
just sort of...
Well, that's the other thing as well.
Yeah, budget does play a part.
Being self-employed, obviously there's lots of things that I can do, you know, chateau
mortgages and all that type of stuff.
Yeah.
And you know all about that, a mortgage broker.
Oh, exactly.
So there's definitely a few finance things that I can do.
And sort of that's the other idea that I want to put myself under that pressure early on.
I've, you know, mortgage broken off my own for the last two years would be nice to sort
of not have that pressure of a 60K car.
Yeah.
You know, balloons and all that options, which is why that J5 just doesn't want to disappear.
Yeah, mate.
It's great value.
What an unbelievably good value car, not a bad looker either.
Yeah.
But the SO7, I've been seeing some good deals on that as well.
I think the lowest I've seen with the demo, 41,000, 42,000.
It feels like you're going to end up with two D-pal SO7s in the driveway, mate.
I'll be honest with you.
I don't know.
Do a deal.
Yeah.
Do a deal.
That's it.
Do the deal is the key part.
So that's sort of what I wanted, well, reason for the call, right?
Because I guess the discussions were about, you know, where your vehicle to grid is going
and is that something that is going to be key as a, you know, asset?
Yeah, not just a liability.
It will be.
It will be.
I think that there's some time to go yet before this is a feature that I think you're right.
I think that in five years when you're looking at reselling that car, they'll definitely
be more interested in vehicle to grid.
But I feel like we're a little way off yet.
It's so early adopter stuff.
It's crazy.
Like, so.
Yeah.
But, you know, if you're a smart thinking is like your thing is you work from home, solar
or all those different things, you can absolutely make so much from the sun if you do work from
home and, you know, have a car on the driveway.
So, yeah, there's a lot of advantage there, mate.
But I feel like that your biggest risk there.
And all I would say to you about each of them is you're not really going to get the dealer
to buy into the vehicle to grid stuff.
It'd be amazing if someone put in writing their support for vehicle to grid at any point
soon.
Yeah.
Which means brand is key.
Brand is real key then.
That's why the BYD still sticks in my head because I know they're big supporters of vehicle
to grid.
Depot don't know where they stand with that.
And obviously from a really brand when it comes to Zika and stuff, I know they're probably
going to be the type to want to be on board.
And, you know, we don't do this with normal cars where we start to go how big's the tank
dollar per tank discussion.
Exactly.
But when you look at an extra five grand to go from a JQ to a SO7 and that gets you an
extra 20 kilowatts, suddenly it's like, well, that's almost a no-brainer on just the battery
alone.
So, yeah.
You're very torn, Raf.
We're going to have to be on the journey with you, buddy.
We can't answer the question for you, but I look forward to finding out what you do.
Let us know what you end up doing.
I'm happy to share it along, fellas.
I'll keep you guys posted.
All right, mate.
Feel free to invite us to a golf day, too, mate.
Yeah, what's going on there?
Let me know where you're now, mate.
It seems to be the happening place for golf at the moment.
Yeah, golf.
Yeah, well done.
All right, mate.
We look forward to hearing from you again, mate.
That was a good day.
Cheers, Raf.
Thanks very much, buddy.
Good on you.
Yeah, I mean, it's a lot to take in.
He's got so many...
Well, he's got a lot of parameters so he wants to get the range and the V2G.
He really knows what he wants.
He's driven a few different cars, though.
And I actually feel like the issue is he hasn't fallen in love with any of them.
You know, he loves his SO7.
That's why I think he's going to stand up with another one.
Yeah, maybe.
I mean, there's plenty of people that have two BYDs or two Teslas and stuff like that,
so it's not unusual.
Absolutely.
But I wouldn't sway away from that E07.
That's a good-looking car, and I think it's got really good potential,
especially in Australia.
Two-blade story electric cars, 0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Great heavy company.
We'd love to hear from you.
0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Nathan's on the line.
G'day, Nathan.
How you going?
Yeah, real good, mate.
What's your world of EV?
We believe you've purchased a second-hand Mini, mate.
What's it like?
That is actually a first-hand Mini.
Oh, first-hand.
Sorry, mate.
Yeah, brand new one.
Yeah, so...
You don't undersell him, mate.
No, fuck around.
Fuck around.
Tell us about it.
No, no.
It all started when we got a new solar install
and some new batteries put in.
They were working really well.
What did you get?
How much solar you got on the roof, bro?
16 kilowatts on the roof.
And I initially put a 16 kilowatt battery in.
That was just prior to the rebates coming out.
Right.
So, I went back for a second chop
and got another 24 kilowatts.
I've got 40 kilowatts in total now.
What brand did you get?
So, SIG Energy.
Oh, well, I was just talking about that with someone else.
So, hang on a minute.
Did you get the bi-directional charger on it as well?
Because that's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, well, that's what I...
Once we bought the Mini,
so we went out, bought the Mini, looked at chargers
and ended up going with the bi-directional.
It was not the cheapest option,
but we got the 25 kilowatt.
I just thought the flexibility it gives me
was worth the investment.
But now, number one question on the bi-directional charger.
Does the Mini support the two directions?
Does it send power back to the battery or the house?
If you look on the SIG Energy website,
it does.
They say it does,
but I've put a call in with Mini to actually see
how it affects my warranty.
So, I don't want to start...
Okay, right.
Yeah, without the go-ahead from Mini, I suppose.
That's interesting.
So, I mean, it says it supports it.
Yeah, so why would that affect the warranty?
The specs support it.
But what is your concern?
Like, is there something in the warranty document
that makes you think it is a bad thing?
Because I worry that we're just, you know,
clutching it straws for concern.
But if it works, it works.
Yeah, I probably am clutching it straws, to be honest.
I just want to make sure I don't do any damage
or avoid any warranty.
I think it's got the eight-year warranty on the battery.
Now, not to make this about your battery
and your bi-directional charger
and what I want to do at my house,
but talk me through the app and stuff.
Like, does it give you a lot of control
over where the energy comes from,
where you direct the energy?
Because I look at it and I go,
the most complicated thing about this system
is you've got a big battery stack,
you've got a huge amount of solar,
you've got the car sitting there.
I said to them, what I want to do
is I want to have basically a bullet-proof system
that says if there's no power in the grid,
take it from the battery.
And if my battery is at 50% in the house
and I've got plenty in the car, take some from the car.
So, like, I want to know if you've got that level of control.
Oh, you do.
I would say I haven't used the bi-directional as of yet,
going from the car to the house to the battery,
but I can control what goes into the car.
So if I want to, if I can just use solar,
I can just use grid,
or I can use, well, I've got a battery boost,
so you can use solar with battery, grid with battery,
or you can just let it go at full speed at 25 kilowatts
and use whatever it needs to do it.
So you can control what goes in.
Yeah, definitely.
So if the solar, yeah, the solar just put on solar only
and the clouds up or starts raining
and there's not much solar coming through,
it'll basically wait until the solar kicks up again.
Wow.
Well, so you're all set up there, mate.
Now, let's talk about the car.
What sort of driver are you?
Do you drive a lot of Ks?
Has this had to mean you've got to sort of
change your driving habits?
How has it, how have you gone with it?
No, no, it's fine.
Most of our, most of our drivings,
so we went in, we went in initially to buy a mini countryman
and we actually drove that.
It was a great car, but we walked away,
we stood away and the car that we had was a Subaru XV
and went, oh, that's actually bigger than the Subaru.
And my wife had always wanted a mini,
so we ended up going with the Cooper.
And yeah, it basically, but no issues whatsoever
with regards to range.
My wife, my wife drives it most of the time to and from work
and it's about 50, she's about a 50K return each day.
So every, every few days we'll put it on charge
and we'll fill it up or if the weather's really good
and the solar's really pumping, I'll take advantage of that
and throw it on and fill it up for free.
Are you in numbers, man?
Do you, do you look at the cost versus savings versus,
you know, cause it's not a cheap car.
You've had to spend a premium on the car.
You've also invested pretty heavily at home
on both the solar, the battery, the charger.
Have you thought about the return?
Cause I look at the battery thing and I go,
it's unbelievable and no disrespect to people
that have just gone, I'll spend five or 10 grand
on a battery with the rebates and there it is,
but I don't want the basic system like you.
I want to have pretty much every part of the system
ready to go future proof.
It's an investment, a big investment.
So, you know, it's, it's not going to be a couple of years payback.
Have you done those numbers?
Yeah.
At the moment I, yeah, I'm thinking we'll,
the numbers I've run between, you know,
I'm a fairly high energy user, the house,
you know, we were heading towards very close
to a last proper bill prior to the batteries
was close to $2,000 per quarter.
Yeah.
So we're heading towards, you know, $7,000, $8,000 per year.
And then obviously the car, I figured out
we're probably saving three, three and a half thousand
of fuel a year.
Yeah.
So we're, whilst the life doesn't drive far during the week,
weekends, we tend to, we'll, we live in,
at its Springfield near Brizzy and we'll go down the coast
for the day or up to Sunshine Coast.
You know, so we do drive a lot on the weekends.
So we're probably saving at that.
And then the servicing cost as well.
I've got six years free servicing with the Mini.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
That's excellent.
That's a really good, like, I mean,
not to disrespect, but BMW and Mercedes and those
kind of companies don't know, they normally make their money
on the service.
So they make their money on you.
Yeah.
Even if you drive an EV, by the way, too, they still get,
they still get up the price up, even if you've got an EV.
He did well there.
Yeah.
Well, one of the, one of the deciding factors for me
that's waving is the Subaru we have, which has been
a great car, Subaru XB, fantastic car.
We still, it's never been passed down to my daughter,
but the 100,000 case service on that cost me $2,000.
Wow.
And, you know, that's what I thought.
Well, that's when I started thinking our servicing costs
are cheaper with the EVs, you know, along with the
fuel savings, obviously.
Yeah.
So we're, um,
Yeah.
Sorry.
No, it's okay to say.
So we're probably, you know, I'm probably saving about 13,
12, $13,000 a year somewhere around that at the moment.
Long term.
I'll pay back the system.
Long term you'll pay back the car too.
Well, speaking of the car,
your message stated that you're up for a second EV.
So what, um,
I'm really,
What are you looking at?
Yeah.
I'm really thinking about it.
Um, basically, I, um, I started thinking about some of,
you know, something that's sort of, um,
because the moment I drive a little Hyundai i30 sedan,
which is a nice car,
not a bad car,
but I thought, uh, we'll just go something, um,
in the, uh, SUV range.
I mean, you know, there's a, there's a, you know,
heap of new cheap and cheerful, I suppose.
Um, well, you know, cars that the Jaco,
the J5, I think it is.
And the Ghillie and the Leap and, um,
The value of those things.
Have you considered your driver Hyundai?
Have you considered a Kia?
Or a Hyundai?
Yeah.
A Hyundai?
Yeah.
There's plenty of choices there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
And to be honest, um, I was listening to the tier podcast last
week, I think it was when you're talking to the Tesla,
the guy who owned the Tesla for, um,
seven years and was still going strong and it got me
sinking down a different direction around,
you know, do I spend a bit more this time and, um,
well, not more than the mini, but yeah,
you know, not go with the, you know, the $40,000 car
and maybe go up to the sort of 50 to 60 range.
Cause yeah, I'd like a little bit more range on the mini.
Um, the mini sits at, I think that's 380.
Yeah.
I mean, that's very low in today's terms.
I would recommend you get a second car.
You get something with a lot more range.
500 plus, mate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's what it's got me.
And those lower end, you know, like the Jaku,
which I did it, I took it for a little test drive
for Jaku last week.
Great car range, not the best.
That's why it's, it doesn't have a big,
it's the same as the mini.
I mean, if you end up just, we say it rarely,
but now and then if you end up looking at one of the big brands,
Kiev specifically, but plenty of the others,
our man, Aaron can try and give you a,
at least give you a quote to see if we can get you a better deal.
Um, no clipping the ticket from us.
It's just, you know, of something that we offer.
It's all for you.
If you get up, go and get your own quote and then let us know
and we'll get Aaron to give you a quote.
You're in breezy.
So it might be, it may or may not be able to help easily,
but absolutely worth the ask, mate.
Plenty of people who have bought a car through Aaron
have been very happy with the price.
So I think, I think you're on the right track.
I think you're right just to think about spending
that little bit more to get both range and brand.
Um, but you've got a beautiful car already, mate.
I think, I think I'd be test driving as Steven said,
I'd be looking at the keys, look at the Hyundai's.
Um, man, I'm driving the Hyundai IONIQ 5N right now.
Whew, mate, sell your family.
And loving it.
That's a great car.
They're not cheap, I don't think.
No, I think it's 120 grand or something stupid like that,
but it's an actual race car, mate.
It's a rocket.
Well, mate, good on you.
What an awesome setup you've got.
Be very keen anytime you have input
because you've probably got one of the most comprehensive
setups of most of our audience.
Mate, you've inspired Trevor and me.
We're going to be looking, looking hard at this now.
Yeah.
So mate, keep us in the loop on the next buy
and anything you learn on that system
as you go along the way, mate.
No problems.
Fantastic.
Great to hear from you, buddy.
Nathan there who lives in Brisbane is currently in Perth
and is just doing our best.
Yeah, he's in trouble in the country.
Good luck to him.
But no, I think he's the, the, the sig energy,
the bi-directional charger and pumping up the panels.
Yeah.
I'm thinking about maybe time to do that myself as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, there's a lot of investment in it.
I get that.
It's not for everyone, but the long-term savings
of being not off the grid,
because you've always got to pay your grid connection fee.
I know you can never be zero, but man, the savings.
Mate, you know, I've had my solar system.
I come, I'm coming up to nine years of having my solar.
Yeah.
I got it in 2017.
Yeah.
So it's maybe time to expand,
because you know, Joe's next car, I'm hoping
that she'll want an EV for her second car.
So there's two EVs in the driveway.
Yeah.
So yeah, we're looking at maybe putting more panels up there,
change the battery around, get the bi-directional charger.
So yeah, more.
Yeah.
I was just going to say,
Steven's thinking about how well he's doing.
Let's go, baby.
To those starting electric cars,
we'd love to hear from you.
Get in touch.
0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
I like keeping the camera on Steven.
If you're watching on YouTube, great to have you company.
If you're not watching on YouTube,
you're missing out on the moves.
The moves.
That's one way of putting it.
You're missing out.
0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Send us a text or a WhatsApp.
If you're listening internationally,
and I will say, Steven,
over the last two and a half weeks,
we've had text messages.
One from Canada, two from the UK,
and one from New Zealand.
So you will need to put a plus 6-1.
So it's plus 6-1.
4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
But Desmond was smart enough to work that out for himself.
G'day, Desmond.
Hello, how are you?
Shall we call you Desmond across the ditch?
Sure, why not?
Tell us about your electric journey, mate.
Are you an owner?
I am an owner.
Actually, quite a recent owner, in fact.
Like January.
January is when we got our electric vehicle.
And it was quite a short journey,
because I think it took us a week to decide
that we were going to go look at it,
and then had a look.
Didn't drive too many,
and then decided to buy it on the weekend.
So it literally took a couple of days
to convert ourselves from a test drive to an owner.
What made that decision so quickly for you?
To be quite honest, I was a bit of a skeptic,
because I was always of the view
that I was going to be a plug-in hybrid owner at some point,
because I was going to hedge my bets
in terms of distance,
and I suppose range anxiety to a degree.
Makes sense.
I then worked out, well, I didn't work out.
I suppose we discussed it with my wife,
and she was keen to get an electric car,
and I was always saying,
no, I think leaning into that is dangerous.
But then we decided that maybe
opting for the maintenance costs of a dual solution
was a bad idea,
so we leaned into having a look at electric vehicle.
Total electric,
and then we thought, let's go and have a test drive.
And because we loved it,
the drive was amazing, it was so smooth,
it was so quiet,
and my wife was pretty keen.
She was sold on the one we ultimately purchased,
and we weren't really keen to go and look at any others,
although we did go to a BYD,
but we couldn't get a test drive,
and we thought, well, maybe that's a sign.
Wow, in New Zealand.
Couldn't get a test drive at BYD, wow.
So the problems existed in New Zealand as well as Australia.
We've had people talking about that, too.
I mean, to be fair, we did just pitch up.
We didn't make a booking.
I can't fault BYD.
I still think it's crazy that you can't walk into a dealer
and take a car for a test drive,
but leaving that aside, leaving that aside.
So what are you going to reveal what you've purchased?
Yeah, you've been teasing us this whole time.
I was holding out,
because we ended up on a Coupre Taviscan.
Hey, right.
What a vehicle.
What a vehicle.
You know, Trevor drives a Coupre.
How could you not?
Well, that was one of the reasons
I was able to convince my wife
that a Coupre was a good idea,
because I didn't say Trevor Long.
Ah!
From the...
If you podcast had lent into that brand,
said Compi or Bad.
Right, OK.
Wow.
You obviously didn't like...
didn't get all Mercedes-Benz, man.
That's what I drive.
There's not a snob like you, you know.
You watch various...
I didn't think I got the budget.
OK.
I didn't think I got the budget.
So the Taviscan, we drove that recently.
Yeah, great car.
It's a gorgeous car.
And look, and I remember we went to the
All Electric show in Sydney a year
or so ago and I sat in that
and I went, this is gorgeous.
What's this worth?
And the bike goes, I don't know, 65 or something.
That's what I paid for the board.
So I got absolutely jipped being an early adopter.
What's it like value-wise in New Zealand?
Because obviously different market,
but is it that same kind of price range?
You know, essentially it would be
similar to a Model Y, I guess.
Yeah.
Maybe in price.
We bought ours for 85.
That's New Zealand dollars.
I don't know what they're worth,
but I'll take you word for it.
That's currently what they're going for.
We bought the lowest spec one.
It wasn't the highest spec one
because the highest spec one,
I couldn't justify the extra $10,000
that needed to be put down on that
for what I thought was incremental improvements
for the base model, to be honest.
So yeah, so we got ours for 85.
It wasn't a brand new one.
It was a demo model that they had available.
In fact, it was the one we test drove,
is the one we actually bought.
So just for reference for our Aussie listeners,
that's about 70,000 Australian dollars,
which puts it in about the same ballpark as Australia.
And yeah, it's kind of high-end Tesla Model Y numbers.
So did you, I mean, you said you bought it pretty quickly.
What was it about the car that convinced you?
Because for me, it's a fit and finish and a ride in handling.
It's two very important things.
Well, to be honest, we did want to go for something
that had some styling attached to it,
something that maybe looked a little bit different
to everything else that was on the road.
And when you look at a Taviscan,
it looks different to everything else that's on the road.
It's a pretty impressive car visually.
And so people will always generally ask
what is that I haven't seen one around.
And that was one of the reasons we opted for a Cooper,
because they quite, I mean, they quite niche, to be honest.
And that's what Trevor Long thinks, too.
I've said that all along.
You don't want to drive a car that everyone's got.
It's basically a Tavis approach.
I don't think everyone's like that,
but it sounds like you and I share a similar view.
Just on that, Desmond, it sounds to me like that's probably,
am I right, the reason or why you haven't mentioned Tesla?
That was never a consideration for you?
I mean, I wasn't, to be honest, yes,
that is one of the reasons.
But I suppose the other reason was,
I didn't really want to alarm the pocket of it
on the Megalomania.
Okay, that's fair.
Fair call.
That's your opinion of this.
But it's such a well-held opinion by so many people.
You know what?
He has turned people off the brand.
I just want to point out, because we've said this before,
but I think it's important to say now,
it is amazing to me and us that people can hold that view
of an individual versus their company,
but we don't really think of any other CEO in that way.
I mean, I don't think...
Who's the Cooper CEO?
Do you know who that is?
Yeah, no idea.
He might be the worst person in the world,
but he'll be in the Epstein files for a while now,
but I still love the look of the car.
Yeah, fair call, fair call.
Okay, you've had it for how long, Desmond?
Since January.
Mid-January.
Maybe in mid-January.
So was that a big adjustment, mate?
This is your first TV, so how have you adjusted to it?
Actually, the adjustment wasn't too bad,
because you get in its kind of instant drivels.
I opt for high recuperation,
so I'm a one-pedal driver person.
I found that quite easy to accommodate and get used to.
My wife will not use recuperation.
She doesn't like the move.
She prefers the traditional brake pedal.
I mean, I do try and encourage her to use recuperation
because I've gamified the amount of kilometres.
I've gamified how much kilometres
we can get per kilowatt, and I'm trying to push it up.
The other thing is brake pads.
Also, the more you use recuperation,
the less you are putting wear on the braking.
Exactly, yeah.
Hey, babe, we might get more life out of the brakes.
I mean, I always go for strong.
I'll get the choice of my car.
I always go for the strong.
And is charging something you've become accustomed to?
Yeah, it's fine.
I initially thought I'd put a home-based charger in,
but we've opted for just the trickle charger.
Actually, I got another one
because the one that came with the car
wasn't long enough to go from my garage to where it's parked.
So I had to get a substantially longer one,
but we just do a trickle charge when we need it,
and it's fine because we don't use it a lot for commuting.
So we essentially use the car on the weekends
or predominantly on the weekends, really.
Can I ask Desmond, what's the situation over there in New Zealand
with charging?
Are there a lot of charges popping up or hard to find?
What's the situation?
Well, the charge net is a brand that pretty much
has most of the charges around.
And if you use the act, you can pretty much find
various other ones around.
Shopping centres have various electricity companies
that have installed the charging and the car parks
and that sort of thing.
But Tesla's got a couple of supercharging locations,
but not too many.
But I haven't had a problem.
I think you can pretty much, if you use the apps
and the support that's around,
you can pretty much find a charger nearby to where you are.
So I don't have a problem with it,
and it's convenient.
It takes like 20 minutes to get from one side of New Zealand
to the other, doesn't it?
Well, not quite.
Well, pretty much.
Compared to Australia, yes, it's not that big.
I mean, we are planning a trip in Easter to go to New Plymouth,
which is about a five-hour drive away,
just to really take the car on a bit of a road trip.
So, you know, I've been trying to plan where to stop.
Strangely enough, the two places I had identified
we could stop and charge were both Tesla supercharging locations,
which doesn't matter.
The old bloke gets a bit of money now,
but if it gives you convenience,
you may have to give him some money, mate.
You may have to hand over some money in some situations.
Well, mate, I'm super glad you're loving the Cupra.
It's a beautiful brand, it's a beautiful car,
and it's something unique, as you say.
And if you and your wife are happy,
that's all that matters, mate.
More importantly, if the wife's happy,
that's all that matters, mate.
Thank you for getting in touch.
She loves it.
Well, she's driving the same car as Trevor Long, mate.
Well, wouldn't she be happy, eh?
Exactly right.
Never before has that been a selling point,
but we appreciate it, Desmond.
Thank you for getting in touch, mate.
Thanks, Desmond.
Thank you very much.
Good on you, mate.
Cheers.
Great to hear from you,
and wherever you are in the world,
getting in touch, we've been happy to hear from you.
The international EV podcast.
Well, mate, Desmond doesn't sound like a Kiwi either.
I know.
I think he sounds South African.
If we didn't run out of time
when there was a South African twain,
there's a lot going on there.
Yeah, a lot going on.
You know the Craig Gabriel voice?
You know, Craig Gabriel.
You know where he's from.
He's got that international accent.
Yeah, he's an international man of mystery.
That's Desmond, our international man of mystery.
Driving a Cooperatabascans.
Yeah, seriously, the two UK callers,
well, because we record in the morning,
Australian time, it's like the middle of the night over there,
so that didn't work for them,
but we might be able to line it up
in the next couple of weeks.
But yeah, happy to, you know what,
at the very least, it's great to hear from people overseas
because we can read out your messages.
Yeah, we've had calls from the U.S. and Canada.
We will always try and get you on,
because just to be clear, you can send a text.
We don't normally read them out
because we want to have the engagement.
We want to have the conversation
so that everyone hears about it.
But for some people, if we can't get a hold of you,
we might read out your message and go from there.
So, lovely to hear from whoever wants to get in touch.
0-4-7-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.
Here on TubeLogs, Talking Electric Cars.
Let's do it all again next week, Steven.
I'll be right here.
Will you? Right there.
Right here, waiting.
About this episode
Stephen and Trevor discuss the current surge in petrol prices and how electric vehicles (EVs) offer a stable alternative, especially with home charging and renewable energy options. They highlight the security EV owners have compared to petrol users amid supply issues and geopolitical tensions. The conversation includes a caller, Raf, who shares his transition from diesel to EVs and considerations about vehicle-to-grid technology and choosing the right EV for work and lifestyle needs. The hosts also touch on concerns about EV charging costs and the evolving EV market in Australia.
Original notes
With the conflict in the Middle East affecting Petrol prices - is now the best time to own an EV? Let's not gloat, but it's working out pretty well?
We take your calls, get in touch via SMS on 0477 657 657 or WhatsApp, and let us know about your EV or your EV questions.
This week we're talking to a Mini owner thinking of doubling down, and a Deepal owner doing the same.
Plus the Cupra owner in New Zealand that's fallen in love with the brand
Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast
Trevor Long and Stephen Fenech
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44:15