The hosts talk EV practicality and costs with multiple callers, starting with a two-EV household that added a GWM Aura GT after a BYD Dolphin trip proved charging easy on Tesla networks. They compare software refinement vs driving feel, then dig into home charging and the hesitation around enabling V2G/bi-directional features due to warranty fine print. Another caller wants a fully electric van for 230 km/day work and highlights a perceived gap in the market, discussing a new electric van brand and the limits of highway range. The show also covers rising EV insurance quotes, second-hand EV value (a Polestar buyer’s story), and how scheduled overnight charging can keep costs low.
Taking your calls about anything to do with Electric Cars - get in touch by text or WhatsApp to 0477 657 657 thanks to Vodafone!
This week we hear from Victor about his new GWM Ora to sit alongside their BYD Dolphin.
Nigel the accountant scores a cracking deal on a Polestar.
While Rowan is in search of a commercial EV - a new VAN perhaps?
All thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden Smart Dashcams
"Insurance and UNIDEN. That's right we do it thanks to the great people at NRMA Insurance helping
[12.2s] Australians protect what matters most for over a hundred years... give them a call when your insurance is up for
[19.9s] renewal..."
NRMA Insurance is an Australian company that sells car insurance. They’re mentioning it because EV owners also need insurance, and they want you to check what they can offer at renewal time.
NRMA Insurance is a major Australian insurer. In the context of EVs, they’re positioned as a provider that can help with coverage when your policy renews.
"consider a UNIDEN smart dash cam for your car
[29.9s] whatever whether it's a petrol car or an electric car you're still going to have a dash cam"
A dash cam is a camera that records while you drive. A “smart” one usually adds extra features like easier setup or extra recording modes.
A smart dash cam is a dash camera with added features beyond basic recording (often including app connectivity, parking mode, and/or driver-assist integrations). The hosts frame it as a practical safety and evidence tool for both EV and non-EV drivers.
"think about what happens on the road around you and consider a UNIDEN smart dash cam for your car
[29.9s] whatever whether it's a petrol car or an electric car you're still going to have a dash cam"
UNIDEN makes dash cams—small cameras that record what happens on the road. They’re saying it’s useful for EVs too, not just petrol cars.
UNIDEN is a consumer electronics brand known here for dash cams. The episode ties UNIDEN’s dash cam to EV ownership by emphasizing recording incidents regardless of whether the car is petrol or electric.
Car
GWM Aura GT
"you've picked up a brand new
[101.5s] electric car recently what have you got mate you've just picked up a GWM Aura GT nice GT
[109.5s] that's the little little bug-eyed little little car"
The GWM Aura GT is an electric car made by GWM. The caller is talking about how the styling grew on them once they saw it in real life.
The GWM Aura GT is a compact electric car from GWM (Great Wall Motor). The speaker describes it as having a distinctive “bug-eyed” look and says their opinion changed after seeing it on the road.
"well we got we got the BYD Dolphin last year and that was going to be the the missus car"
The BYD Dolphin is an electric car from BYD. The speaker says they had one last year, and it was the wife’s car before moving on.
The BYD Dolphin is a popular BYD electric hatchback/compact EV. In this segment, it’s mentioned as the speaker’s previous car (“last year”) and as the “missus car,” setting up a comparison to the newer GWM Aura GT.
"we used all the Tesla charges all the way up and we only stopped for around 45 which is about what we we normally do when we're driving up you know toilets and lunch and everything"
Charging stops are the planned breaks during a road trip to recharge the battery. The hosts compare how long they typically stop (around 45 minutes) and how that fits with normal breaks like lunch and restrooms.
"the GWM come up as a a demo which which meant we could still get the FBT and all the sort of that sort of financial sort of stuff and we got it really cheap"
A demo car is one the dealership uses for customers to test drive. It’s usually not brand new, so it can be cheaper.
A demo vehicle is typically a car used by a dealer for test drives or showroom use. Dealers often discount these because they’re not brand-new, which can make the purchase price significantly lower.
"if you I use cruise control all the time the BYD like it's on it's on the steering wheel you just click it on up or down speed too easy"
Cruise control helps your car keep a steady speed. You set the speed once, and the car handles the rest.
Cruise control is an assist feature that maintains a set speed without you holding the accelerator. In EVs, it’s often integrated with steering-wheel or stalk controls, and some versions can also adapt to traffic.
"they don't have enough physical physical buttons like yeah it's a separate store so you might grab the wrong one yeah yeah you get you like I'm getting you get better with it I've seen only physical buttons they have is AC on fan fan on off and the hazard"
Physical buttons are the real, clicky controls you can feel. They’re usually easier to use safely while driving than touchscreen menus.
Physical buttons are dedicated, tactile controls you can press without looking. The hosts prefer them for frequently used functions because they’re faster and less distracting than relying on touchscreens.
"the screen is sort of really small it's like a dash screen and the steering wheel covers up almost half of that dash"
The dash screen is the digital display you look at while driving. They’re saying it’s too small and the steering wheel makes it harder to see.
A dash screen is the digital display behind or in front of the steering wheel that shows speed, navigation, and driver-assist info. The speaker criticizes the screen size and visibility because the steering wheel blocks part of it.
"it like man it goes like a real drive yeah put it put in sport mode it's it's crazy around corners and all that's brilliant brilliant to drive for sure"
“Sport mode” is a driving setting that typically changes throttle mapping, steering weight, shift/gear logic (if applicable), and traction/regen behavior to make the car feel more responsive. The hosts use it to describe how the GWM feels especially dynamic around corners.
"just a question on the on the CIG 25 kilowatt DC because it does have bi-directional you've got a you've got a car that is bi-directionally compatible the add-oh three we we know that the dolphin"
“Bi-directional” charging means the EV can send electricity back out to the home or grid, not just take power in. This enables vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) use cases, but it requires compatible hardware, software enablement, and often specific warranty/contract terms.
"i i think it's a veil like last time i looked it was available but um they were still testing with the warranty so hadn't said yes you can use it with the warranty yet"
Warranty coverage matters for bi-directional charging because exporting power can stress components differently than normal charging. The hosts indicate the feature was still being tested with warranty approval, which affects whether owners can use it without risking coverage.
"...it's it's exciting you got two cars the battery you got the solar you are great..."
Solar refers to generating electricity from sunlight, which can be used to charge an EV at home. In the context of the episode, it’s part of a “self-supply” approach to reduce reliance on grid electricity and petrol.
"...make sure they got they got manual they got manual getting a manual license so both of you know one's got a manual..."
A manual car has a clutch and you change gears yourself. Learning it can make driving easier in other cars too.
A manual transmission uses a clutch pedal and gear lever, requiring the driver to manage engine speed and gear selection. The hosts connect it to driver education, emphasizing that learning manual skills can make you comfortable in many cars.
Concept
real-world EV range vs claimed range
"...it was only a nightmare because you literally needed to stop every 250 ks to charge or 200 ks to charge that was highway driving though... something that says it's got 300 ks range... if you're on the highway... you're not going to get that range whereas if you're... stop start around town... you're going to get that range..."
Electric cars don’t always go as far as the brochure says. Faster highway driving usually uses more energy, so you may need to charge more often than you’d expect.
EV range depends heavily on driving conditions and speed. The episode contrasts a van’s stated range (e.g., “300 ks”) with highway driving that forces frequent charging, while stop-start city driving can stretch range further.
"...that was highway driving though you got to remember... if you're on the highway so if you... commute... a lot you're not going to get that range..."
Highway driving usually reduces EV range because aerodynamic drag and sustained high speeds require more energy. The episode uses highway driving as the reason the van needs frequent charging compared with its stated range.
"...whereas if you're a stop start around town... you're going to get that range and possibly more..."
Stop-start driving typically improves EV efficiency because regenerative braking can recover energy when slowing down. That’s why the episode suggests city-style driving can achieve more of the vehicle’s advertised range than steady highway cruising.
"...their transition to electrification has is saving the money yeah five was a five grand a month was that [1445.8s] yeah in fuel amazing..."
Fuel cost savings refers to the reduction in operating expenses when switching from petrol/diesel to electricity. The speakers cite a monthly fuel figure to argue that electrification can be financially compelling for businesses.
"...and i would argue well it'd be an overnight career drivers got to be taking a lunch break so do you take your lunch break somewhere where you can charge..."
Overnight charging means charging the vehicle while it’s parked at home or a depot during off-hours. The speakers suggest this as a workable strategy for electric vans and other high-usage vehicles.
"yeah well i actually just listened to monday's episode on my drive ... so you know in the poll star right through the uh apple carplay podcast app that's how i listened to you guys"
Apple CarPlay lets you use your iPhone apps on the car’s screen. In this case, it’s how they listen to podcasts while driving.
Apple CarPlay is a smartphone-to-car interface that mirrors compatible iPhone apps onto the vehicle’s infotainment screen. It’s commonly used for navigation, calls, and audio apps like podcasts while driving.
"because i'm doing so many k's the uh service intervals are like 10 000 k's and you go to a Kia dealer and it's you know anywhere up to a thousand bucks"
Service intervals are how often your car needs scheduled maintenance. If you drive a lot, those visits add up in cost and time.
Service intervals are the scheduled mileage/time between maintenance visits (like oil and filter service, inspections, and other wear items). The speaker contrasts how often they need to service their Kia Stinger versus their EV use case, framing it as a cost driver for high-mileage driving.
"end up in the long range dual motor so you know 310 kilowatts"
Dual motor means the car has two electric motors. That usually helps it launch harder and grip the road better, especially in tricky conditions.
A dual-motor EV uses two electric motors, commonly one driving the front axle and one driving the rear axle. This can improve acceleration and traction, and it often enables more flexible torque distribution than a single-motor setup.
"end up in the long range dual motor so you know 310 kilowatts it's a absolute weapon"
310 kilowatts is a measure of how much power the EV can produce. They’re mentioning it to show the car feels very quick and capable.
Kilowatts (kW) are a power measurement commonly used for EVs and other vehicles outside the U.S. context. The speaker uses the figure to emphasize how strong the Polestar feels compared with their Kia Stinger.
"and that sort of mix of swedish and geely i like the design"
Geely is a big car company from China. They’re mentioning it because it’s part of the story behind Polestar’s ownership and how the brand is built.
Geely is a major Chinese automaker that has ownership and partnership ties in the EV space, including with Polestar. Mentioning Geely helps explain why Polestar is often described as having both Swedish design roots and Chinese industrial backing.
"he would get a steady stream he said he'd sold like 70 or 80 poll stars in the last year wow because he was getting them off off fleet"
Fleet sales are when companies buy cars in bulk for business use. That can change pricing and how quickly cars show up for resale.
Fleet sales are vehicle transactions where cars are sold in volume to companies that use them for business (often leasing or company driving). Fleet channels can affect pricing and availability, and the hosts suggest the broker is moving Polestars that come from fleet turnover.
"different models were available is that because they hold their value or because they're just ultra reliable"
They’re talking about whether the car keeps its resale value. If it holds value, it’s usually cheaper to own long-term because you don’t lose as much money when you sell it.
“Holds their value” means the car’s resale price stays relatively strong over time. The hosts connect this to why Polestars are moving quickly from fleet turnover—either because they retain value well or because they’re perceived as reliable.
"...the second hand dv market i reckon uh a lot of people... the second hand market is worth exploring... you can get some solid value in a second hand vehicle..."
They’re talking about buying electric cars that are already owned instead of brand new. Used EVs can be cheaper, and that can make EVs feel more affordable.
The hosts are discussing the used (second-hand) market for EVs as a way to get better value than buying new. This matters because EV prices can drop faster than many people expect, and incentives can change the economics of buying both new and used.
"between midnight and six am at eight cents a kilowatt hour or whatever and yeah right you do the math on that"
A kilowatt hour (kWh) is how you measure electricity usage. If you know the price per kWh, you can estimate what charging will cost.
A “kilowatt hour” (kWh) is the unit of energy used to measure how much electricity you consume. EV charging costs are commonly calculated as (price per kWh) × (kWh added), so understanding kWh helps you estimate charging expenses.
"i said just think of it like your phone yeah every when you get home plug it in if if you're not going out again that day plug it in"
They’re saying the easiest approach is to plug the EV in when you get home. If you’re not driving again right away, overnight charging usually works well.
The speakers emphasize a simple routine: plug the EV in when you get home, especially if you’re not leaving again soon. This matters because most EVs can charge overnight, turning everyday charging into a low-effort habit.
Select text to request an explanation
This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Steven Fenwick and Trevor Long thanks to NRMA
Insurance and UNIDEN. That's right we do it thanks to the great people at NRMA Insurance helping
Australians protect what matters most for over a hundred years and one of Australia's largest
insurers of electric vehicles so at the very least give them a call when your insurance is up for
renewal give them a call see what deal they can do for you and while you're thinking about your car
think about what happens on the road around you and consider a UNIDEN smart dash cam for your car
whatever whether it's a petrol car or an electric car you're still going to have a dash cam so that
you know what's happening around you and as we just determined last week their new marketing
slogan Steven the R is for reassurance okay R for rear camera and reassurance yeah that's right
on reassurance on the road that's what UNIDEN dash cam will bring you we'd love to hear from you
04077657657 send us a text send us a whatsapp message in whatever way you want to get in touch
we will will receive your message and hopefully get you on the show so that we can talk about
your electric vehicle journey whether you've got a car and you want to talk about how cool it is or
the dramas you've had with it whether you've got a great story about charging or your home
solution for solar batteries whatever it might be we're all learning from each other we are just
a small community of EV lovers sharing the knowledge perhaps sharing the knowledge so that
we can all learn like that's the great thing that's all every day's a school day we like to help people
when you're with Steven every day's a school day okay because he likes to articulate the learnings
he doesn't have the cane though that's moved on we've moved on from that we're all good but taking
your calls every week here on two bikes talking electric cars Victor's on the line can I Victor
how you doing mate how you going gentlemen mate we're very well you've picked up a brand new
electric car recently what have you got mate you've just picked up a GWM Aura GT nice GT that's
the little little bug-eyed little little car I originally was a bit averse to the look of it
but now that I see it on the road I yeah I love it more and more mate what drew you to that car
well we got we got the BYD Dolphin last year and that was going to be the the missus car
okay but she couldn't get a red one or the pink one so so that didn't go down that well
and then we were we were sort of arming and arming I was going to go get a seal or some
something around that sort of style yep and then we we did a trip up to Rockhampton you know about
you know eight hours you know seven eight hours and the charging up there was was good because
I was going to get a longer sort of range vehicle like you know 500 plus yep Dolphin Dolphin did it
without any dramas we used all the Tesla charges all the way up and we only stopped for around 45
which is about what we we normally do when we're driving up you know toilets and lunch and everything
sure so I was like well you know we we don't need a longer range so then it was like well how about
you get the red car you've always wanted and the GWM come up as a a demo which which meant we could
still get the FBT and all the sort of that sort of financial sort of stuff and we got it really cheap
so that was that's basically the reason we needed it in a course of six months you're
you're a two EV family and the wife's got the red car she wanted yeah all good at home so happy
wife happy life mate we always say here on the show um so yeah you what what are your thoughts on
the cars are you happy with it is it everything running well yeah I'd say the the BYD in terms
of the software and this little layout inside is is better like if you I use cruise control all the
time the BYD like it's on it's on the steering wheel you just click it on up or down speed
too easy and it's got the you know dynamic cruise control so that's that's really good yep and then
the GWM I think it's really nice fit and finish inside they're really good to drive but they've
got the cruise controls on a stalk on the same size of blinker that's a that's a pain in the
bottoms they don't have enough physical physical buttons like yeah it's a separate store so you
might grab the wrong one yeah yeah you get you like I'm getting you get better with it I've seen
only physical buttons they have is AC on fan fan on off and the hazard when when you're starting to
get into driving it the screen is sort of really small it's like a dash screen and the steering
wheel covers up almost half of that dash so if you're driving it's it's no good to try and have
to look over and you know press any buttons and the custom buttons on the wheel like if you're
able to customize the custom buttons on the wheel to more functions then then it wouldn't be so much
an issue but generally got like three options yeah you often get that in the car don't you
mean like a little star or something where it's like you can make this button what you want it's
like here's the three choices of things you can make it I'm like I don't want it to be that I want
it to be this so and it's all software so it's kind of insane that you can't but that's a lot of
little frustrations but as you say you kind of get used to them all right yeah yeah like it's
it's definitely easier but like when you were driving the BYD and the and the GWM you can see
that the BYD is like more refined in the software sort of package in that but the GDOM drives like
it like man it goes like a real drive yeah put it put in sport mode it's it's crazy around corners
and all that's brilliant brilliant to drive for sure you now have two EVs in the family what what is
the charging situation at home how are you managing that so we got the 20 kilowatt solo
and then we with the government rebate went right if the government's going to pay some of it
we'll go into the battery system as well yeah so we only got the DC 25 kilowatt charger with a 24
kilowatt battery the C1 yeah the C1 just so we can go with um vtg with the BYD down the down the
track yeah probably i don't think it's that far away so basically just if i get home early from
work i'll i'll chuck it on charge or one of them on charge or or it's just a weekend job you know
it's you know an hour here and hour there on on the weekend so does under and that keep goes
us for the week so this is only drives 5k 5 5 10k a day i'm driving i'm driving 60k so i'll drive
the GWM probably twice because it's got a lot longer range and then i'll drive the BYD probably
three times and that gets us through the week no drama still yeah just a question on the on the
CIG 25 kilowatt DC because it does have bi-directional you've got a you've got a car that is bi-directionally
compatible the add-oh three we we know that the dolphin the dolphin oh it's the dolphin so yeah
is that not turned on in the dolphin the BYD i i think it's a veil like last time i looked it
was available but um they were still testing with the warranty so hadn't said yes you can use it with
the warranty yet so is it you're you're the one that's not pushing the button you you haven't
actually plugged it in and enabled in the app the ability to bi-directionally charge it's your
personal issue i could you yeah i'm pretty sure you could use it now but until the ID say you're
not stuffing your warranty up i'm not pulling the trigger on so we had this conversation i think
last week or two weeks ago and i get that i totally understand where you're coming from but
where does it say that you can't like that's we we keep talking about this don't stuff your
warranty and everything but where does it say in either the service book or the warranty itself
that you can't do it yeah i think there was there was something in like the fine print about
use of battery right and and and it was going to be um
oh so i know i know you guys are talking about yeah it was something something about the
in the fine print about the use of the battery and how you use the battery and if you're doing
v2g um one one of the guys that does um one of the youtube was talking about um putting the v2g
in he he he mentioned what they were talking about i can't make right so basically he's there in the
fine print right yeah so yeah that's right that's right i got from him you know he's not i'm assuming
he knows what he's talking about does the fine print say maybe if you could void the warranty or
something like that if you do this or if something well that's that's what i took it as and so until
there is a a green stamp saying you know go go for your life right with the byd i'm i'm waiting
until that happens yeah fair enough i mean i i just look at it and i go you know what from a
feature i just feel like it's a class action waiting to happen if they tried to not you know
cover someone's warranty because they use a feature that draws against the battery because
just driving the car draws against the battery exactly and in fact and in fact all the research
we currently have about battery usage and drain shows that low uh low power draw and and and charge
are actually far better don't affect the battery they're not affecting the batteries anyway shape
or form and and the the draw from the car through vdg it's not going to be 25 kilowatt it's it's going
to be quite low i i believe so yeah i just i'm maybe i'm an idiot but i'm the i'm kind of i'm
just going to plug it in and use it if it's there yeah Jesus let me go yeah and then well i mean i
guess i'll just have that argument later but you're smart you're doing the right thing uh to think
of it that way yeah um that's a good little setup you got mate it's it's exciting you got two cars
you got the battery you got the solar you are great you know and again we're not laughing at
people who've got petrol cars but you're laughing all the way to the bank uh right now when petrol
prices are well other way they are mate yeah with the the girls we got so what they're both driving
ones learner ones you know you got open so it's basically what car do i take you say well you
take take the electric car you take the electric car so we're minimizing petrol use we're just trying
to do that especially you know at this point in time of course it's amazing like your kids are
going to not have net only ever driven EVs yeah i mean my son harry will get his L's in in a year
and a bit yeah i mean i'm going to teach him in the Mazda but so he'll probably will drive a petrol
car but you know jackson right now my 19 year old drives the cupra pretty much exclusive right
it's his car now it's pretty much yeah he don't don't tell him yeah um but he drives it like the
Mazda i need to turn the Mazda over make sure it still starts yeah of course uh mate lovely to
hear from you make sure they got they got manual they got manual getting a manual license so both
of you know one's got a manual what about a manual jeez old school mate mazda three mazda three
manual so there's learning in that one victor you're a hard task master you really are you know if
you can drive that you can drive anything okay that's the real all right good on you big love
that he's from your mate thanks thanks for the good on you so much no worries uh yeah it's a funny
thing and so jackson never driven a manual and then he his girlfriend got him a race day like a day to
do five laps in a little little formula car a little formula forward and it's a manual so i'm
there's a video on it um that he that he watched and then i'm talking about it like he's he's what's
going to happen it's going to be this is going to bite and da da da he did and you know what he
picked it up i had a similar experience i'd never driven i killed drive it at gunpoint a manual if
i had to right but i had uh they i was up i was up with i can't even remember the company i think it
was um i was up on the gold coast for the indy car grand prix and one of the things we did was a
went to the motor school the v8 motor school yeah and that's a manual car and i'm thinking oh i hope
i don't stuff this up but i was missed mate once you start it you're pretty good now um
a press release has just come through at the time of recording but it's it's worth talking
about because of what we've been talking about the fuel prices and it's uh from the nrma insurance
yep and it says they've shown a 15 jump in ev insurance quotes in early march wow that's rising
petrol prices uh prompt drivers to explore the long-term costs see it's interesting we talked
last week about whether or not there was going to be an impact on sales and i said i think it'd be
it'd be a few months well this is actually pretty interesting indicated because if you're
sitting down like we've talked about a lot of our our listeners do with a spreadsheet and you go okay
cost of car cost of insurance cost of petrol cost of data you've actually got a you've got to
research all those things you're not just researching the cost of the car so sure that they are seeing
a 15 increase in ev insurance quotes in the first two weeks of march compared with the same
time in february and a 56 increase compared with march last year wow so that's a couple of options
that's huge either yeah fuel prices driving the request up or yeah two blokes talking electric
cars i mean how good is this sponsor how good is our sponsor to you i think it's probably the
latter yeah it's our show mate but also can we can we talk amongst friends here folks yeah
what these shows is that ev insurance monitors closely the number of quotes they send out
so all you got to do is to support the two blokes we're not asking for you to pay a
subscription to listen to this show yeah it's free yeah just tell them you heard about it
if you could just go and get a quote you don't have to like hopefully you get a quote and you
go that's actually pretty good it's competitive yeah exactly right yeah but all that matters is
you get a quote so when your insurance is due just get a quote from the inner main insurance so
that they know that's all you need that people out there are trying them out that's all we ask
all the two blokes asking folks two blokes talking electric cars more of your calls after this
great to have you company and we'd love to hear from you if you want to get in touch be part of
the show rowan's on the line g'day rowan g'day how you going hey real good uh where are you
out in the electric world you i think we've you've got a car but you're looking at changing the
the work vehicle are you mate yes yeah we've had a byd steel thing probably january a couple of
years ago it's almost two and a half years i've done 50 000 k's in it um love it that's my wife
really and and she used to be a lexus driver and uh she was a little bit reticent yes she had
tons of lexus over the years and uh yes it was a bit resistant to get into the field now she just
wouldn't go back wow that is that's huge what an endorsement lexus is a great brand luxury brand
and if she and i can understand her reluctance to go down to a byd seal but down look at you see
well you know what i mean like with terms of value in the brand recognition but mate that's
massive endorsement for for a byd on what basis what is it because is it a drive is it a fit and
finish what do you think it is that makes her go no i love this car um yeah so it has nothing to do
with the with the fact that it's uh cocked very little to run that's why i love it um
but i think i think for her uh well she went through a set of tires and about 15 000 k's
so we loved how quick she can get off at a set of lights um she's developed a real lead foot in it
but she just loves that because it's so smooth um and you know she's uh uh i i think all all the
technology that that aids you know you know the lane keeping and all sorts of stuff and in the
field and it it is set up so well we never have an issue with it i i uh have traveled in the state
a lot and often in fire cars and i can't stand the little wheel shakes and all sorts of really
corrective things that that happens but in the field we've managed to get the right settings
that it just doesn't bother us don't even notice right nice that's really really good what an endorsement
that's great so then is it the case that you now are thinking well i should have mice last of the
pie you you but you're uh you're in pest control so your your work vehicle would need to meet
certain standards are you looking for a ute or a van what are you looking for well a ute would be ideal
i've i've had um like a fleet of utes and currently i'm in a falcon ute the last au that came off the
line one of last year and so it's a trayback i need pretty much that much room but i just can't
fit there's anything available i've looked around i've even gone i don't really like uh a van for
what i do but we can get a screen that stops any uh any odors or any any spills and that sort of
thing so there are ways that we can get around it with a van but uh trying to find something i don't
want to go hybrid i think they're a bit of a waste of waste of space well that was going to say that
rules out the byd shark then doesn't give you a lover byd for your wife's card doesn't translate
to the shark then for you no and i have have driven one a bit my cousin's got one and messed around
and love the shark for what it is but i can't see the value in hybrid i'm also a little concerned
about the future and you know so i'd prefer just to go electric when we've got a good setup at home
as far as solar and battery goes though okay i mean i drove the ford transit van fully electric
unbelievable like it's crazy how cool that car is range is appalling which which is a struggle
but you would know this answer very quickly how many k's do you do and i've always wanted this
about people who live on the road like work on the road yeah how many k's do you do on average per
day in in your job a 230 k's right so you need you need something that's that's got 350 plus so
that you've got a buffer and you know you'll then need to make sure that you can pretty much do a
full recharge overnight have you looked at any of the the random up and coming brands there's actually
a dealership near our office here for farazon or forizon now it's not a brand i've seen driven or
done anything with other than i drove past i mean that's interesting so it's obviously
there's a level of risk because it's new and you know who knows anything about them but
i've got to tell you it's a good looking car good looking vehicle it's a it's a van
fully electric fully electric van yeah and i just had a quick look you're talking about 376
kilometers range and right the you know pricing it's a it's a funky looking van $70,000 for their
short wheelbase low roof all the way up to $76,000 for the long wheelbase high roof and you know
obviously a van you got a big logo on the side and everything but i mean that's not a bad price
for a fully electric van and i would argue looking at the interior range i'll bet nice looking nice
looking interior it's gonna i think it's worth having a look at something like that how do you
spell the name farazon farazon yeah looks it looks it looks it looks interesting you've got a
van that's been built from the ground up electric yes yes this is this is an electric converted
company they they have they have a light vehicle as well again electric or electric you'd probably
our our guest last week christopher might might might look at these as well one day but for his
business but yeah they appear to have a couple of vans there's another one coming in the next
i'm just i'm just on their website by the way i'm not i don't know anything about them
other than having driven past but on their website they've got another one which looks
slightly smaller coming in may so that is 327 i'm surprised i'm surprised to see that this is a
real gap in the ev market oh it's been filled yet it's i'm surprised that that for people who
like like they work on the road right they're on the road all the time that want to go electric
their choices are so limited because i'm assuming you looked at like the ldv they had an electric
you don't know if they still sell it here to be honest it was pretty expensive yeah yes yes
the expensive uh too large for what i need um i at the uh or was it the all electric show
last year um and so i looked at all of the commercial vehicles there and like the little
like the reno too small yes um the vans that were there were too big uh and and and and all of my
research thing hasn't really come up with anything other than that forward transit yep um yeah and
but then i sort of wondered about that i just mate yeah great car like i love the forward
transit i drove it all the way i drove to the bush like five hour driving back it was only a
nightmare because you literally needed to stop every 250 ks to charge or 200 ks to charge that
was highway driving though you got to remember and you would you would broadly know this from
from your experience with the electric vehicle but something that says it's got 300 ks range if
you're on the highway so if you were if you're commute if those ks you did were you know on the
highway a lot you're not going to get that range whereas if you're a stop start around town 80 k
style driving you're going to get that range and possibly more so you got the balance but i but i
do think steven's right it's a massive gap in the market and i think it'd be fascinating to see
whether there's um a pharrison for horizon whatever we're going to call it um a dealer around you
that you could at least jump in one of these things and have a look mate absolutely yes yeah no i'll
certainly have a look uh yeah because there just doesn't appear to be anything else out there and
even even if i went to something like the byd shark uh you can't actually put a tray on it so
there's very little storage room practical storage room okay and in fact it's a hybrid too you want
you want a fully electric vehicle not a hybrid there's a lot of hybrid choices but you just don't
want that yeah can i just clarify because i think it's an important discussion point over the last
few weeks and we'll ongoing but you said you worried about the future are you talking about
petrol you're talking about being reliant on petrol yeah i well no no more talking about the planet
oh okay yeah fair call fair call well same same thing right if we can if we can if we can get rid
of our reliance on petrol it does two things right absolutely right it's good for the planet
absolutely and and it's good for our economy as well i mean it's kind of let's not get well
no let's get political it's kind of a ridiculous thing that we don't think about that here as a
country because we could be so independent in this sense and yeah do good things at the same time
please yeah it's exactly right well in fact in this country we think negatively about it is
preached at us all the time that we can't go that way we've got to got to go cold we've got to go
fossil fuel and just nuts yeah all right well ron i i we can't offer you too much other than
that little ferrozone ferrozone do us a favor go to a dealer and find out how to pronounce the
body thing all right okay i'll do that and i'll let you know all right mate great to hear from you
thank you good talk thank you guys no worries at all oh there you go i mean yeah i literally drove
past the dealership on pennadels road and went that's an interesting it's one of these
um they they go through a lot of different brands so they've had mehindras and they've had
trucks there so i feel like they dabble in just new brands and things well if it's any good like
like we said there's a solid gap in the market like if you've got a good electric van it's it's
it'd be it could be like the toyota high luxe effect and how many people got a toyota high luxe
because it's reliable you it's great anything this could be that you think about what ron says
there about you know being preached to and trying to change that mindset and then go back to last
week and if you didn't listen to last week christoph or phyma so who him and his dad run a door and
gate business yeah electric door and gate i'm sorry blown away by how many people have electric
doors and gates that need servicing they've got that many cars on the road but exactly yeah their
transition to electrification has is saving the money yeah five was a five grand a month was that
yeah in fuel amazing like why why are we not talking about this the number one and it's always
for me it's a high you must drive too many k's like we you know what you and i should do we should
we should poll quiz career drives we see more career drivers than the average person in life
how many k's do you do a day yeah that's all i want to know yeah how many k's do you drive
a day if you can get a car they can do say 400 350 even and get you through the day without
having to charge then boom as long as you either can factor in the time it takes to recharge and i
would argue well it'd be an overnight career drivers got to be taking a lunch break so do you
take your lunch break somewhere where you can charge you know maybe um and and the overnight
thing but the van world is just ripe for the picking it is out there ready to go yeah all right let
us know if you're if you're in an electric van or you are a owner of a van and you can't go
electric for a reason help us understand why we want to know we want to know and we want to share
that knowledge with our audience that's the whole point of the show two blokes or electric cars
back after this
oh nice work steven i just captured it right there if you're listening you're missing out
we've said that a million times so many visuals you're missing out on feel free to join in uh on
the youtube channel and uh and search up two blokes talking electric you can also you can
subscribe on youtube i don't know how though i'll be honest with you hit that like what do they say
smash that like button and hit subscribe yeah but i don't do that as a podcast like yeah because
it's it's listed as a podcast i think it might be in the youtube music app what you can you can
actually subscribe to podcasts and they come up in a feed differently right because when you up when
i upload uh inside baseball when you upload uh a show that's a podcast you choose it's a podcast
and so anyway uh nigel doesn't care nigel's on the line good day mate how you doing
ah good day guys thanks for having me how and where do you listen to this uh wonderful piece of
content yeah well i actually just listened to monday's episode on my drive to my meeting this
morning so you know in the poll star right through the uh apple carplay podcast app that's how i
listened to you guys well done i've been doing it so probably a year or more nice so you've given
it away straight off the bat you've got yourself a poll star when did you get that buddy i reckon
i've had it for a month a little little more than a month and uh yeah loving it done plenty of k's i
sort of do work from my car as my office i suppose driving around for clients all over melbourne and
yeah needed something that's uh got me from a to b in a pleasant manner and uh save you a bit of
money so you you're obviously on the road a bit as you said so um how what were you looking at how
how long for a start were you looking around and what other vehicles caught your eye before you
settled on the poll star well my my previous stately drive which i've still got is a Kia Stinger
which i love but um yeah it was just costing me a bit of money because i'm doing so many k's the
service intervals are like 10 000 k's and you go to a Kia dealer and it's you know anywhere up to a
thousand bucks because it's a performance car and i appreciate that but it probably wasn't
designed for what i was doing so i sort of wanted to keep the stinger as the weekend fun car and um
have something else that i piled the k's on and uh saves a bit of money well i think the the the
appropriate follow to that then is how much fun are you having in the poll star because i would
argue EVs are pretty fun well i absolutely agree because i ended up after you know a little bit
of um looking at the different options i deal and end up in the long range dual motor so you
know 310 kilowatts it's a absolute weapon and doesn't um yeah hold anything back from the
stinger so really loving it what else caught your eye did you jump into Tesla did you do any other
test drives well we did to my i mean i do admire Elon Musk and i think he's done a fantastic job
and Tesla was the first thing so over the sort of Christmas break got the uh the better half
down to the Tesla dealer booked it in which i must say was a great experience you know
absolutely rocked up on time the cars there there's a shiny red model 3 they put enough sort of sales
information into it without putting too much pressure so you know hats off to tesla it was great
and that was the first time that um my partner had driven an EV and she was a little bit skeptical
but but really liked it so the Tesla sort of got us over the line in terms of you know EV together
but i suppose just still there's a bit of uncertainty over what's happening EV market
etc and the Tesla that we probably wanted to buy was maybe 65k drive away yep just thinking oh what's
going to happen with EV technology going forward sort of didn't want to take a big depreciation
hit so started looking into the second hand market and uh yeah right that's clever yeah and thought
yeah and then you know the new highland Tesla's were probably you know mid to high 40s getting
up to 50 and i thought well what else is around um and then sort of stumbled across the poll stars
which are seen on the road i really like the look of them and that sort of mix of swedish and geely
i like the design so uh yeah found a guy who was sort of an auto broker who seemed to have a good
in with uh with a fleet of uh poll stars so you went through you went through like like a dealer
sort of you know he wasn't just a private sale you went through a third party correct went through
a dealer because also i could get it in my business i can get a tax invoice and yeah and he
would get a steady stream he said he'd sold like 70 or 80 poll stars in the last year wow because he
was getting them off off fleet so also he could yeah different models were available is that because
they hold their value or because they're just ultra reliable uh what's the big why does he
oh is he selling so many of them i think he had an in with the fleet manager who was um
getting rid of them and he sort of had first dibs and uh they'd get to 40 000 days or three years
and they just turned them over they call him um he'd take them off their hands and he flipped
them really quickly can we had been our steady stream of people can we ask what you paid for it
if you don't mind so i paid 40 grand drive away wow that's pretty good that's a great price for a
poll star jeez and which were the poll stars i'm not looking sort of an 85k car brand new
wow that's great that's pretty that's that's solid that's awesome yeah yeah i think there is
that's a real untapped resource i reckon the second hand dv market i reckon uh a lot of people
we know may be coming to their first cv you're thinking well i'm going to buy a new vehicle but
the second hand market is worth exploring as nigels pointed out here you can get some solid
value in a second hand vehicle and i think we we haven't really seen it come it's a lot i keep
kind of hinting towards it and thinking about the the number of people that want to know about
at leases yeah that's got to be coming up all these government incentives that i think there'll be
that also i wonder whether there's anyone done research on the number of or the percentage of
cars that get held on to longer yeah because they're EVs because frankly so many people
just love their cars just low running costs a lot yeah yeah it's it's a it's a funny interesting
kind of kind of space but i i'm still fascinated by your care stinger in the garage for the weekends
mate i mean do you contemplate looking at a time where you do just go one car and maybe maybe your
next car is a convergence of both and you go okay well it's fun and your daily drive and i don't
i mean now that you know how much fun an EV can truly be maybe you don't need the the weekender
well and that's it when i first got the EV i'm thinking no i'm definitely going to keep the
stinger you know we go for weekend drives go to adelaide occasionally not a hundred percent
sure about the long rain sift but now yeah we're thinking why not go all EV for the next car and
maybe we do you know go back and look at a Tesla or you know an EV6 or something else to replace that
you said your partner was in on the whole thing she was test driving stuff as well
is is she considering an EV too or does she drive your Polestar as well
she drives the Polestar as well but again same thing she's got a you know deltos that's done a
few k's and looking to turn that over so might also look at that you've gone from being a two
interestingly you've gone from being a two care family uh into you know something something
vastly new so i wonder whether you know you're whether she'll give care or look in you know
like an EV3 or an EV5 there maybe or whether you're all in on just exploring these new brands
yeah and i think we probably are more attracted to existing brands um see what shakes out with all
the new chinese entrance i mean they all look terrific and i listen to your show and it sounds
wonderful but yeah and you know who's going to be around in two three five years don't
know that you're right you got a good point there's a lot of these new brands that are
popping up and offering great value and good deals and stuff but you just don't know we literally
just suggested one to a caller you know van we've never heard of that yeah that's right hey someone's
got to be the the pine yeah you got to take the first step that's right um nod your what's your
charging situation are you uh you do it you sounds like you do a fair amount of k's per week you said
you're on the road a lot what's your charging situation yeah well we're sort of originally
thinking we're going to get the whole wall charger thing but um and we're looking to put in a new
car fort and build that as part of it but yeah you know for now literally we've just plugged it into
the uh outside you know trickle granny charger and um yeah i've got the got the new um EV tariff
overnight and scheduled the charging sort of between midnight and six am at eight cents a
kilowatt hour or whatever and yeah right you do the math on that it's costing you you know five
dollars yeah yeah yeah and it's sort of working for me at the moment it will literally treat a lot
my mobile phone come home stick it on charge you know i had it really gone below 50 percent
there you go and i think it's lost on a lot of people they think there's an infrastructure cost
you've got to buy the charger and all that kind of stuff i was talking to a friend of ours i'll
mention their name off air but yeah um and they'd bought a kea ev3 and she said to me i just need
your advice on the charging in the world you know the way in store and i said listen she drives bug
or all case and i said just think of it like your phone yeah every when you get home plug it in if
if you're not going out again that day plug it in and and as you've just pointed out Nigel most cars
because the thing about plugging in at five o'clock in the afternoon when you get home is
peak electricity costs most cars allow you to say okay if i'm plugged in yeah only charge
from midnight or from 10 p.m or whatever it might be or and or there's a setting to say
i need you to be at the destination point so 80 charge by 7 a.m or 6 a.m so it's using the smarts
of the car Nigel isn't it yeah in conjunction with your electricity that most of the time
trickle granny charging is perfectly fine and i've heard that from several other people i know
who have bought EVs and we're all going down the wall charger and they've gone you know what
i just don't need it i'm happy with the granny charger can i ask Nigel you're on the road a lot
you uh well what do you do mate what do you do for a crust i'm an accountant really but i tend to go
to people's offices when i talk to them this is a man that's done a spreadsheet on the savings
day he knows the deal knows it inside out that that fbt exemption i must admit was a very big
part of our when the accountant is going EV we know it's the right thing to do that's it that's
it hey Nigel well done congratulations on scoring a great deal on a Polestar enjoy happy motoring
and keep us in the loop on how the family garage changes and evolves over the over the months or
years ahead okay absolutely thanks a lot guys great thanks mate cheers very good there you go um
second hand mate smart good deal great deal well he's an accountant mate he knows how to he knows
how to sharpen the pencil mate he's smart very smart and genuinely the trickle charger yeah
is he's underrated yeah that's the word i was about to say underrated probably the most underrated
part of the whole ecosystem especially for those drivers who they only they don't do do much per
day overnight not a drama yeah yeah i mean i we we try and charge because no man is at home so
we try and get all the charging done in the sun but yeah if there was a day job there and she wasn't
at home and i would just be relying on the overnight electricity costs and i do that a lot i i charge
my car i schedule it through the wallbox app to it's from 12.01 to start and i just plug the car in
in the afternoon and then doing the charges up overnight and it's have a look and a play in your
car's charging settings yeah and what's there yeah scheduling and and the best one is the i want
to want to charge my car to 80% you can set it so it's it knows because what it does is it connects
and it goes okay this is you know seven kilowatts it's 11 kilowatts what and it goes okay we need to
start at this time it's going to take six hours and if he wants his car charged by 6 30 i'm going to
start at 12 30 you know he just knows it does that for you it's brilliant so awesome a lot of things
you can do with the software built into your car to uh to better your car's pretty smart a lot of EVs
most of them are very smart and uh yeah you need to explore that i knew that was a really easy feature
on the tesla yeah to do that and other other EVs would have the same thing yeah they pretty much
all do they do you just got to open up and find that setting folks thanks for listening thanks for
downloading wherever you're listening leave a comment if you're on youtube and send us a text
wherever you are oh four double seven six five seven six five seven we'd love to hear from you
on the show talking to the two blokes i don't think that's the incentive why would you want to do
that i i just share your experience with that feel like an incentive when you said it i figured
down okay that's why i wanted to sound yeah yeah it didn't come across as an incentive to me well
you heard all our callers the last year every every week we have some good time with our the
incentive is share your knowledge with like-minded people help others and help other people because
it is it is so new to so many people it is and i think right now as we've discussed with fuel and
lot there are more people at the very least thinking about investigating considering it for sure
yeah all right two blokes talking electric cars we'd love to hear from you and we'll talk to you
again next week steven i'll be here
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