BYD’s Atto 3 Evo is a refreshed electric SUV. The big deal here is that it’s expected to offer different drive setups (rear-wheel drive and an all-wheel-drive version) and improved charging, which matters a lot for everyday driving.
The BYD Atto 3 is an electric SUV. The podcast mentions an updated version called the “Atto 3 Evo,” meaning BYD has made changes to the newer model.
Term
Asian World Architecture
This phrase is being used like a “car platform” name. The platform affects how the car is built, including where the battery fits and how the car can be set up for different versions.
Here, “charging” means how fast you can refill the EV’s battery. If charging is better, it’s easier to live with the car day to day and on longer trips.
Rear-wheel drive means the power goes to the back wheels. It can help the car feel lively and may use energy more efficiently than driving all four wheels.
The all-wheel-drive version powers more than just the rear wheels. That usually helps the car grip better on slippery roads and can make acceleration feel more controlled.
“220 kilowatts DC” is how powerful the fast charger is. More power usually means you can charge faster, as long as the car supports that charging speed.
“150 kilowatts” is how strong a fast charger is. If chargers around you can’t reliably reach that level, charging takes longer and EVs feel less practical.
“20 to 80” means charging from 20% battery up to 80%. People use this range because it shows the most useful real-world fast-charging time, before the car starts slowing down near full.
In-house chips are specialized computer parts made for that car’s system. They help run the car’s smart features, like advanced driver assistance and other tech.
Self-driving means the car can do more of the driving tasks by itself. The idea is that it could make driving easier—especially for big cars that are annoying to maneuver.
Term
VLA2
VLA2 sounds like a specific version of the car’s automated-driving or parking/automation tech. The hosts are saying this car uses the VLA2 generation.
The Denza D9 is a new or upcoming vehicle model from Denza. It’s mentioned because more EVs are coming to the market, giving buyers more choices.
Car
BYD M9
BYD M9 is a large people-mover from BYD. It uses a plug-in hybrid setup, meaning you can charge it like an EV but it also has a gasoline/electric hybrid system for longer trips.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that has both an electric motor and a gas engine. You can charge it from a plug, and it can still drive like a normal hybrid when the battery runs low.
The Kia EV9 is an electric SUV made for families, with room for more passengers. The podcast talks about it because it sits in a higher price range, and people are weighing if that’s acceptable.
The Hyundai Ioniq 9 is an electric vehicle that’s meant to be bigger and more family-friendly. The podcast talks about it mainly because it’s expected to be expensive, and people are debating if that price is too high.
The Hyundai Palisade is a big SUV made to fit a family, usually with three rows of seats. People talk about it because of safety concerns related to what happens to the second row in a crash.
The Xiaomi SU7 is an electric car. The podcast is talking about how it looks—specifically that it has a sporty style, even if someone thinks it resembles a wagon.
The Tesla Model S is a fully electric car in the sedan category. It’s mentioned because it’s a well-known, top-tier EV, and the conversation is about what people expect or hope for.
The Zeekr 7GT is an electric car model. The podcast says it’s related to the Zeekr 007 sedan, meaning it uses a similar underlying design but in a different form.
The Z9 GT is an EV model that the podcast lists among several upcoming cars. It’s mentioned as part of the growing number of electric vehicles people can choose from.
Superchargers are Tesla’s fast-charging stations. The hosts are talking about Tesla trying a new way to access a charger when lots of people are using the same spots.
A “handshake” is basically the system checking that the right car/user is trying to use the charger. If it’s not the approved one, it won’t let them start charging.
Term
next plug
They’re talking about more EVs arriving with newer charging plug setups, which means more cars can use the same charging areas. That can make the stations more crowded and creates compatibility questions.
A booking system means you reserve a charger slot before you arrive. The downside is if the person who booked doesn’t show up, the charger can be stuck unused.
The Hyundai IONIQ 3 is a new electric car Hyundai is bringing to Australia. The hosts think it’s targeting people who want a smaller electric SUV or hatchback.
The Hyundai Ioniq 3 is an electric car. The podcast mentions it because it was spotted in New South Wales, suggesting it may be coming to the market or becoming more visible.
Apple CarPlay lets an iPhone control certain features through the car’s screen. The episode mentions a “CarPlay Ultra” version that’s aimed at controlling more of the car’s entertainment.
State of charge is basically how full the EV’s battery is, shown as a percentage. It’s important because the car needs that info to plan routes and charging stops.
Trip planning is the EV navigation that helps you plan a route with charging stops. It’s important because EVs depend on charging, not just driving to the next gas station.
Polestar is an EV brand mentioned as having a strong EV-navigation experience, including charging-aware routing. The discussion contrasts how Polestar’s system can take over more of the car’s interface versus other brands that may only use maps.
The BYD Seal is an electric car. The podcast mentions it because its navigation system uses Google Maps, which affects how easy it is to drive and find places.
The Tesla Model Y is an electric SUV. In this episode it’s mentioned because a police force in Western Australia uses it as part of their fleet, which is a practical test of how well EVs work day-to-day.
The Zeekr 7X is an electric car. The podcast talks about it because its navigation or apps can show charging information, which helps drivers plan trips.
PlugShare is a website/app where EV drivers share information about charging stations. It helps you see which chargers are working and how good they are before you arrive.
Import limits are rules that restrict how many cars a company is allowed to bring in. If there’s a cap, sales can stall even when people want to buy the cars.
They’re saying to watch the ports because that’s where the cars arrive before they’re sold. When you see more activity there, it usually means more cars are coming to customers soon.
Toyota is the brand they’re comparing against. They say Toyota is especially strong with large business fleets, like mining companies, and that takes time for new EV brands to win over.
Mining fleets are the big groups of trucks and cars used by mining companies. Those companies don’t switch vehicles quickly, so it can take a long time for EV brands to win their business.
This refers to battery thermal events—when an EV battery overheats and ignites. In EV adoption discussions, these incidents can strongly influence public perception and purchasing decisions, even if the overall risk is debated.
A real-world test means they’re checking how the car behaves in normal driving and charging conditions, not in a controlled lab setup. Here, they want to see how charging actually works in practice.
Residual value is what a car is expected to be worth later, like after a few years. The hosts are using it to show the car isn’t losing as much value as people often say EVs do.
Some cars’ navigation can connect to traffic lights and show how much time is left on green or red. That helps people feel less stressed at intersections because you know what’s coming.
“150 kilowatts” is how fast an EV charger can charge the battery. More power usually means you can charge quicker, which is especially important for highway trips.
The BMW X5 is a luxury SUV that’s meant for families or commuters who want a nicer interior and a comfortable ride. It’s mentioned because price matters a lot when people decide what to buy.
Preconditioning means getting the car ready before you leave—warming it up or cooling it down. That way, when you sit in the car, it’s already at a comfortable temperature.
Camp mode is a setting that keeps the car’s heating or cooling running while you’re parked. It helps you keep the cabin comfortable when you’re stopped for a while.
An OBD dongle is a small device that plugs into your car to read data. Here, it’s used with a route-planning app to help plan charging more accurately.
Mazda 6E is an EV Mazda is preparing to bring out. The hosts talk about it as a new step for Mazda, with help from another company, to make sure it can compete in the EV market.
A Sino-Japanese collaboration means companies from China and Japan are working together on a car. The hosts are suggesting that this kind of partnership can lead to better EVs than either side might achieve alone.
The CX-6e is an electric vehicle model. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because people are talking about whether it can meet specific goals for the EV market.
The Suzuki Vitara is used as a comparison point for how pre-order incentives and upgrade offers are structured. In this segment, it’s mentioned to highlight that the EV being discussed offers a more compelling early-buyer deal than the Vitara example.
Term
SIG DC module
The SIG DC module is referenced as a charging-related hardware component that isn’t available yet but is expected soon. The hosts imply it will enable faster/more capable DC charging on these EVs once the module is delivered.
The Tesla Model 3 is one of Tesla’s most common electric cars. The speaker mentions it to compare what it’s like to drive and live with versus other EVs.
Deceleration just means slowing down. With electric cars, the car can slow itself when you lift off the pedal, and if that slowing feels too abrupt, it can make passengers feel nauseous.
Term
foot control
Foot control means using the accelerator and brake pedals. The hosts are saying the deceleration feel can be adjusted by how you use your foot on the pedals, which can help avoid passenger nausea.
Topic
Drive quality vs subjective review impressions
They’re saying that “how it drives” is hard to measure with one number. Since people like different things, you should look at lots of reviews and then try the car yourself.
They discuss when certain EVs are expected to arrive and whether people will keep buying EVs. The idea is that demand might slow down a bit, but it shouldn’t fully go away.
Sport mode is a driving setting that makes the car respond more quickly when you press the accelerator. It can also change how the car slows down when you lift off the pedal.
A drift track is a special driving area where people practice sliding the car on purpose. It’s set up so the slide can be done more safely than on public roads.
“Donuts” means spinning the car in a circle with the tires slipping. It’s basically a controlled burnout-and-spin maneuver, and it’s usually not allowed on public roads.
The Zeekr 007 is an electric sedan. The podcast says another model, the 7GT, is based on it, and it also mentions the 007 being used in performance-style driving events.
Oversteer is when the back of the car slips outward. The car can start turning more than you intended, which can be dangerous if it isn’t controlled.
Concept
battery chemistry swap
It means being able to replace an EV’s battery with a different kind of battery, instead of only using the one the car came with. The point is to let the battery match what you need—like more range or different performance—without buying a whole new car.
Kia PV5 is an electric vehicle Kia showed at an energy expo. The hosts talk about it as a cargo-focused version, and they mention it looked solid and had a pretty attractive price.
EV sales just means how many electric cars people bought in a certain month. The hosts are talking about whether sales are likely to be higher or lower in May than in April.
ICE vehicles are regular gas or diesel cars (not electric). They’re mentioned here because the hosts think both electric and gas car sales can be affected by the same seasonal timing.
LIVE
Music
Hey everyone, I'm Tom and this is Joy. Hope you're all well. Today is Wednesday the 13th
of May 2026. Nice of you to join us this evening. We have a few things to talk about
as always on the E-Show. Thanks to Ludacris for your live. Thanks for joining us nice
and early this evening. And let's welcome our co-host for this evening. Of course that's
all on Mr Riz, the guy himself. Riz, how are we? Tom and Joy, going well. Good to be
on. I think it's getting cooler in many parts of the country now.
Indeed, Joy and I are up. He's slightly cooler than me. Probably not cooler compared to
Melbourne standards but it is cool for us. Roland sends us apologies tonight. He has
some family commitments. Wish you well, Roland. We'll see you next week, I'm sure.
But yeah, let's say hello to some of our regulars as always. I feel like I'm very loud. I'm
going to turn myself down just a bit. There we go. Okay, so I'm not screaming to my ear.
All right, so let's say hello to Murray. Hello Murray. Hello Xander. Quick update with his
Ato 1. Done 4,000 days already. And a lot of times he's 11 kilowatt hours. Okay, that's
not bad. The mixed driving. And hello Muzza. Nice to see you. And hello Camus. Hello Mark
from Hamilton, Victoria. He says I need to sweep the channel there. That's more of those
out there. Hey Jim, nice to see you. Hello Andrew from ARAT. Hello Mr Brightside. Hello
HK from Perth. And thank you Sensei for gifting at Louisville Cross Feed Memberships. Hello.
Hello Justin. Hello Tassie E.V. Oh Justin says it's our 250th episode apparently. How did
you know that? I don't even know that. Is there a counter somewhere? There must be a counter
somewhere. Well anyway, that's great. It's awesome. Okay, let us know if our video feed
is going okay. Hopefully it's not us. Let's know if we're nice and clear on the screen
and if we sound okay. Okay. Oh, I was on the thumbnail. Oh, okay, so it's Justin. I'm
sure. If so, then great. 250 episodes, good. But you didn't know something that we don't.
I'm sure, I'm sure. Okay, well, there's a freaking yes there. Okay. Sound is breaking up sometimes.
Okay. I'm getting flashbacks of those bad zoom meetings. It might be us. Okay. It might
be us. Ah, it's working a second ago. Okay. Audio is glitchy for me. Okay, it is us.
Oh, we can't hear you now, Tom. Oh, thank you, Riz. Thank you, Riz says it's okay. It's
okay. It's good. All right. Well, let's get the show underway then if it's working all right.
Riz might need to sing for a bit, says Quaid. I love to hear it.
You don't want that. that, I think.
All right. Well, let's start with the first bit of news today. Well, it's not really news,
but it's a bit of a quote from the Chief Operating Officer of BYD Australia,
who says about the Ato3 Evo, which is the updated Ato3 that according to Stephen Collins,
telling Drive that we're just working through that as we speak. Stay tuned for that. But
most likely due in the second half of the year, he says, for the Ato3 Evo, which is good. I mean,
look, I think, you know, Riz, as you know, it's pretty exciting. I think that's some good
reviews, user overseas already for the Ato3 Evo Evo. Yeah, I mean, that's supposed to be,
I know I've seen some approval documentation a couple of months ago, but they've just started
to land in parts of Europe. So charging appears to be better. What is it? Asian World Architecture,
rear wheel drive. But just like with anything, I think we've already got an update in terms
of we might have covered it, I think, maybe last week, but in China, this is the Yuan up,
and that's got a new one that's already out. So, you know, fingers crossed, we get that in
the second half and maybe in the third half, which is the first half of next year, we'll get the new
Ato3 or whatever it's going to be called. Just, you know, all three of us have been to China,
and we know it's hard to keep up sometimes. Just they move very quickly over there,
and not just for the cars, but just in general, right? They're very sort of, they like to move
quickly. So in the same goes with cars. But look, I might be happy to see this car quickly
in this country. As you said, rear wheel drive, and all drive variant, of course,
coming to the country as well, hopefully. And the interior looks, I think, looks better as well,
sort of more traditional, I suppose, in that sense. Where was it? I saw it earlier, pictures of it,
sorry. Here we go. Let's, let's flashy and out there, sort of more muted colors.
Yeah, but the guitar strings remain, I'm happy to see.
Let's see if it's still tuned to smoke by the water, smoke on the water.
Um, ventilated, um, what do you call it, device charging? It's always good.
But, uh, yeah, fast charging as well, 220 kilowatts DC. So that's, that's sort of
better than the water now, 89 kilowatts, something slow like that.
Yeah, so, I mean, this would be quite good to see. I guess we'll find out what it's like on Tesla
charges, if it's at an evolved and what sort of speeds it gets. But I'm more obviously curious
to see what the vehicles with flash charging, uh, would get. Um, because yeah, like, what's that
going to be like? We've, we struggled to get 150 kilowatt charges around in Australia. So maybe
we'll push these brands to roll out more, you know, faster speed charges, including BYDs on
flash charging. Yep, definitely. Yep. I might be with a, you know, five to 10 minute charge.
I mean, this will do apparently 25 minute charge from what, 20 to 80 with the new faster speed.
But, uh, yeah, five to 10 minute charge will be certainly a game changer. You're going to
stay with the car suddenly. Yeah, Andrew, that's a good point. You know, it's, it's, uh, it's all
about the pricing, of course, for the new out of three. Um, what do you reckon if we can get it
sort of low forties again? Be pretty happy with this car.
Find out. Uh, yeah, that's true. Some, some charges don't switch to the right hand side.
Let's say with the indicator as well. Um, doesn't always, uh, switch over.
Yeah. Okay. Hmm. I guess we'll find out. Now, um,
let's move you on to another brand. This is, um, X pen. This is the X nine spotted around in
Victoria and Burwood East. Nice to see it in action there. It's like almost a QR code on the side.
I was just going to say that, that bit of camo. Yes. Um, now Roland can't join us tonight,
but as we, as we told you, but, um, he did help us out with some ADR. So the X nine actually has
been approved finally. Um, now this is significant. It's not just any old ADRs because chances are
this has been filed by X bang a two, right, Riz? Um, likely. Yes. Um, one of the, you know,
the freshest and we know that we spoke last week about the correspondence we received
while I guess people received from Jason Clark, the CEO of true EV. So this is
likely to be, because it didn't mention anything about a new model. So this is likely to be X
paying, um, Australia themselves. So yeah, good, good progress. Now back on China time,
I just want to, which one this will be, you know, given already how many X nine's gone
through a couple of iterations already in China since it was launched. Well, remember last year,
I think the three of us were in Hong Kong and they had just announced the new X nine, whatever
that meant. And then I heard recently there was another X nine of some sort, or maybe it was
launching in some other market, but yeah. Um, I also recall seeing some X nine pricing in Europe
um, that I think was recently announced, but it was something along the lines of like
75,000 euros as a starting price. So I'm not sure what variant it was or whether it was even
a real price, but it appears that they are really launching in international markets now with this
model. Yeah, look, I'd be happy to see this in Australia for sure. It looks, it looks quite
futuristic. It's designed quite well. Yeah. Do you want to have some 009? Really in Hong
Zhou getting transferred and that was awesome. Very luxurious, very imposing vehicle, very boxy
with a big grill. Whereas the X nine feels, I don't know, more angular, more futuristic.
I think what makes this car is the tech in the car. Like, um, I'm assuming this has
got the all, um, in-house chips in it as well, isn't it? That has the potential maybe for
self-driving. Um, this is the kind of car that, yeah, you don't want to drive this car. It's too
big. So if it can drive for you, that actually takes a lot of the headache away. It's a big car.
It's over five meters. Yeah. I wouldn't want to try and get getting that through, you know,
a shopping center car park. That's right. Some will drop you at the front if, uh, if this is a
people move. Get it to drive itself. Yeah. Park itself. Yep. Yeah. Ultra is the VLA2 version.
Yeah. That'd be great to see that in Australia. Um, yeah. So Zofa's saying that they are front
will drive for the, uh, two will drive variants. And yes, there are four variants. What is the
Roland's ADR sniffing? So four variants coming to Australia. I guess you can pick the different
variants with the different weights down the bottom here on the gross vehicle mass. So we
don't have like specs about batteries or, or what these cars are at the time being just,
just, uh, educating guests for the time being. Uh, yeah. And the Rover site does confirm it's
been launched from China HQ. So that confirms our, our guests. So thank you for that, Rhett.
Great. All right. Good. I mean, look, I think, I think these people movies are starting to become
more popular, aren't they? Um, six or seven cedars, X-Pen, X-9, uh, Zika, 009, Denza's at D9.
They're all coming. And there was one that snuck through and not many people have noticed,
which is the BYD Shia or BYD M9. Three were spotted on the back of a truck. Now it's a
um, BYD M9, I think, uh, car source covered it. Um, around that it's being spotted.
Okay. So plug in hybrid, um, BYD M9. Yep. So spotted in, um, in Melbourne.
In Melbourne. Yeah. Okay.
I'm curious as to, yeah, the fact that all these Chinese companies are bringing,
bringing this sort of size vehicle in, do they think that they're going to sell that well?
Yeah. Traditionally. I was going to say, they haven't traditionally had that.
Not a big segment, right? Five percent of the market at best, I think.
So interesting. Well, it could be a growing segment.
It's like they know something we don't maybe.
Yeah. I think in, in South East Asia, it's been very popular. And I know that's a big market for,
you know, people movers and transport, you know, I think it's, it's cool, you know,
giving people more options than SUVs. Because a lot of people still ask, is there a seven-seater
electric vehicles out there? And, you know, if we start sort of saying, you know, yes,
there are the EV9 and the Volvo EX 90, um, they just anything over 100,000 is too much.
Yep. EV9, Ioniq 9. Yep. They're all about 100k, that's for sure. Well, I mean,
the new Western Sydney airport doesn't have a, you know, it doesn't have a train link as such.
It's got a metro that's being built, but no high-speed rail link from the city.
So we're going to need a lot of transport out to that new airport. So that's already
one little market there. I shouldn't say little, it should be quite a good market for these things.
Oh, it's a sensitive topic, Tom. You can't talk about trying to an airport.
We're very blessed in Sydney. We've got that train from the Olympics. It's been very
easy. Yeah, RIS finds it handy too, because you can see Sydney quite often.
Mother, that's true. The Kia Carnival sells well.
That's the market they want to compete with. If it can be affordable enough,
what type of vehicles are going to compete with that Kia Carnival?
Hyundai, Staria, I know it's not as popular as the Carnival, but once upon a time the Hyundai Odyssey,
but yeah, it's all sort of gone. Hyundai Palisade, apart from the controversial
second row crush. Yeah, that was pretty bad. Yeah, fleet of spectres. Yep, that's true.
Just for RIS. Yeah, I agree. Hard to fit. No, you can't. It'd be impossible to fit this in our
garage. It's just way too long. Over five meters long, which is where I guess the Model YL might
come in handy. If you just want a bigger SUV with the occasional ability to fit six seats,
then you can still drive to the shops in. Yeah.
Well, let's talk about this one. This is not a people mover. This is still a big car, but this
is a bit more fun than a people mover. This is the Xiaomi U7 GT. Great to see more GTs in the
market. Spotted in the wild. Five meters long. This is definitely a rolling spec. Xiaomi's not here.
This will be, it's in red as well, so you know it's extra quick. So that is a good looking car.
There's two of them. Yeah, one in front as well. Convoy. Yep. Amazing. I was still waiting for these
to pop up in the ADRs in Rover. One day. One day. It doesn't look like an SUV, right? It looks like
a coupé, yeah? Yeah. I think this one, looks sporty than the, I mean, look, the
Su7 looks good, but this one looks like a wagon. I think it's also because it's red.
Yeah, that's good. Automatically sportier because it's red. True.
Yeah, I mean, look, these will just take off if they ever hit any export markets,
that's for sure. So keep an eye on it. All we can just ask Xiaomi to try and bring us over there.
We can drive over there and try to follow. All right, keep dreaming. Speaking of Model YL,
so Model YL received five-star in-car rating last week, which is good. Not a surprise, I'm sure.
No surprises. Yep. Oh, yeah, Taz EV, just back on the,
just back on the U7, yeah, reminds slightly of the Mustang Marquis. That's true.
Been seeing more of those on the road. I guess any EVs being snapped up at the moment,
given the situation we're in with fuel prices.
Just want to shout out to Andrew Bartram. He says excited to be hosting the next Zika
community event in Adelaide this Sunday. That's great with about 40 people expected.
Great to see the Zika community growing. Absolutely. Great car, great brand. So
thank you, Andrew, for hosting that. That's good.
Well, look at this. HK's apparently got some news, something we don't know.
Xiaomi coming to Europe 2027 apparently, possibly Australia 2028.
I mean, that must be very, very bleeding edge news. I've not heard anything concrete just yet.
Unless there's something we don't find out.
Sienna says I can't hold on for that long. So well done for those that get the U7.
I'm getting the 7GT. Hey, that's not a bad car.
7GT, Denza, Z9GT, U7, Su7, all good things.
Now just a bit more Tesla news. So this is Rahul who shared this with us. So Rahul used to be on
the stream. We've talked about this previously. I think like, what happens with busy charging
stations, right? So Tesla is testing out a new weightless feature at five supercharger sites in
the US, which is good. Software is how it works, right? So if it's crowded, I guess you can maybe
book yourself in in the list. Maybe it doesn't work unless it's you. It's quite handy.
Not a bad idea. Good for those Easter long weekends and boxing days.
It reminds me of those. There are some fancy elevators in the city now where
there are no buttons in the elevator. Like you press where you want to go on the outside,
then you just step in and you have to just trust it to do its thing.
Yeah, it's like too fancy for me. I get really nervous. I guess if you work in the city all
the time, you're probably used to it, but I'd still stand there like just petrified, not knowing
exactly what's happening. But I feel like this is kind of the same. It's like, yeah, the algorithm
does it for you. And then, yeah, it'll probably unlock, isn't it? And if someone else tries to
use that spot, they won't because the handshake won't work. See, where my fall down is if it's a
non-Tesla that takes that spot, not knowing there's a queue happening here in the Tesla world, right?
So this is where it gets a bit busy. But you still have to use the app, don't you?
You do. That's true. So I think it still knows who you are.
But with your only handshake, once you kind of plug in or once you drive into the spot, so that
it's not quite as seamless as it could be. You know what I mean? It's kind of mixing.
But this is a good start, at least. This is good.
Hmm. I guess charging sites in the States, like supercharger sites, are probably a lot
busier now that most cars are coming with the next plug now. So it'd be interesting how Tesla
integrates that with those other EVs. But yeah, this, you know, anything like that.
I've seen some videos beyond Ireland that's done in Thailand where there is some sort of a booking
system that you can book a charger and he's rocked up at some of them and they already booked,
but the person isn't there. So then he can't use that charger, but that's not Tesla superchargers.
That's just other charging sort of services. Yeah, Darrell, so beyond gets annoyed when people
book in on the chargers in Thailand and their shop, it's like a restaurant reservation, isn't it?
How long do you leave Grace? Like what, 15 minutes? Half an hour?
You just, you need the reverse, right? You've got idle charging fees, so you need to have booking
charging fees when, you know, you've booked up, but you're not there. It's the same,
essentially the same issue, isn't it? You're taking up, you know, a spot that could have been used.
Yeah. Yeah, it's getting very, very intricate, isn't it?
Or just build more chargers so that people don't have to play.
Wow, that's right. And flash chargers that can do it in five minutes. So it's like, you know,
to charge and move on. Book in on the queue and or we'll take,
take you in on to another charge location. Yep. That's true. One day there'll be like
banks of chargers on the, on the highways. There'll be no issues. One day.
Yeah. Lightning, I agree. Like I just said,
solution when cars can just charge in nine minutes. So it's no problem. Yep.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I'll watch this space. And speaking of watching the space, this is the Hyundai
IONIQ 3 that was spotted in New South Wales, I think. Yeah.
Reminds me a little bit of like the Hyundai Veloster from back in the day.
It's got like that leaning roof towards the back, but Kia seems to be selling EV3s pretty well at
the moment. So if this lands and it's priced right, I think it could do quite well.
Yep. Just want to thank Melbourne Homestead was the account that sent us this photo, but
yeah, I agree. I think the compact, compact SUV or large hatch market is doing well. As we said,
EV3, MG4, EV Urban, all those kinds of cars. So yeah, Hyundai is getting in on the action,
which is good. The price is everything guys, isn't it? What will they ask for? That's the question.
Reminds me of a deer on a hunting trip. What could this be?
Yeah, such a mystery photo. I agree.
Look, good news for Victorians. I've seen a few LGA's in Northeast Victoria going through
approval processes for EV charging lately. It's good to see.
It's good. John's saying the new Android Auto looks good. Great announced today at
Android Day. Okay. That'd be good. Was it Aston Martin that's got the
Apple CarPlay Ultra? I think it's cool. It's going to control the car's
entertainment system. It'd be good if Apple and Android can monitor the
state of charge as well, right? So I don't hope we're trip planning.
I believe that that's what Android automotive or even even Android Auto is trying to do. I
think there is a feature they're rolling out or it's already out, which somehow you put in your
state of charge or something like that, but they're definitely working on it. I know they made
Google Maps a whole lot more EV charging friendly in recent times. But yeah, that would be the way
to go. That's the big problem, right? The whole trip planning component of it in most cars.
Yeah, to be fair, Tesla does it very well. It's pretty easy to use Tesla superchargers.
I mean, like BYD, not BYD, Android automotive does it pretty well too in like Polestar,
Google, Volvo. So it's quite good. Can anyone confirm if BYD is now using Google Maps?
Well, before I saw my seal, it was. It's using Google Maps and had native trip planning using
Google Maps. I believe so. That's very similar to the Android automotive one,
like in Polestar's and Volvo's, you reckon? Yeah, great. Pretty similar. Yeah. I think
with Polestar and Volvo, it takes over the whole system, whereas BYD is just the maps only. Yeah.
It was another brand that used Android automotive, which was it recently? Anyway.
Yeah, Google Maps in the US has ED trip planning, so it's just good.
Yeah, out of three Evo is Google Maps. Yeah, just like the seal. That's good.
Yeah, out of three. Yeah, thank you for confirming that too. Excellent.
Now, this is cool. Let me just show this. Just staying with Tesla for the moment.
The police force in Melville, Western Australia using Tesla Model Ys as part of the fleet.
It's pretty cool.
Which version? I think it's the new one.
What? The performance? Oh, it's in which variant? Yeah, yeah.
The new model Y. That's what I was referring to.
I mean, you want it to be able to catch the bad guys, right? This is very easy.
That's true, actually. Yeah. You might as well go top spec. Oh, it's got a dog carrier too.
Nice. All right, that's good. Well done, Western Australia.
Right. Well, I've got some time, so if anyone's got any questions or
anything you want to bring up, guys, let us know in the chat there. I've got some time to chat.
Justin's saying the C-Line 8 is the first BYD with Android automotive. Oh, right.
Whole things Android automotive. Okay. That's what I'm curious about,
and I don't remember seeing it in the cars, but yes, C-Line 8, I know it's a plug-in hybrid,
but they seem to be selling quite a lot of them. I see a fair few on the road already.
Yeah, same with us in Sydney as well.
Zika 7x, GLE-X5 is Google and shows charges according to the speed.
Yeah. I know Google uses, yeah, it tells you how fast the charges are and availability as well.
It must take the data from like plug-share or something or some sort of shared white-label
platform. That speed is so important if you're on a road trip because there's a big difference
between 50 and 150. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Now, last week, I know we spoke about the Suzuki
Evatara. Now, I had the pleasure of driving that car in a week when the Melbourne Motor Show was
on, so I was doing very long like 100, 120 kilometer trips from where I am usually over
the weekends, and it was just charging at 65 kilowatts. Oh. And it was just like, yeah,
welcome to, I don't know, EVs from 2015. That's how it was. So apart from the price,
I'm scarred by that car. So yes, exactly what you said, Joy, you need minimum like 90 kilowatt
charging. Yeah, 100% like, if you, you know, slow charging home, no problem. But when you're on the
highway, really fast charging is critical. Yeah. Yeah. We were on a road trip and, yeah, didn't
work at the supercharger. And at least we had like, it was a Willys, one in a Willys car park,
I think it was a Chargebox one, 40, I think it was. There's only so much you can walk around at
Willys. Like, I was really thankful for that Willys. But yeah, I know that particular Willys
really, really well. So it stays with you, doesn't it? It really does.
Yeah. So, oh, yes, I just want to shout out to Hal, who I met at the Clean Energy Show
in the week. So nice to chat to you the hell. It's a question from JD. Do you think the
May EV sales might be curtailed by demand and volume import limits for brands? That's a good
question. Are we out of stock? We are running low on stock, but I think it's usually the month when
Tesla does get their big shipments coming in in April, so they'll start deliveries in May.
We know BYD has said mid-April that they're going to bring 30,000 cars by the end of June.
Just to put that into perspective, that's like two and a half months. That's how many cars they
will need. We're going to need more Jamboree car parks, aren't we?
They're going to need more. Exactly. But our viewers and listeners, keep an eye out at the ports
because we'll see something we haven't seen before.
So Riz, crystal ball projection from Riz. When will BYD overtake Toyota as the top-selling brand in
Australia? I wouldn't be surprised if it's by 2029. Okay, years. Okay, not sooner.
Well, this year, I think if everything goes according to plan, they will sell
close to 100,000 cars, which is pretty much double last year.
There are some segments of the market that are still very much attached to Toyota,
mining fleets. That market takes quite a bit of time to win over, but I can hear a lot of fleets
are starting to talk about BYDs, which three years ago, firstly, was a new brand. Secondly,
there's no dealerships. Thirdly, batteries catch on fire. Fourthly, there is slavery practices used
to build these cars. You name it, there were just all these excuses and they're finally starting to
get over some of them. So yeah, it will take a little bit more time, but I reckon by 2029,
they would get very close to Toyota. Yeah, I mean, BYD is almost becoming a household name, right?
You mentioned a Chinese car, someone just said BYD. I think it is. And that's what they've done
really well compared to all the other brands, basically apart from Tesla. If you ask someone
on the street that knows nothing about EVs, name me two EV brands. It'll be Tesla and BYD, for sure.
Yes, so we are getting the EBITARA very soon as well, so we'll do a real world test and maybe
a slow charging test as well. Just to verify. Two realistic or a real world test on that car,
I'm just telling you. You know us, we keep it real. Justin has emailed the thumbnail, so let
me just show it to you. He was right. I didn't even know this. So yes, we have reached 250 episodes.
There you go. 250 episodes in the corner there. Yeah, there it is. Yay, yes. 250 live streams.
Thanks, Justin. Do people still regularly log their charging sessions in PlugShare?
That's a good question. Yeah, I don't know. Are those days gone? Is PlugShare,
like for early adopters, is that sort of buy and buy now, given that so many new owners?
That's a good question, isn't it? I think it's just turned into probably more
like a comments or reviews thing where if something is wrong, then people will get out
their phone and start punching it. But it's actually helpful information if you go there and it's
broken and then you can pop that in. But I think etiquette-wise, you should probably still do it
if there's only like one or two chargers. But if you're at, is it like the golden supercharger?
Like you don't need to do it there when there's like 20. So I think it depends on the situation.
Question from HW. Doing your Zika tour, did you have any indication about when the 7GT-8X-9X
are coming to Australia? Well, I think it's publicly available that 8X-9X is later this year.
I think that 7GT is possibly next year. That's what's been widely reported so far.
So that's all you can tell me. We can get any more out of them, apart from that.
And those test drives are very brief. What you saw in our videos was just up and down the
highway under the overpass. So Zika loved to bring us. How's the second hand market
tracking going up, down or stable? Good question. I believe it's pretty buoyant.
Like the data that I see, there's a lot of used EVs that are being sold. Actually,
interesting. Last month, I was looking at some stuff and looking at 2022 BYD-803s and average
selling price for what is it? Almost four-year-old car was close to $30,000. So it's only really
lost like, I don't know, maybe 30% of its, well, which is 70% residual after four years. It's pretty
good. That's pretty good. I mean, that sort of goes against all the, you know, I say at news.com,
information about like EVs dropping in value and resale not doing well. Like that just, you know,
just blows it out of the water, right? When you can get good resale values like that.
And I think people who do their own research will suddenly realize, no, that's just not true.
They will sell the demand is there. So it's always been that way.
Now, I just want to share this real quick. So this is Jim who sent this to us. The Android
Auto we're just talking about. So it's about to change the way you drive. 3D Google Maps,
3D Design Interface, video support, Gemini and so on. So that's good. Good to see.
Yeah. I think the Apple CarPlay probably could do with the redo as well.
Sun will be dated. So just to move with the times.
See, we just obviously came back from the Beijing Auto show over in China and
it's interesting every year. So many new people that haven't been to China before
attend these shows, particularly Americans and Canadians this time around.
You should see on X and other social media platforms how they're blown away by how the
mapping systems are and how accurate and advanced they are with the countdown timers on each
intersection that you can see. And it's quite interesting because when you live in the American
bubble, you think what you've got is the best there is until you sort of see that it's next
level over there from purely a mapping point of view. Yeah. What Riz is talking about is when
you're in a DD or any car in China that's got a Maps up, it syncs with the traffic light so you
can see how long you've got left on the green light or the red light, which is an incredible,
just relieves a lot of anxiety for people in the car and pedestrians as well. So yeah. I'm still
blown away by that, by the way, every time I see that. It's pretty cool. Yeah, Julie shops,
ships are docking regularly. That's good. Keep those cars coming in. Brett seeing stock piling
of BYDs in large amounts of base water and Montrose in Victoria. Excellent. Keep those ships coming.
Yeah, I agree that 150 kilowatts should be bare minimum, 100%. Nothing less on the highway,
just a waste of time otherwise, as Riz found out. Matt saying, hoping the Geely X2 isn't
overhyped. No, it's not overhyped. Definitely not. I think it's a good one. It'll do well.
But depends on the price. It's all about the price. We've got the Geely X5 next week, I think,
the extended range, which I think that's the only car you can order now. You can't order the
standard range anymore. So this is the new normal. Yeah. And it's only $1,000 more.
Don't say new normal at us. Sorry. Speaking of triggering. Oh, my word. Is it unprecedented?
Don't even. It's only $1,000 more, the extended range Geely X5 than the old Geely X5. So it's
pretty good for a lot more range, a bit more range. Are there any other EVs? Sorry. Are there
any other EVs that offer the overheating mode that I believe Tesla has to keep
car interiors cool in summer would help consider an EV with panoramic roof in our climate? Do you
mean like the infrared treatment? I believe they're talking about what do you call that climate?
You can cool or heat the car. But you can keep it so it's a certain temperature before you get in.
Camp mode and dog mode. Yes. Similar to that. Like you can set up the time in which let's say you're
going to work in the morning and you can just set it up. It should be hot or cold, depending on
the weather. I think a lot of cars have that now. BYD has that. I think Zika's got that,
pretty sure. It's not a Tesla or anything. I mean, they probably started it, but a lot of cars have
that now. So yeah, I think it's certainly worth checking out. It is quite handy if you want to
just go to the shops for a bit and just keep the car cool. From Antelport full of BYD cars,
according to my friend. Yes, I was going to say earlier, this is a good hack with
ABRP, a better route planner with the OBD dongle, which I've done a video on. So
that's one very accurate way of keeping your standard charge and native trip planning that way.
Yeah, lots of inter-financial year bargains. So yeah, I think sales are good. You got the
D-Pallyo SO7 selling for $46,990. Key AB5 selling for a very good price at the moment.
Lots of bargains. Jim says for the verbs, ABC TV hosts show that Gruen had a discussion
about BYD horse and cart ad tonight. Very positive about BYD. That's good.
About plug share, Andrew says, I don't do it for Tesla superchargers, but I do it for the others.
That's fair. Nothing we do tend to do that as well for others. Because Tesla superchargers,
Tesla owners generally can see what's going on. You don't really need plug share, but
the others are more variable. Oh, Jagman just got emailed today from Mazda that the 6E is built.
And ready to ship soon. Hey, that's great. The Chang'an collaboration 6E. They're cool cars.
They are good. That's good. It's the Sino-Japanese collaboration done well. Hold on.
But question is, will it save Mazda? Let's hope. Let's hope quickly.
I was in a preview event a couple of weeks ago, and some of the numbers that were being shared
around the sales targets for both of those cars, the 6E and the CX6E, I was like,
if you can hit those, that would be amazing. But BYD, Geely and others are already pumping
those cars up. But both of those, the 6E and the CX6E in person looks amazing.
And they had a really good, unlike, sorry, I know we're picking on the Suzuki Vitara, but
unlike the Vitara with only 100, was it 100 pre-order holders get like a couple of thousand
dollars off? They had a thousand pre-order customers that were going to automatically
be upgraded to the top spec CX6E. That was like $3,000 premium. And I think it's a brilliant car.
So yeah, it would be interesting to see how they go. But yeah, both of those cars are really,
really cool. Exactly. The Chang'an underpinnings looks great and drives well too. We don't have
the SIG DC module yet. It is coming very, very soon potentially. So hang in there. We've got
potentially some updates later. Let's see. Let's keep going off.
Sorry. Let me just scroll through the comments here.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Apologies for the relative silence. If you're listening to this on a podcast,
it's wondering what's happening. Scrolling through the multitude of comments, which is fantastic.
Okay. Hal says, Roscoe from AmazingEV said, Tesla second hand prices are starting to get back
to realistic levels and his listings are finally starting to grow again. Okay. So maybe it's cooling
a tad. I think, sorry, you know what I'm saying? I was going to say the fuel prices look good at
the moment in Sydney, probably because of the fuel excise discount is still there. But I think
it's only temporary. And the smart commuters will know, look, we don't want this to happen again.
We don't want our fuel to be controlled over these, right? So do the smart thing by an EV.
So I mean, it will cool off for a bit, I reckon, but hopefully the trend will continue. So we'll
see. Nick says, can't wait for the 7GT Zika? Well, I love my Model 3. I do miss having a
driver-focused car. Curious how many Tesla owners will consider moving to a brand like Zika.
Zika, I mean, both of you were on, you know, the got a chance to drive some of those newer models.
I think they're a little bit more dynamically better handling cars than traditional EVs from
China, from a handling point of view. And yeah, what do you all think? Like, in your opinion,
do you think they're handled a little bit better than other Chinese EVs? Or is it just all becomes
the same the way they ride on the road? I'll speak about the 7X, because the 7GT,
we didn't get much of a chance to drive. Like, we got a little bit of a drive and not,
like, not a real rise. But I think the 7X is a class above some of the others, for sure. I think
it's like as good as the BMW for me anyway, in terms of ride handling and comfort. I think
Polestar, which is also Giuliano, that for me drives very well. What do you think?
think? Yeah, there was, like, it does drive very well. There was just something about the 7X, I
think, that just for me personally, I couldn't quite get the hang of the deceleration. I think
it was making you feel sick. That was only briefly. So there was just that was just like a personal
thing. Like, I couldn't quite get it to be that, yeah, that balance between being really nimble
and yet not making my passenger vomit, I think. So probably do it with foot control, you know.
It is foot control. It's just a matter of, I mean, we didn't have it for long enough for me to kind
of get used to it. But yeah, I think certainly it's a lot like more fun to drive
than some of the other Chinese cars where the drive dynamic isn't quite there yet.
But yeah, I feel like with Zika, they definitely do prioritize how the car actually drives and
handles. That would be what I think. Honestly, I think Zika, the price in Australia is way
under what it should be, honestly. They've massively discounted what is in other markets.
So we're getting a pretty good deal here in Australia. Like some of the other brands like
Leap Motor, Cherry, you know, they're priced phenomenally. But again, like you said, the
drive quality may not be there. It's just not quite there. Yeah, even BYD, right? But Zika,
like it's like BMW standard for drive quality. So I think that it's priced phenomenally if you
want a driver's car like Zika 7x or 7 GT. So yeah, I mean, it's a hard one. Drive quality is very
hard to objectify in a review. Well, because some parts of it are subjective. Yeah, you can't put
a number on it, right? Because everyone has a different perception of it. So you just got to
trust the reviewer. Well, not so much to trust the reviewer, but you know, go out and test it
yourself and see, you know, because some of the things that we like, you may not like and vice
versa. So you just got to find, yeah, watch and watch a lot of reviews, read a lot of reviews,
and try and figure out where your particular driving style fits with other reviewers, I think.
So Necro, waiting for the DPAL SO5, yeah, that's been coming soon for a long time,
isn't it? Talking like almost a year. So I don't know. I drove it back in Chongqing like a year
ago. It's still waiting for it to come. Because that's a rural drive, mid-sized SUV or small
so fingers crossed. Thanks for the comments, everyone. It's a lot. So thank you.
I thank Sensei for more memberships. Thank you very much.
Looking at car sales, the info there is that 6E will land in, sorry, CX 6E will land in September,
October. I think that's too far away. I should be landing in July in order to keep up with the
marketplace. Yeah, we'll see. Like I said, I don't think the EV demand will go away as such,
just maybe plateau a little bit, but I think there'll be room for good car as always.
Beyond EV, hey, nice to see you. Message just now that they will delay the launch of its first
dedicated electric vehicle back out of 2029 now. Which one? Which one, yeah. I thought the 6E was
the dedicated EV. Maybe Mazda's own and not built. Not Chang'an. Should be Chang'an. I see. Got it.
All right, we'll keep scrolling. Yep, Amsterdam Lager 7X is one pedals, one of the best tuned
tested. That's good. Tazi EVs has various reviews of Chinese EVs driving dynamics,
yet not yet to European levels. I have to agree. A lot of them are still not quite there yet,
as we just discussed. I think the 7X was the only car where initially, when I put it in sport mode,
it was too much. It was too much for you. Too much. Then I was like, fine, I've got to put it back
into. I think if I was alone in the car, it would be a different story, I think. But unfortunately,
I had a passenger with me, so I couldn't drive it the way I actually wanted to.
I think what really happened, Joy, was when Tom was fanging it at the bend,
it scared everybody that gets into the car. They had PTSD. We don't know what's going to happen.
We saw Tom do 200 plus kilometers an hour in that car.
They specifically told us not to turn off ESC, electronic stability control. No donuts. But
in the drift track, the rally track.
Well, the 7 GT is based on the Zika 007 sedan. The Zika had organized professional drift drivers
to teach us how to drift that car around on a wet surface at Ningbo in their outdoor slalom area.
People that can drift that car can really drift it. Obviously, I spun out a couple of times.
I think the 7 GT will be quite good. I think all three of us know Ray. Basically,
he holds a Guinness World Record for the longest drift on ice. He is one of their chief testers
and marketing and engineering people. He is heavily involved. He was even here in Australia
when they launched the 7X at the bend. I think they take their dynamics very seriously. If you do
it wrong, you can get you quite sick. Watch the road rules. He holds a record for most of our
donuts on ice or something ridiculous. Just think Lightning McQueen. Turn left to go right.
When you oversteer on the drift, you'll be right.
We'd like to see EV makers make it possible to swap battery chemistry. It's like NEO.
Yeah, I mean, Solott State is the way to go, isn't it? Eventually. We can have long-range
utes. It's all about the utes, isn't it? It's always asking about the utes in Australia.
I'm sick of it. It's always on these media trips. When are the utes coming?
I think there's still a really strong selling segment in this country. Even if all the other
car sales are going down, it doesn't affect big utes.
Yeah. Despite my lip. And despite the petrol prices too.
I saw the Kia PV5 at the Smart Energy Expo. That looks pretty cool.
It looks pretty solid. Pretty good price as well. $55, I think it was. $55 brand? No, that's not bad.
That's just the cargo one, isn't it? It's not the one with the... Yeah, it's still a really good price.
Really good price. Yeah. I did ask Kia when it's coming. They said a few months away.
We'll wait for the test drive.
All right. Question from Sim. Will one-pedal drivers develop really awesome calf muscles?
Let the foot control. At least for the right foot anyway.
Yes, you might get uneven legs.
Just like the tennis players with one strong dominant arm.
One dominant calf. That will look a bit stranger on it.
All right. That might be enough, guys. I think thanks so much for all your questions.
But yeah, otherwise, is there anything else we should bring up in the meantime before we sign off?
Oh, okay. One more question. What's people's predictions for EV sales from May?
We're still probably two or three weeks away from that information, but
up or down, do you think, Riz? I think percentage-wise will probably be a little bit up.
I expect May is we're going to have more sales than April as we get into this
end of financial year phase. There's a lot of pre-end of financial year sales on already.
So that's for EVs and ICE vehicles. So yeah, I expect the market will be a bit bigger.
But yeah, I think EV sales, if we can maintain about 15%, I think that would be a good month.
There should be some lag from last couple of months, right? People waiting for their deliveries.
Yeah. I would have thought. I'd have to mention the fringe benefit tax discount is ending in a
year's time or at least being augmented. So some people might be trying to get in
before that time. So I see some more leases start to take hold. What do you reckon, Joy?
Are there always just less sales in general in April because there tends to be
like Easter public holidays and Anzac Day and all that, and that just
throws out people trying to buy stuff? I would assume that May is just more than April
in general always, but I don't know whether that's actually true or not.
It's like school holidays, isn't it? Yeah. Do people buy during school holidays or are they?
Well, unless they're off work and they're on their phones or on the computer buying cars, right?
Maybe, yeah. They've actually got time to go and test drive, isn't it?
Yeah. And don't forget, the Tesla Model YL deliveries are happening,
and we're reaching the end of quarter, so I can help boost sales as well.
Yeah. I'd like to say 20%, Andrew. I really would. So let's see.
Wait for Riz's good news in a few weeks.
And David from Beyond EV says 30,000 BODs are expected to arrive in May and June,
so that's Riz said earlier. Okay. Well, I think we might end it there. So Riz,
thanks again for your time as always. Thanks for your insights.
Thanks, Tom and Joy. Been good fun. I'm sure we'll have Roland back next time. And
yeah, thanks for everyone for sharing everything and anything that you're seeing.
Keep an eye out. Share with Tom, Joy, and myself. And yeah, awesome.
Thank you, Riz. And yeah, thanks, everyone, for joining us and keep those pictures coming.
Anything you see on the roads, camouflage or otherwise, or whatever interesting tidbits,
we will share them on the stream as always. So from Joy and myself and Riz,
thanks, everyone, and we shall see you.
Happy 250 episodes. Thanks, guys. The show is not without our wonderful audience.
So thanks. And we shall see you next week on the show. Bye, Riz. Bye, everyone.
Thank you. Happy charging. Bye.
About this episode
BYD’s Atto 3 Evo is slated for Australia in the second half of 2026, with hosts pointing to improved charging, plus RWD and AWD variants. They dig into fast-charging expectations—220 kW DC and an estimated 20–80% session around 25 minutes—while contrasting Australia’s struggles to consistently reach 150 kW. The conversation broadens to charging access and queueing (idle fees, booking, and Tesla’s handshake testing), plus broader EV rollout signals like BYD M9 sightings and Tesla/Chinese brand momentum.
Catch up on the latest in Electric Vehicle news from Australia and around the world! Hosted by Tom & Joy Gan of Ludicrous Feed, Riz Akhtar from Carloop and Roland Lam from Zapped
