DAILY: 'Max Speed' V4 Supercharger Roll-Out, Canadians Want Chinese Evs and Volvo EX90 Goes 800v | 24 Sep 2025

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Tell me why you 7GT.

Join me later for a bonus show called 10 Things You Didn't Know About BYD.

As the world's largest EV maker looks overseas to continue its rapid growth amidst brutal

pressure at home in China, there's a chance one day you and I could be driving a BYD.

Maybe you do already.

It'll be live tonight for patrons and all patron exclusives go into the free feed after

seven days.

If you want the content first, one of the many member benefits.

Now, True V4 Supercharger production is beginning.

A new Tesla Supercharger site in Campbell, California has started construction and is

one of the first True V4 installations, a filing permit found by Marco RP on Twitter.

In February, shows the site will have two V4 power cabinets.

Now, let me explain what True V4 is all about in case you're new to the podcast or just

not a charging nerd.

The cabinets are those often grey or beige colored things that they sometimes put behind

fences or trees, but you'll see them a little bit away from the actual chargers at most

charging sites.

So, the V4 power cabinets are 1.2 megawatts each, and then the stalls or dispensers as

they're sometimes called, there's 16 of those, and they have a peak stall output of 500 kilowatts

a piece.

Now, until this point, we haven't had those two things coming together.

Early permit filings for the V4s appeared, including a pre-assembled V4 system in Richmond,

California.

The Campbell site appears to be the first currently under construction and likely the

closest to launch.

Tesla had planned to deploy the first True V4 sites back in the beginning of Q3 this

year.

The V4 power electronics cabinet is a change from the V3s.

A single V4 cabinet will deliver 1.2 megawatts of power, but it will dynamically allocate

the power across eight stalls.

And so, with individual stall capacity up to 500 kilowatts, not all vehicles can take

that.

And if you do find a vehicle that can go pretty high in terms of its charge rate, it's going

to ramp down anyway as the charge goes in.

And so then it's able to dynamically adjust the power that goes to every EV on those eight

stalls.

V3 cabinets supported four stalls and could deliver up to 325 kilowatts if paired with

V4 dispensers, 250 kilowatts if paired with V3s.

And there's been all sorts of permutations, there's sort of been V3.5 versions.

So what we've been waiting for is not only the nice new tall dispensers with the long

cables, so if you're driving a non-Tesla and charging at a supercharger, you're not blocking

stalls, and lots of people feel passionately about that.

They're like, well, if Tesla didn't want us to charge there, then don't open it up.

And I'm sorry, my charge port's on the wrong side.

I still think if we can make life good for everybody, which is parked sympathetically

and not block, I'll still call it that, two spaces.

So a Tesla can't charge, it's good to be a good person, right?

And so the long cable sought that problem out anyway.

And with true V4s, Tesla will match the competitors on voltage.

So it's a thousand volts and on peak power level, Tesla can supply the same V4 systems

to third-party businesses as well, kind of white label them if you like.

That's really, really good news.

Been a long time coming, hasn't it?

And so Tesla, a little bit behind the curve on charging.

And for a long time, they led the way.

And now China, to an extent, has, and even other companies, you know, like the, some

of the, what is it, the Alpetronics are doing for 500 kilowatts.

Maybe on a single cable.

And so great to see Tesla kind of catching up and providing big power.

Now a new Angus Reed Institute poll finds 57% of Canadians support reducing

Canada's 100% tariff on Chinese made EVs.

If it secured relief from China's new big tariffs on Canadian canola, 24% said

they would prefer to keep the current tariffs.

The Angus Reed Institute, the non-profit think tank said these priorities are

contentious, the canola market is vital.

To places like Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, with $14.5 billion in exports

last year alone, the EV market has received billions in federal funding as a

strategic sector.

Regionally, support was strongest in those areas that affected by the canola

tariffs by party.

67% of NDP voters and 64% of liberals support reducing, not eliminating, but

the language of this is reducing.

That could of course mean reducing to 0%, but it could mean reducing to a

different amount.

52% of conservative voters also supporting it as well, by the way.

So yes, a little bit along party lines, but clearly the majority of Canadians

there say we'd like to pay a little bit less and get some Chinese EVs in the

country.

Volvo EX90 is being upgraded.

So the vehicle was meant to make Sweden a leader in software defined vehicles.

Instead, it did have some software problems that led in some cases to owners

doing lawsuits and things.

A Reddit forum filled with reports of early software bugs and consumer reports

went in pretty heavily on the Volvo EX90.

So Volvo have sorted it for the model year 2026 big upgrade, huge new

hardware, new software, a new electrical architecture and extra features.

The electrical system goes with 800 volts architecture, enabling faster

charging.

Volvo says the EX90 adds 155 miles or 250 kilometers in 10 minutes.

The vehicle's central computing platform has been completely upgraded to an NVIDIA

drive, AGX, orange based core computer with more capable AI and a new software

platform.

The model year 26 EX90s will be factory equipped with this new computer.

Owners of the model year 2025 can receive the upgraded computer free of charge,

though, via a scheduled service centre visit.

That's incredible.

We don't see that happening in many places in China where the breakneck

speed of releasing vehicles is work.

It makes everyone dizzy.

Frankly, you know, people are buying cars that are pretty new six months on the

market and then the car makers are releasing new versions.

Quite famous example over the summer has been the NEO ES8 on its third revision

already in no time, and people were spending big money on that vehicle.

It's a Range Rover equivalent in China, but with NEO battery swapping and things.

And then they overnight made it 10 grand cheaper, completely redesigned it.

The third version is utterly brilliant.

And those buyers are like, do I get compensated?

No. So Volvo, that's a real solid.

They're doing their customers there.

However, this is a vehicle that is heading towards a hundred thousand dollars.

I don't know, maybe more depending on why you spec it.

So taking big risks is always the stakes are higher, aren't they?

Now, they did this with the Volvo EX30.

They rushed it to an extent to market and fixed it when it was on the market,

which is fascinating because Tesla do that and you talk to Tesla owners

and they go, well, this is terrible.

That doesn't work. This isn't ready.

The windscreen wipers don't work.

And you go, oh, it sounds awful.

And Tesla owners say, no, this is the best car I've ever driven.

Like they have so much love and patience for the brand.

Not so much recently, but certainly in the past.

Whereas Volvo tried it and Volvo owners were like, I want it to be ready now.

And so that's one thing on the EX30, on the EX90.

And just little things like taking away the rear passenger window switches

to save, I don't know, like a dollar fifty or something.

Little decisions like that, a ninety or a hundred thousand dollar car.

Well, they kind of hit home a little bit differently

because your monthly payments are a little bit different, right?

So it's always going to be a little more difficult

if you aren't ready with a premium vehicle.

Twenty twenty six looks completely sorted.

A new real time safety alerts for when the roads are slippery, hazards

and accidents ahead, along with software and feature updates as well.

And that's good because the ES 90.

That's the saloon that's coming, had all this.

And I was really surprised when they unveiled the ES 90 recently

on the 800 volt platform with all the new tech.

But then they got the EX 90, which is the SUV equivalent of the ES 90

sitting on the old platform, really pleased.

Obviously, you know, this decision was taken a long time

before the change of CEO at Volvo, because these things have long lead times.

Really, really pleased to see them upgrading that EX 90.

Potential to be a fabulous vehicle once it gets past those early teething troubles.

And I think lots of the original owners getting new hardware,

getting new computers like Tesla's done in the past.

That's going to go a really long way to to fixing any anything

that was needing to be fixed there in terms of customer relationships.

Now, California is opposing an EPA rollback and revises their review plan.

On September 22, Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to the US EPA

opposing the administration's proposal to change national climate

and clean air standards, saying it would weaken state and local efforts

to meet emissions targets and it raises public health risks.

Newsom is withdrawing an earlier commitment to create a state level

supplement to the federal electric tax credit.

We're talking about that yesterday on the podcast.

Rather, California will pursue other measures

like spending public money on charging infrastructure.

I'm 100 percent behind that.

Don't give people money off cars.

They'll buy the car or they won't buy the car.

But create the ecosystem.

Well, now you're talking.

California is acting as a counterweight to federal policy

by advancing its own climate measures.

Recent steps include expanding zero emission vehicle requirements

for manufacturers, funding pilot programs to speed clean transportation adoption

in heavy duty fleets and working with utilities and private partners

to extend EV charging corridors.

Let's go down under.

Australia is funding 10,000 public EV charges.

I love stories like this so much.

Australia's federal government has committed 40 million Aussie dollars,

about 26.4 million US to speed up electric vehicle charging rollout,

targeting 10,000 new public charges nationwide.

Funding is part of the transport and infrastructure net zero roadmap

and supports the country's legislated emissions reduction goals

of 43 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade.

I want to go net zero by 2050.

I mean, I can't believe we're talking about 2050.

Oh, I hope I'm still around in 2050.

That's the plan anyway.

Look, I know that is the blink of an eye in terms of national

international policy and all these kind of things.

But 2050 to clean up the air that we breathe seems an awfully long time away.

Like, can we not do it quicker?

Can we say something like what are you doing someday?

Can we get it done by then?

I don't know. I think 2035 is is obviously a stretch goal,

maybe somewhere between those two things.

But you've got to you've got to take.

What is it they say?

Moonshots because I know I'm going to attribute this to completely

the wrong person, but it's probably a famous phrase.

Anyway, you know, you'll miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.

So let's aim for clean air early.

And if we get 95 percent of the way there, that's not a failure.

That's well, we got most of the way there.

That's good for the air that our kids breathe.

Right. The investment in Australia is part of a broader charging infrastructure

strategy called Driving the Nation Fund, which is about half a billion Aussie dollars in that.

So putting in public fast charges on key highway routes is where they're spending the money.

I've got another Aussie story right now, but we're going to take a break.

And I'll be back in a couple of seconds to finish off the podcast today.

All right, welcome back to the podcast.

Second Australian story today, independent modeling by the Magenta

Advisory and Pragmatic Policy Group, once again, echoing what we've talked about

before on the podcast, and that is the danger of getting rid of the fringe

benefits tax, the FBT in Australia that exempts battery electric vehicles.

And also they want to bring it back for plug-in hybrids.

And so this is a topic that's going on down under right now.

The research estimates that the EV discount has produced a net return

of two dollars twenty five in the environmental and economic and health

benefits for every dollar spent to date.

That's going to rise by three to three dollars a return on every dollar spent by 2030.

And so between twenty twenty two and twenty

twenty four, the exemption is estimated to have added 105,500 new

Bebs and plug-in hybrids to Australian roads.

EV sales have been growing in Australia after a slow start.

Now a ton of vehicles coming from China.

Obviously, there was a bit more of a proximity issue there as well.

But getting a bunch of stuff that the rest of us don't get yet.

And if the FBT exemption continues past its due expiration date for Bebs and

restored for plug-in hybrids, this modeling projects an additional

1.5 million EVs on the road in Australia.

Very, very important to think about the best way to spend money and public

money and policy and stuff like that.

Now, let's talk about our final Aussie story to date.

And that is origin, partnering with BYD and Star Charge to run a trial on Australia's

first EV subscription that includes a bidirectional charger and free home charging.

Bidirectional charging lets a vehicle draw power, but also send it back.

The service will use Origins Virtual Power Plant in Australia to automate charging.

Drivers will plug in and the system will decide and manage charging and discharging patterns.

If you are in the trial, the automated setup will provide a free home charger.

And an estimated they say about 15,000 or 25,000 kilometers of free miles per year.

The EV Council estimates a typical Australian driving 12,000 kilometers a year

spends about five hundred dollars annually on electricity with an EV tariff or two

and a half thousand annually fueling with a petrol car based on those figures.

Free home charging in the trial would save you a lot of money.

If you're an EV driver, if you're a combustion car driver, saving you two and

half grand a year, origin is taking expressions of interest for the trial.

Now it starts next year and they'll do the first 50 customers.

I mean, all these little trials are going on.

I know it's essential to do, but the car that you get, by the way, is a BYD Ato

three and a star charge V2G charger.

But these trials have been going on for years and we just need to come on,

you know, pick up the pace a little bit, learn what we can.

I say we smart people to learn the smart things they need to.

And then we can all start doing funky things with the grid.

Persho have updated the battery in the E three,

008 and five, 008 with vehicle to load and proper battery preheating as well.

This is the STLA medium platform.

And so, yeah, that battery preconditioning is really important.

Vehicle to load as well.

V2L lets external devices draw power.

It's not full vehicle to home.

But if you have something that takes up to three kilowatts,

maybe a camping weekend, tools, you're going to go to the beach and

blow up some beach tools or something with beach toys rather with

not just a little 12 volt cigarette lighter, but something a bit more chunky.

Well, that's where vehicle to load is really, really good.

And of course, if you get a power cut,

well, it keeps your freezer from going off, doesn't it?

Battery preconditioning, on the other hand, is really, really important.

I think essential these days to any properly designed electric powertrain.

Preconditioning can start automatically when you plan a journey.

The system begins heating as the car nears the plan charging stop.

The driver can also start battery

heating through a manual touchscreen option as well.

And you can use those functions in the my

Persho smartphone app if you want to.

Now, Tesla in Canada is offering some really good

incentives and bonuses.

If you pick up a Tesla very soon,

Tesla Canada offering buyers of a new model three, either lifetime free

supercharging or five thousand dollars off, I'll take the five grand.

I'll take it now, please.

Although lifetime free supercharging,

what is it linked to the vehicle like the old days or to your Tesla account?

Link it to the vehicle and that could do huge things for resale.

I suspect it'll be linked to you

provided the vehicle is delivered by, well, the next seven days.

This is the traditional end of quarter push.

They're hitting their targets.

So what would you take the five grand off or the free supercharging?

Well, I don't really do any miles anymore.

So I have five grand off a Tesla model three, please.

The incentive applies to new model three units in Canadian inventory.

But there's plenty of those by the look of it.

If you want to get a car in the next week or you got your finance ready to go,

Tesla's share of the EV market in Canada has fallen

from 46 percent only a couple of years ago down to 7.8 percent in recent months.

As you know, they had a wobble in Canada.

If Mr. Musk could stay out of politics.

Hey, he's right to do whatever he wants with his life.

But I think Canadians would quite like that as well.

And we can all get on with our lives.

Now, South Africa's power utility,

Escom has signed an agreement with BYD to explore collaboration

on EVs and infrastructure.

Escom is supporting the launch of the BYD Dolphin Surf in South Africa,

describing the vehicle as a compact, affordable EV that's a big milestone

in the country's transition to sustainable transport.

They put 20 EVs and 10 charging stations into the service of internal use

at the company to work out how it's used under the new agreements.

BYD and Escom will explore a way to support South Africa's move to decarbonise.

That's brilliant.

Now, Toyota is saying that electric vehicles represent less than a third

of new car sales in Australia over the next five years.

The comment came a media event for the new Toyota Land Cruiser.

And this is Sean Hanley, who is Toyota's vice president of sales, marketing and

franchise. So the quote he said was and I quote,

do we think EVs will play a role 100 percent?

But they are not going to be 80 percent of the market in three to five years.

In my opinion, maybe 30 percent, maybe a bit more.

But that's about where it will sit.

End quote.

So maybe he's talking about probably that Toyota share of the market,

which makes sense because Toyota haven't got anything to sell you.

So why would their market be 80 percent EV when they haven't got any?

Whereas if he's talking about the market of cars saying it's impossible.

Again, probably specifically Australia,

because let's remember the numbers aren't in yet.

But September is heading towards 60 percent

EV in China, the world's biggest car market for the month that we're in at the

minute, that's millions of pure electric vehicles being sold in China.

So the Chinese, you know, respectfully disagree with Toyota.

Again, Toyota has got nothing to sell the Chinese.

They've got some curiosities, but really they have no market there.

The remarks preceded the Australian

federal government's climate target announcement.

Toyota describing their strategy as the multi pathway approach.

And well, who the heck cares?

Because Toyota is making a ton of money and at the minute the hybrids suit them.

As long as they stop talking down pure

Bevs, I don't really mind what they do, they can crack on.

It's only when they put out misinformation and disinformation about pure

electric cars that, as you know, tend to get a little bit worked up about.

Because if you don't like something, just leave it alone.

I mean, don't tear all the people's buildings down.

If you don't want sprouts on your table on Christmas, just don't put them on your

plate. So, you know, we all like different things and Toyota don't like pure Bevs.

That's absolutely fine.

But spend a ton of money anti advertising against them.

We can all crack on with our happy little lives.

Now, Dodge Daytona reviews have been the topic of conversation lately because

one of them got a ticket for being too loud because he didn't have a muffler.

Not a phrase that we use silencer maybe or back box, we would say.

But the story's now come out.

It's fascinating, actually.

This is via CBSNews.com.

They caught up with the guy who got the ticket.

His name is Mike and he along with his five

mates from his car club were in downtown Stillwater heading back to Minneapolis

and St. Paul, their group of six cars stopped at a traffic light across from a

gas station, the light turned green and the owner said, here I am at the back of

the line and make my way to the front, the light turns red.

So I stop a Minnesota State Patrol Trooper driving the opposite way,

stopped at the light.

The State Trooper looked at me, I looked at him and as he drives by,

he flips, pulls me over and he was driving the new

Mike here, we're talking about the Dodge Daytona electric.

It has what's called the Fratsonic chambered sound mechanism.

You can make it rev like a car, but you have to be in park to do that.

And the officer gave him a ticket for driving a vehicle that was too loud.

He said he did try to explain to the officer that there is an external speaker

that you can use to rev the engine, but he wasn't doing that because there is no

engine. However, the officer still continued to issue citations.

Mike says, no problem.

He will go and mention it to the judge when he gets called into court.

Hopefully the officer will be there on the day as well.

He can look him in the eye and say, don't give tickets to electric cars for not

having the correct combustion silencing equipment.

However, what's interesting?

It seems like it's a different system, perhaps where he is in the Washington

County court system. The ticket would show up on like an online system.

And Mike said that he got the ticket in June.

And even now he is waiting for it to appear to have been filed at the police's end.

You know what? What happened there?

The guy's gone back to the police station and said what he did.

The other girls and guys he works with have gone, you absolute idiot.

That's an electric car.

It doesn't make noise.

And he's gone, right?

Well, I'll rip that one up and not enter it into the system.

I suspect Mike will never hear anymore about this.

And finally, Exxon has announced it's developed a graphite molecule

that could extend an EV's battery by 30 percent of its lifetime.

The chief exec said several electric vehicle manufacturers are now testing

the new molecule.

So it does seem like the real deal because it's not just a hey, we've done a thing.

It's a hey, we've done a thing and the car makers are interested.

The announcement followed the acquisition of Superior Graphite, a synthetic graphite

maker. Exxon said the takeover was to complement the planned entry into the

battery, anode and graphite market.

The company said synthetic graphite is used in EV batteries and battery storage

systems being a game changer.

Easier to produce and mine the natural graphite.

It's cheaper and more consistent in quality.

This move builds on Exxon's

kind of move into mining and minerals.

Lithium mining in 2023, they want to produce Lithium in Arkansas,

targeting Lithium production in 2027.

I've said this a million times on the podcast.

Oil companies don't get rich by being stupid.

And so Exxon know how to make money.

And if there's money in the EV sector and there's no money anymore in

when all the oil is out of the ground, then they're smart kids.

They know how to make money.

So I don't think they're absolutely going home every night going, yes,

you know, we love burning oil and stuff.

They're just good at making money and they're good at being in business.

And so if that means you can make money out of EVs,

I think we'll see more investment.

Some of the oil companies and petrol companies have pulled back a little bit

this year, closing down, charging network investment and things like that.

But I think it's a real short term

blip by these companies that have got pretty big balance sheets and can afford

to make big bets. That's your podcast for today.

Thanks for listening to our premium partners.

Portia of the village in Cincinnati, Audi of Cincinnati East and Volvo cars

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Have a good cinema and remember, there's no such thing as a self charging hybrid.

DAILY: 'Max Speed' V4 Supercharger Roll-Out, Canadians Want Chinese Evs and Volvo EX90 Goes 800v | 24 Sep 2025

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