McDonald's is mentioned as a food stop while traveling in China. It’s not an automotive topic, but it’s a recognizable brand name used in the travel anecdote.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an all-electric car, meaning it uses a battery instead of gasoline. It’s built as a crossover, so it has a higher seating position and more everyday space. It comes up in charging discussions because people use it for longer trips and need to plan charging stops.
The Hyundai IONIQ 9 is an all-electric Hyundai with lots of seats. They’re talking about how efficient it feels to drive and how flexible the cabin is for passengers.
The Land Rover Defender is a tough SUV built for off-road driving. They’re describing a day where they drove it off-road with an instructor to show what it can do.
The Volkswagen up is a small city car (a compact “A-segment” hatchback). It’s mentioned because a tire failure happened “on the Volkswagen up,” which is a practical reminder that even small cars can be affected by road hazards.
The Chevrolet Spin is a multi-purpose vehicle meant for carrying passengers. A standout feature mentioned in the podcast is that the middle seats can turn around, which can make the cabin feel more flexible. It’s useful when you want different seating setups for passengers.
The Kia EV9 is an electric family SUV with three rows. They’re comparing it to another EV and talking about how the middle seats can turn around for easier conversation or access.
Drag coefficient is a number that describes how “slippery” a car is through the air. If it’s lower, the car wastes less energy fighting wind, so it can go farther on a charge.
The Hyundai IONIQ 6 is an electric sedan. They’re talking about how its shape is designed to cut through the air more efficiently, which helps it use less energy.
The Xpeng G6 is an electric vehicle that the host is testing. They’re giving their early impressions and saying they think it didn’t quite land as well as expected.
Brand
Aeon
Aeon is an EV brand the hosts hadn’t heard much about before getting invited to check it out. They’re explaining who it is and how it connects to Chinese manufacturing.
GAC is a big Chinese auto company that’s connected to the brand being discussed. The host says it has partnerships that are supposed to help keep manufacturing quality high.
Apple CarPlay is a way to connect your iPhone to the car so you can use apps like maps and music on the car’s screen. The hosts are saying it can be distracting because you may need to switch screens to get back to the car’s own controls.
If the wheels are easy to spin, it means the tires aren’t gripping the road well when you accelerate. That can make the car feel less controlled and less efficient.
A Volkswagen Golf is a small car with a hatchback design, meaning the back door opens upward. It’s made for everyday driving and is usually easy to park and maneuver. People mention it a lot because it’s a common size for a practical family car.
A torque curve is basically how the car delivers pulling force as you drive. If it’s tuned differently, the car can feel smoother and be less likely to spin its wheels when you accelerate.
An over-the-air update means the car can receive software changes wirelessly. Here, they’re saying the manufacturer might fix some driving quirks by updating the car’s software instead of changing hardware.
Power delivery is how the car “hands out” its power when you press the accelerator. If it’s too aggressive, the wheels can spin; if it’s tuned better, it can grip more smoothly.
WLTP is a standardized test that manufacturers use to estimate how far an EV can go on a full charge. The hosts are saying the number you see in the car might be the official test estimate (WLTP) or it might be a more personalized estimate based on your driving.
A range estimate is the car’s guess of how many miles you can drive before the battery runs out. The hosts are saying that this number can change a lot depending on how you drive and whether it’s cold.
A wireless connection means your phone connects to the car without plugging in. They’re saying it can be flaky—sometimes it takes a long time to connect or doesn’t connect at all.
A wired connection means plugging your phone into the car with a cable. They’re comparing it to wireless and saying the cable connection tends to work more consistently.
Wireless charging pads charge your phone without a cable. The problem they’re talking about is that bigger phones may not sit correctly on the pad, so charging can fail.
KGM Musso is a new vehicle being talked about for the commercial-vehicle show. They’re saying there will be a regular gas version soon, and an electric version that’s expected to cost less.
The Ssangyong Musso is a pickup truck, which is a type of vehicle with an open cargo bed. The podcast mentions a new combustion version, meaning it runs on fuel rather than electricity. Pickups are usually chosen for carrying things or towing.
Kia PV5 is an electric van. The hosts say it’s one of the better choices right now, but it may not be big enough for some work tasks.
Car
Renault electric vans
Renault is bringing new electric van options to the show. The hosts say last year they were only shown as mock-ups, but this time they’ll be fully revealed.
The Renault Grand Scenic is a family car designed to carry people comfortably. It’s built more like a people-mover than a small hatchback, with extra space inside. It’s mentioned because it fits into the same “practical family vehicle” category as other larger options.
“Transit City” sounds like a commercial vehicle concept aimed at city driving. The podcast suggests it might be announced soon, but the details aren’t confirmed yet. It’s being mentioned because it could change what businesses use for deliveries and local trips.
The Ford Explorer is a bigger family vehicle, usually built for carrying people comfortably. In this discussion, it’s being talked about in a cargo-van direction, which means it would be set up more for carrying items than passengers. That kind of change matters if you’re thinking about work or delivery use.
Delivan is a new brand being launched by Cherry for commercial vehicles. The hosts see it as Cherry’s first real step into vans, and they’re curious how it will do.
Cherry is the brand behind the new Delivan van line. The hosts mention some of Cherry’s other car models to show what the brand is known for before moving into vans.
A lease deal is when you pay each month to use a car or van for a fixed time, instead of buying it outright. The hosts are saying the monthly cost on some vans has been unusually low.
The Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo is an electric van variant of the ID Buzz platform. The hosts mention VW responding with lease deals, suggesting pricing and availability are being used to compete in the electric van market.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is an electric van, so it runs on a battery. It’s designed to carry people or cargo depending on the version. The podcast mentions lease deals for a cargo setup, which is useful if you’re thinking about work-related driving.
The BYD Dolphin is an electric car model. The hosts cite its claimed range of “347 miles,” using it as an example of how well it could meet everyday needs if priced right.
The Tesla Model 3 is an electric sedan used here as the host’s current “spare car” (temporary ownership via a lease). The segment highlights how the host’s Model 3 lease end date affects what they need next.
The Tesla Model Y is an all-electric SUV, so it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s designed for regular driving and family use, with space similar to other SUVs. People often talk about it because it’s part of Tesla’s EV lineup and uses Tesla’s charging ecosystem.
Car
Renault vans
They’re talking about upcoming Renault vans. The big idea is that they’ll use newer EV tech (800-volt) and have user-friendly software, which should help people who are new to electric vans.
“800 volt” refers to an electric vehicle’s high-voltage architecture. Higher voltage can enable faster charging (especially on compatible chargers) and can reduce current for the same power, which helps charging speed and efficiency.
The Renault 5 E-Tech Electric is a small electric car, meaning it runs on a battery. The podcast mentions its software is similar to other versions, which can affect how the car handles features like charging and settings. It’s brought up because EV software and charging experience are closely linked.
The Renault 5 is referenced as the software baseline for Renault’s upcoming commercial vans. The hosts imply the same infotainment/vehicle software approach will carry over, which matters for how easy the system is for fleet and first-time EV drivers to use.
Leasing is like renting a car for a few years. You pay a monthly amount, and there are rules like how many miles you can drive. When the lease ends, you usually give the car back (or sometimes buy it).
AutoTrader is a car listing marketplace where you can browse vehicles and deals from dealers and private sellers. In the context of this episode, it’s used as a research source to compare lease offers and pricing.
Filters are the settings you choose on a website to narrow down the results. For car deals, that might mean choosing the lease length and mileage so you’re comparing similar offers.
Lease mileage allowances set how far you can drive during the lease term (here, 10,000 miles per year). Exceeding the limit can trigger extra charges at the end, so mileage is a key variable when comparing lease deals.
“Upfront” in a lease context refers to money paid at the start of the contract, often expressed as the equivalent of several months of payments. Higher upfront usually lowers the monthly payment, but it increases the cash you must put down initially.
The Toyota Urban Cruiser is a small crossover, which means it’s built for everyday driving with a bit more space than a basic hatchback. The podcast is mentioning it as a vehicle they’ll talk about soon. It’s the kind of car people consider for city-friendly practicality.
A locking diff helps the wheels keep traction when the ground is slippery. Instead of one wheel spinning uselessly, it helps both wheels work together to move the car.
The Genesis G80 is a luxury sedan, meaning it’s a more upscale car built for comfort. It’s designed for driving people around in a smooth, well-equipped way. The podcast mentions it because it’s part of the host’s review lineup.
A hybrid uses two types of power, usually a gas engine and an electric motor. A hatchback is a car shape where the back door opens upward, and this one is described as a small hybrid.
MPG (miles per gallon) is a fuel-economy measure for vehicles that use gasoline. Even for hybrids, MPG is often used in marketing and comparisons to describe how efficiently they consume fuel.
LIVE
Speaker 2: I'm Alex, he's Jim and this is the Charging Status podcast. How you doing Jim?
Speaker 2: I'm alright as well. It's been a busy week. It's been a busy week.
Speaker 1: That's been mental this week, hasn't it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. It's been crazy. Don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: It's just been a mad, mad week. I three car launches in two days this week. At the time this comes out, I'll already be back, but I'm going to Milan to see a new brand be unveiled. I think I'm literally going to Milan for about 20 hours to see a man pull a sheet off a car.
But, you know, here's what it is. And looking at all the airport nonsense that's going on over in Italy, that might be quite interesting. Lots of strikes and issues of passport control and stuff. And then I've got like a weekend for my wife's birthday and stuff.
I don't know, in the last week I've probably, I don't know, I've slept for about... 20 hours and literally worked for the rest of it so it's been an interesting one. Busy? Yeah, it's looking interesting for the next few weeks as well.
But at the time this comes out you'll be on your way to China won't you or will you be in China?
Speaker 2: the I'll be in China. Yeah, so I would have flown out on the Wednesday very late evening after having a family meal with with Graham and then Yeah, I'll be probably doing god knows what at some point. So, yeah
Speaker 1: Can I teach you fluent Mandarin right now? There's hello, is Ni Hao. Then there's thank you, which is Xie Xie.
Speaker 1: You can speak the language, you know? Yeah. This is yes. Alright, for those listening to this, that's two thumbs up in the air.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very nice. Is that alright? There we go. I think I've got that.
Speaker 2: ⁓ dear. So yeah, I'm flying out with Cherry. You went with them in October, I think. Yeah. seeing all sorts of things, the Beijing Motor Show, which would be amazing. ⁓ And all sorts of different things. I'm sure the schedule would change by the time I get there. So I don't really know exactly what I'll be doing, but it should be quite interesting.
Speaker 2: I from memory I think it's just under a week. So Wednesday to Tuesday I think.
Speaker 1: Right, okay. Yeah. You'll love it. It would be a hell of an experience, but some of the EVs you'll see on the road over there will melt your brain. And I can only imagine what you're going to see at the Beijing Motor Show. It'd be absolutely amazing. did get, obviously we've had a conversation about this, but I did get an invitation to Beijing Motor Show from another manufacturer in China. I got the impression there were some strings attached.
Speaker 1: I very politely told them to ⁓ Foxtrot Oscar, which I'm gutted about because I really want to go, but I don't want to go with strings attached.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, that's honorable. Yeah.
Speaker 1: have fun. Just be careful at the breakfast buffets and stuff.
Speaker 2: ⁓ yeah, maybe your pork donut conversation blast.
Speaker 1: Fork Donut was not exceptionally good. All the ducks blood tofu or the chicken feet and that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: I might find myself in McDonald's at some point. Sounds like a taste of home.
Speaker 1: McDonald's was actually really good in China. Ian loves McDonald's as well, who you're going with. I do. He'll make sure you get a Big Mac into you. It was very good over there and insanely cheap. It's about two quid, I think, for a Big Mac meal. And it tasted nicer than ours.
Speaker 2: ⁓ yeah, it's not really saying much, it?
Speaker 1: No, no, not at all. No, not even slightly really.
Speaker 2: Yeah Yeah, yeah, it should be good. I'll make sure to post some stuff on Instagram if you follow me there. So get to see whatever I get to see. So it'd be good.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Yeah. Go and follow Alex on Instagram because there'll be lots and lots of posts I would imagine, especially the day you're at the Beijing Motor Show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Should be good. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Um, literally picked up this morning was the, uh, ginormous Hyundai IONIQ 9. Yeah. Um, and I've done 1200 miles of that in one week. Wow. That was great. Yeah. Yeah. Me and my brother, did a Land Rover. I posted on Instagram and I was a bit worried that people might thought I was invited to something, but no, it was just a thing that, um, me and my brother did.
Speaker 2: No, no. ⁓ Yeah. We did a whole day of driving one of the new defenders off-road in the middle of nowhere. It was just, ⁓ was incredible. And the guy that does the instruction ex-police officer really knew his stuff. he, ⁓ yeah, just incredible cars really at off-road driving. Just amazing. Yeah. It's a shame that no one really uses them for off-road in the general scheme of things, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they get really stretched their legs doing the school run, they?
Speaker 2: No, not particularly. ⁓ Well, the par holes at that moment. Another story. By the way...
Speaker 1: Yeah. At an event the other day, just outside the event, Tish blew a tire out on her car.
Speaker 2: on pot. no. On the pot. Sorry? On the Volkswagen up or the... ⁓ no.
Speaker 1: Yeah, literally feet from the event. It's just hideous out there at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But yeah, and before that had the Santa Fe, which is an equally big car. So. ⁓
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone else on the road has ever seen a car like that because the amount of people that were looking back at the vehicle on the motorway, like turning their heads around to have a look.
Yeah. I think it's quite an unusual sight on the roads really, because I've never seen one, but no, it's great car, a bit more efficient than I thought it would be. I was getting around three miles per kilowatt hour.
Charges massively fast. It's great. I don't know if you knew, but I think you reviewed the seven seat version, but the six seat version. The seats in the middle, they can actually spin around like a van.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I had the six seat version of the EV9, but I the seven seat version of the Bionic 9.
Speaker 1: And I much prefer the look of the EV9, like the exterior and everything. I just think it's a beautiful thing. But I think I, from memory, I think I found the Ionic 9 a bit more efficient than the EV9 as well. Yeah. I don't know if it's because it's not quite as square.
Speaker 1: And Hyundai, or like a big thing with their EVs is always like drag coefficient, drag coefficient, which is why like the IONIQ 6 looks the way it does. The maligned design of the IONIQ is actually brilliant for its drag coefficient.
Speaker 2: Yeah. don't know if it's quite funny. It took me few days to work out what it was, but when you're driving on the motorway, I caught myself looking up at the sky, trying to listen for an aeroplane because there's two flaps on the front of the bonnet and when the, sorry, the front of the grill, when they open, they must let in such a massive amount of air that it actually sounds like it's an aeroplane going overhead.
Speaker 2: I'm convinced that's what it is. I couldn't verify it, but that must be what it is because this happens now and again. So yeah, weird.
Speaker 1: Um, but God, why haven't I been driving last week? So I've got the, at the moment I've got the Xpeng G6 in review. Um, hmm. Is what I'm going to say on that. Yeah. I don't know when the video is coming out, but it's a six out of 10. I think. Yeah. Yeah. is a shame. Yeah. Cause I think.
Speaker 1: Xpeng is a brand that's capable of some pretty special things. Yeah. And I think they've tried hard to copy something else and have failed at most in most areas. ⁓ anyway, there's a video on that.
If it is out, go and watch it. And if not, wait for it and then watch it, please. I've driven the new VW T-Rock. The Cherry Tigo 4, the Aeon V, which you've also driven this week, which is completely new brand to us here.
If you don't know about Aeon, which we didn't until we got the invitations, or certainly I didn't, Alex probably did because he knows about everything Chinese.
Speaker 2: They were at the Munich Motor Show, so I had to poke around those to have a look.
Speaker 1: I was at the Munich Motor Show. Didn't see them. Yeah. they're part of GAC and GAC in China makes the Chinese market Toyotas and Hondas. So from a manufacturing point of view, you know, they've sort of said because they're working with Toyota and Honda, who obviously famed for their manufacturing, they have to have very, very high standards.
My impressions of that again are in my video. I don't know what yours are. But I personally thought the exterior didn't look great. The interior did look great and was pretty great. But some software things and certainly a few things with the drive were just a bit off and feel like they need a tweak.
But I sort of feel like it probably only needs a tweak. I think it's nearly a very good car. What do you think?
Speaker 2: I thought the design was, it was, I thought it was, not bland. So it had some interesting, interesting things on it, made it look quite distinctive. ⁓ the interior I thought was, it felt a little bit out of date, like, cause there wasn't enough buttons in there.
And I just weird how things, how things go. You may have, ⁓ at one point thought that a car with no buttons was really, really up to date. but it's now swung the other way for me a little bit where there's literally none in that car at all apart from the ones on the steering wheel from memory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see, I thought at least it's got buttons on the steering wheel and like the aircon controls, I think stay in place the whole time. some of that stuff, can like forgive some of that stuff now.
If you don't have to go into menus or you have to like in that Xpeng G6 at the moment, if you go into Apple CarPlay, you lose everything else. And then you have to go back to the home screen for CarPlay, then press the Xpeng button to get back to the original software.
And then when you want to go back into carplay, you've got to go back in, you know, and all that kind of stuff's taking your eyes off the road.
Speaker 2: taking a retention. which is dangerous. Yeah. I thought the build quality was good, like materials in there. The premium version had proper leather seats, which is quite unusual. Yeah,
Speaker 1: leather like cow's bottom leather. But interestingly, I thought the pretend leather, ⁓ I thought that felt really good as well.
Speaker 2: I actually didn't have time to look at the non leather version because I was filming the whole day.
Speaker 1: It didn't feel like drastically different, which I think is a big plus. Also that premium one's got that lovely tray in the back of the passenger seat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently they took some inspiration from the mechanism from the rear seat trays of a bent leaf for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh, nice. Yeah, they're very sturdy. Yeah, the one thing it's got going for is the amount of space. It's massive inside. Just the amount of headroom you've got, the sunroof is really nice. The boot's not as big as it could be. And when you look at the surf, like the top level, but the underneath section is massive as well. So, but yeah, there was a bit of, some of it was a bit lacking to drive.
Speaker 1: How many times did you spin the wheels?
Speaker 1: That was just getting out of the car park.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought the ride was good, but the ride quality, they did stress that they've done a lot of work to make it better suited for our roads. And I thought the ride suppleness was quite good, but yeah, it's got, it's little bit of work, but it's, it should be okay. But the one I'm looking forward to is that hatchback, the UT. Cause they had that, they had that there parked. I didn't see it. A golf sort of size car. Oh, okay. So I love a hatchback. They're just.
Speaker 1: ⁓ yeah. How did I miss that? Was it parked somewhere? Not very obvious. No.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it looks like a nice little car that one.
Speaker 1: They've got people with pedigree like in the UK operation. um, yeah, yeah, I've, I've got high hopes for that. Yes. But a lot of the things I thought like, this is a software update that can correct this. Like the fact that the wheels are easy to spin. You know, that's something they can do with an over the air update, hopefully, you know, just a little bit of change to like the power delivery, the torque curve. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, with the Xpeng, I feel like there's some physical changes that need to be made. know, suspension setup and stuff, stuff that I don't think can be corrected with software. And if it could, surely they would have corrected it by now. ⁓ Maybe the brake feel, maybe they could correct that with software.
Speaker 1: ⁓ Well, I've talked about the PV5, have I, on the last... Last or not?
Speaker 2: I so. I think we haven't recorded for a while here. So I think you've had the five in that time.
Speaker 1: had the PV5 as well and ⁓ my God, I absolutely adore the PV5 and it was so much better on real world range than I expected. ⁓ really? Yeah, because it's a big box. I was expecting it to struggle a bit and I've done a lot of motorway miles in it as well. So I was expecting to have problems on that front. ⁓ So I probably did 600 miles in that at least. ⁓ I think on full charge it was showing like 258 miles of range, something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's, but you never know do you? Because some of these cars, you, when you charge them, they just show the WLTP and some will show you a figure based on how it's been driven. Um, but I, I, I got the battery really low at one point. I got down to about 10 miles in it and it would have done 231 miles and I was at motorway speed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought that was incredible and it was cold. So I had the heater on, you know, and I just thought that this is phenomenal. Obviously it didn't have a load in it and it only had me and obviously I'm very slim and athletic. So it didn't have a lot of weight to carry. Um, but, and I'd shaved my head that day. So few days growth makes a difference. Yeah. Apart from there, that bit well, and there and
Speaker 1: Yeah, there. ⁓ So, yeah, I mean, I was just massively impressed with it. I loved the way it drives as well, but it had one big flaw and that was the Apple CarPlay.
Speaker 1: So on wireless connection, it was less than 50 % of the time that it would connect. And then sometimes it wouldn't connect at all and you sort of give up trying to connect it. And then after 15 minutes, suddenly CarPlay kicks in.
And then on a wired connection, it would connect about 90 % of the time. But on Google Maps, just every so often, it would go completely like the GPS side of it would go totally haywire and it just suddenly doesn't know where you are and then it would correct itself and then it would go again and then it correct itself.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And ⁓ I sort of had a quick look online and it looks like other people might've had the same issue. Again, it's going to be a software thing, but I wonder if it's because, I don't know, plain conspiracy theorists, you know, it's an Android system. Maybe they're making life difficult for the filthy Apple users like us.
Speaker 2: Maybe, but I'd imagine it's probably something to do with it's a brand new platform for Kio. And there's a simptieving issues, I think, with that. They've had their existing systems in play for ages. Yeah. Yeah. A really long time. So, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The thing I don't like about the Xpeng G6. The wireless charging pads can't charge a big iPhone.
Speaker 2: All right. Hmm. Was it his actual section not big enough or? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on. It's not big enough. I mean, like, that's not the biggest phone in the world, the big iPhone. I'm sure phones...
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can get massive phones over there. Grumble grumble.
Speaker 2: ⁓ right. I want to talk some vans if that's okay with you, because I'm not making it to the CV show next week, which I'm a bit gutted about. I've been every year since 2023. I really enjoy it. ⁓ last year was the Kia PV5 and that was about it really. This year, everyone seems to have pulled their socks up and there's so much stuff coming. There's the brand new KGM Musso. So they've launched a brand new combustion version there next week.
Speaker 2: The EV version is getting significantly cheaper, even though it hasn't even launched yet. It's below 40 grand. Renault are going to show off their latest range of electric vans in full this time. were there last year. They were there last time in like mock-up form. BYD are taking a ⁓ van version of the Dolphin as well, which is interesting.
Speaker 2: So back in the day Vox used to have the Corsa van and the BT engineers would knock about in those, that's got a thousand litres of space and 350 miles of range. That could be really good. And I don't know if they're going to focus on vans as well. Not really much information on that.
Speaker 1: They've got that, is it the shark, the pick up?
Speaker 2: Yeah. BYD shark. Yeah, that's not, it might launch there. I'd imagine it probably would make sense, but they haven't specified if that's going to happen. there's a new Verizon van. ⁓ I can't remember the name of it, but it's a smaller van.
So their existing van, the super van is quite big. ⁓ so this new van is already on sale in New Zealand and it's going to be launched next week. But the big news, ⁓ and also Ford are going to take the E.
it called? The Explorer Cargo Van as well. I'm not sure if they're going to announce the new Transit City there. It's probably a little bit too soon for that. This is their new ⁓ Chinese built Transit Van with a very stripped back options list.
A bit cheaper hopefully. The big news is Delivan. It's a new brand from ⁓ Cherry. Yeah, so Cherry are known for JQ, La Paz, a Moda as well. So this is the first foray into commercial vehicles, which I'm quite excited about and that should be quite good.
Speaker 1: got quite a few coming apparently. know at the CV show they're going to their the concepts basically. Okay. But from what I understand there's going to be a van and maybe a tipper but there's definitely going to be a pickup at some point as well.
I don't I just don't know what's going to be at the CV show but from what I understand they look at the UK van market as quite a big one because obviously we sell a lot of vans in the UK and they probably think if we can crack that nut we're on to a winner.
I don't think they're going to be in production though until like 2027.
Speaker 2: Okay, sounds like a long way of it, but it isn't really.
Speaker 1: No, it's what? Yeah. Six months, eight months. Yeah. So, Interesting, no?
Speaker 2: Yeah. And everything I've mentioned, apart from the Musso combustion, are all electric. So the SMMT keeps banging on about that the fan market, there's not enough EVs being sold. That's mainly because there haven't been many good options. The only really solid option at the moment is the Kia PV5. that is really good, but for a lot of people, isn't going to serve their needs because it isn't big enough or...
Speaker 2: and Kia have got some other stuff coming soon. I'd imagine a lot of these manufacturers have looked at the van market and thought, well, there's some business to be had here. they've all got their act together, is awesome.
Speaker 1: So it's amazing when you come out with something that's actually got some modern tech and is not 50 grand. Yeah. Like people actually will buy it. Yeah. And yet although the, the PV five is a bit limited.
⁓ certainly if you're in the trade and you can't fit sheet materials in it and all the rest of it, but we know they've got others coming in future, it's just showing that you can do it if you want to.
And, ⁓ the amount of people that have sent me messages or commented on videos. Obviously the lease deals on those PV5 cargoes have been incredible and the amount of people that have sent me messages saying I've just signed up to lease on one, I've just leased one, I've just leased one, I've just leased one.
It's been incredible and ⁓ someone said the other day that they were told that the 2026 I don't know what you call it, allocation, guess, for ⁓ PV5s has sold. So I think Kia are having to kind of get some more built or reserve more spaces in line.
I don't know how it's done exactly. But I know someone at Kia told me a while ago that they had a target for the number of those they were going to sell in a year. And I think they did it in the first six weeks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean, it's an almost faultless piece of kit. Yeah. And it's really sensible money.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But when I published the cargo review, I December, I think, or January, December, whatever it was, I had loads of comments on it as well saying, ⁓ I've just bought one, just leased one, just check one out, this looks great. So yeah, it's obviously done quite well for them, which is really good news.
Speaker 1: people don't realize how much a common or garden transit costs these days. It's very, very easy to spend 50 grand on a transit. people are always shocked by that. Like incredibly shocked by it.
But what you're seeing is those kit as being cheaper than a used transit quite often. VW have sort of fought back a little bit. They've done some lease deals on the ⁓ ID buzz cargo. in the last sort of month.
⁓ And I guess they're going to have to now because best will in the world. No one's going to buy one over the key.
Speaker 2: No, not unless you don't like... some people don't like the styling of the key which...
Speaker 1: They don't, but is it worth 20 grand to No. No. That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. That industry needed a shake up as we've talked about quite a few times on the podcast that the electric van market is a bit crap.
Speaker 1: I'm really interested by that BYD though. That could be good. I hope they don't put rock hard suspension on it, that could be good. the Ford Explorer van as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, that'd be very good. The range on that dolphin, 347 miles and yeah. Yeah. Could do you pretty well for them.
Speaker 1: Something like that would do me if it was the right price. It's my second, you know, my spare car, if you like. Obviously I've got that Tesla Model 3 at the moment, but I've only got that for another 11 months. And then I'm going to be without, and I need something. But yeah, if I get a Leasdale on one of those, I'd go up to 11 quid a month on that.
Speaker 2: That's gotta go back at some point. ⁓ that's... Pushing about out there.
Speaker 1: I'm actually really worried about that. What I'm going to do when that car goes back. So I haven't really got pots of money sitting around to get something else with. So we need a sponsor for this podcast.
Speaker 2: We do. do. Those Renault vans are quite interesting because... What's that?
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sponsor this podcast, please get in touch with Alex at
Speaker 2: Alex at Greg's dot com. Alex at Steve face dot UK for genuine sausage role inquiries.
Speaker 1: or jim at nottaguru.co.uk for genuine sponsorship inquiries and perhaps hair tips.
Speaker 2: Very nice. Yeah, those Renault vans are quite interesting because they're going to be the first commercial vehicles to be 800 volt, which yeah, that should be, that should move things on a bit, bit quick, bit quicker really.
Speaker 1: We don't know pricing on those yet, do we?
Speaker 2: No, sadly not. But they look quite cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just hopefully they don't get bit punchy with the pricing because they could be very, very good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And they've got the same software as the Renault 5. that's, I think for commercial vehicle owners, sorry, fleet people that have electric vehicles for the first time, they tend to be, as I said, electric vehicle owners or drivers for the first time and having that complicatedness that you can have sometimes. think the Google Maps integration with Renault software is next level really. that'd be really good for first time drivers.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was going to ask, you've done quite a few videos lately on leasing deals. How do you, well, more than usual, how do you whittle down the list of, do you just go on the website and look at all the deals and you sort of work out how, how do you whittle down which ones are actually going to be the best ones?
Speaker 1: So I've been doing it for five and a half years, but I've done at least three a month. Yeah. So I'm probably quicker at it than most, but people, people often ask me this and they ask me about when I do those new car discounts as well on AutoTrader.
Yeah. And there's no secret sauce. It's just like the more you do it, quicker you get, but like those new car deals videos. I probably spend six hours on Auto Trader before I film one of those. I'll start at like six in the morning.
And if I'm filming by one o'clock, I'll be quite happy after taking my son to school briefly. ⁓ That videos, that one I do every month is usually my biggest video of the month. So it's worthwhile for me to do it.
because that's always a big video, I'll sometimes get quite a decent sponsor on it. ⁓ it makes sense to do it. And the least deals videos, what I do on those is put in the filters for either the target that I'm going for in that video or just realistic type things.
So some of them are quite formulaic. So I'll always do three months upfront, three year deals, 10,000 miles a year. I've changed that now. So I also put in two year deals because I think there's actually a lot of value in two year deals sometimes.
both in terms of price and in terms of choice because the market's evolving so quickly. ⁓ But then there are others where I'll also stick in 18 month deals, low mileage deals, higher upfront, like nothing upfront ⁓ and look at those.
But it's just time. Like it really is just time. ⁓ With the lease ones, I'm a lot quicker because I've been doing it for so long and I immediately know what's a good price and what's an average price and what's not.
⁓ Like yesterday's one, for example, there weren't bags of deals around. I think there were 2 million deals on leasing.com, which seems like a lot of deals. ⁓ But actually it's about a million less than they normally are.
And that's simply because we're still at the tail end of Easter holiday periods. some of the companies advertising on there won't spend their money because they've got loads of people on holiday. Yeah.
Where like next week it will be very much back to normal. So yeah, that was a really quick one because the deals really stood out. It was just obvious. But sometimes it takes me like two or three hours to do one of those.
the research for one of those leasing videos. And then I've got to film it and fall over my words constantly. Then I've got to edit it and upload it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I watching the one yesterday, I thought, ⁓ how do you actually find these? So yeah, there you go. Nice. Yeah. Before we finish, what have you got coming up in the next few weeks? ⁓ yeah.
⁓ cool. Urban Cruiser. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've got the GDX five in a few weeks as well, which is really quite good. So. Yeah, I've got China and I've got JQ8 on Monday as well. I think we're doing so many do.
I think we're doing some off-road stuff because that car's got a locking diff I believe. yeah? So yeah there's some off-road stuff we're doing so it'd be quite cool. Yeah. Well, that's it. Ready? ⁓ yeah, should be, should be busy a weeks, but yeah.
Cool. Nice. good. Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. are doing some driving, which would be good. So are driving, I think six hours somewhere in a new La Paz model, I believe. think so.
Yeah. There we go. Yeah, I don't understand that. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't watched my videos to be honest. on purpose, Yeah. Yeah, that might be a good thing to use that instead. Yeah, that's about it really.
Just a random chat about some EVs, some vans and some different trips we're If you like this sort of content, please consider subscribing to the Charging Status podcast. It's sort of a labor of love that me and Jim do.
We don't get anything for it, but we do love coming back every so often to talk about what we're doing. Where can people find you on the interwebs, Jim? They want to find out more about you. There's lots of content on your website, isn't there, with Graham doing lots of news for you?
⁓ Yep. Yeah, would be good. Yeah, my website is the interface.uk. There's some often news on there, just like you're just out of time to write anymore, which is a real shame. But the YouTube channel is the main thing, the interface cars, nearly on 10,000 subs.
I'm so close. It's going really well. Yeah, it's going really well. What I'm focusing on right now is, is trying to focus on high volume cars because they'll naturally get more views. So I noticed some of the random cars I review, like the Genesis G80 doesn't get 700 because.
Yeah, exactly. But yeah, that's what I'm trying to focus on for the next few months is some more high volume cars that people are actually buying. The one I reviewed the other week was the Igo X. Well, actually, I think it's the Igo Cross.
When I looked up how to pronounce it. So yeah, which is I find really weird. Strange. Nobody knows. I had some help with that one. ⁓ thanks, mate. Yep. Awesome. Yeah, thank you for that. Definitely go and check that out.
Published it a few days ago, so little hybrid hatchback. Not the most refined to drive because it's quite loud and quite moody, but it's a solid car and solid MPG. so it's going to be a good choice for a lot of people, I think.
So yeah, I'll link that in the show notes. But to save the waffling, thank you so much for watching, listening. Please subscribe to the channel. Please subscribe to Jim's channel, my channel, and we'll see again in a few weeks.
About this episode
The hosts start with travel chatter, then dig into first impressions of a few EVs, led by the Hyundai IONIQ 9 and its unusual six-seat layout with spinning middle seats. They also weigh the Kia PV5’s surprisingly strong real-world range and frustrating wireless CarPlay, before broadening out to the fast-changing electric van market. Along the way, they compare lease deals, pricing, and upcoming models from brands like Renault, BYD, and Chery.
