The Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast – Episode # 141 – The most spectacular EV? And Crunching the EV numbers

141 – The most spectacular EV? And Crunching the EV numbers

Podcast: Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars
Date: 12 October 2026
Hosts: Trevor Long, Stephen Fenech
Callers: Goutham, Michael

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[00:00:01] Trevor Long: This is Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars with Stephen Fenech and Trevor Long. Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden. Great to have your company. NRMA Insurance helping protect Australians for 100 years or more, one of Australia’s largest insurers of electric vehicles. And Uniden smart dashcams. No matter what sort of car you got— petrol, diesel, electric— you gotta have a dashcam because it tells you what’s happening out on the road around you. So if something does happen, you you can tell your family what happened or maybe even your insurance company or the police. Stephen Fenech, great to have your company, mate.

[00:00:31] Stephen Fenech: Great to see you, Trev. It seems like it’s been a while since we were together. I know we had a show last week, but yeah, it’s—

[00:00:38] Trevor Long: I think, look, I think our best and most loyal listeners understand that we have absolutely crammed and it is to the credit of you that you put a lot of effort in the months before I took a holiday that we were able to get some episodes in the bank, as they say. And to be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen you in like 30-something days.

[00:00:56] Stephen Fenech: Yes, it is.

[00:00:58] Trevor Long: Great to be back, mate.

[00:00:59] Stephen Fenech: Just to say, it filled me with confidence when Trevor at the start of the show says, “How does this show work again?” I looked at the buttons and went, “I don’t know what button.” I don’t know what does what. We’re back, baby.

[00:01:09] Trevor Long: We’re back. And we have a lot to get through this show. We are gonna drive, we’re gonna get behind the wheel of almost an electric supercar. Yes. I think that’s the best way to describe it. So stay tuned for that. We’re gonna get behind the wheel and we’re gonna, what are we calling it? Lap around the block?

[00:01:24] Stephen Fenech: You came up with the name.

[00:01:25] Trevor Long: Around the Block. Around the Block. Yeah, we’re going to go around the block.

[00:01:28] Stephen Fenech: I think you came up with that name.

[00:01:29] Trevor Long: No, I’m going to say I think you did.

[00:01:30] Stephen Fenech: Around the Block.

[00:01:31] Trevor Long: Around the Block. I’ll cop it. And then look, I’ve seen the feedback. I’ve seen some people leave feedback on that. The first one I saw was put another camera in. So listen, listen, one camera’s as many cameras as you want. Look, I appreciate— I understand and appreciate that you’re used to watching YouTube videos where companies with millions of dollars spend a lot of time and effort on things and it’s great.

[00:01:53] Stephen Fenech: I think you can put a couple—

[00:01:54] Stephen Fenech: what do they suggest?

[00:01:54] Trevor Long: You put the GoPros on the outside —just like behind us so they can see what we’re looking at. Listen, that’s great, but someone’s got to edit it. All right. Today on today’s show, you’re going to see the outside of the car because I did video the outside of the car. Ah, production value. See that? So I have to remember. Yes. To edit that in. Put it in. We don’t have a producer here, just so you know. We don’t have a producer.

[00:02:16] Stephen Fenech: You look at the producer right here.

[00:02:18] Trevor Long: Exactly. That’s right. Small shout out to producer Rob, who’s now coordinating the calls for us, but he’s not editing the bloody video. Maybe we get—

[00:02:25] Stephen Fenech: might put that in his job description as well.

[00:02:27] Trevor Long: I don’t know, there’s limits for that. There’s limits. There’s limits. All right. Anyway, one of the things, Stephen, so we’ve got your calls coming up via Zoom and on the phone. If you want to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. 0477 657 657. Just send us a text. We will put you in the queue and we’ll try and get you on the show. Whether you’re in the market for an EV, you’ve just bought an EV, we’d love to hear from you. And one of the things that we I think it’s been obvious by its absence in the show over the last few months because we have been at least a week or two ahead of ourselves. Yes. Leading up to being 4 weeks ahead. We haven’t talked sales data for a long time.

[00:03:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:03:01] Trevor Long: And I did that because I felt it was weird to talk about the, you know, the August sales numbers in the first week of September. Of course. It’s silly, right? Of course. So it is now early October. This show comes out, you know, second week of October and we now have the sales data for September and it is another huge month for electric cars. I think what’s fascinating here is that we, I think we can clearly say that that trend that we saw earlier in the year with the fuel crisis was always gonna be, and we talked about it being like March and April and then, you know, June would be a good month and would it drop off? Hasn’t dropped off. Hasn’t dropped off.

[00:03:38] Stephen Fenech: In fact— Well, wasn’t September the month where the EVs outsold petrol cars?

[00:03:43] Trevor Long: I think it’s the second month in a row. Yeah. So it happened in August and it’s happened in September again.

[00:03:47] Stephen Fenech: And it’s happened in September, petrol cars, diesel cars, and EVs, and EVs actually outsold petrol cars.

[00:03:51] Trevor Long: EVs took a 24.2% share of the Australian new car market in September, just short of the record they set the month before of 24.8%. But yes, as you say, ahead of the other combustion styles.

[00:04:06] Stephen Fenech: And so there, yeah, you were saying sort of what’s the reason behind this? I think, well, several reasons. I mean, of course, petrol prices, but also too, just the sheer range of choices you have now. Yeah, like I can remember years ago when EVs were a luxury car. You know, if you wanted an EV, you’d be paying massive money.

[00:04:28] Trevor Long: Over $100,000 for a Tesla Model S.

[00:04:30] Stephen Fenech: You know, that was the car. So nowadays you’re looking at under $30K to get an EV when there were previous times when it was a premium to have an EV.

[00:04:40] Trevor Long: At the time of recording and over the last few weeks because it’s on special. But I should be very clear, this special will not be lasting. So if you’re looking to get one, get it now. The BYD Atto 1 is $20,000, $19,990 drive away. You’re joking. That is— that has been the case now for 2 weeks, maybe even a month, to be honest, because I’ve been away. $19,990. Now, I don’t know when that drops off, but I can tell you— $20,000 an EV? Yes. Holy hell. Yes. I’m going to check right now because it’s been 2 days since I checked. But yeah, you know, because that’s a $27,000 car on road, right?

[00:05:15] Stephen Fenech: It’s indicative, though, of the market. Yeah, they’re competing.

[00:05:18] Trevor Long: I’m clicking on the ATTO 1 Essential, which is their entry model. It’s a $23,990 car, which normally you’d add the on-road costs and things would become to $27,000. Yep. $19,990 drive away. Whoa. Now I have spoken to BYD and that price will not be lasting. That will end. It’s a special price that will end. So don’t assume that that car is going to be $20 grand in 2 months from now.

[00:05:41] Stephen Fenech: That price won’t last long. Yeah, right.

[00:05:43] Trevor Long: Like, it’s fascinating. Like, that is, that is a game changer for the Australian market. It’s kind of like BYD going, hey, just so you know, everyone else, yeah, we can do this if we want. It’s fascinating. They sold the BYD Atto 1, sold 633 in September, and that’s probably in part thanks to selling stock there too.

[00:06:02] Stephen Fenech: I think BYD, that is, that’s sort of like, you know how you see the big, big box retailers do their, what they call the loss leaders? Is that like a loss leader for them, you reckon? So where they’re, they’re going to bring people into the brand and they go, okay, well, hang on, how about this Sea Lion 7? It’s not too bad. Or the Seal is all right.

[00:06:16] Trevor Long: Well, I mean, I mean, think about the brand, right? And it is now almost a clear number 2 brand in Australia. Number 2 to Tesla, yeah. For Toyota EVs. Just talk overall brands. Yeah. Toyota sold nearly 18,000 cars. BYD sold 8,000. Yep. Ford sold 7,500. I’m rounding the numbers. Kia, 5,900. So that second and third spot is very closely contested in the overall car market.

[00:06:43] Stephen Fenech: Not just EVs, everything.

[00:06:45] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:06:45] Trevor Long: And the number of models is key. We’ve talked about this. The number of models that BYD have is key to how they’re able to do this. They’ve got the Sea Lion 7, the number 2 selling electric car in Australia. They’ve got the Atto 2 doing very well, nearly 1,000 sold. Then the Atto 1, they’ve got models just all the way down to the Dolphin and the Seal.

[00:07:04] Stephen Fenech: You know, they’ve got something for everyone. Like there are not many brands that can say that. Like you look at Tesla, Tesla’s only got 2 cars, the 3 and the Y, whereas BYD have got something for entry-level, mid, You know, and all shapes and sizes too. It’s a lot of designs, a lot of different types of cars as well. Absolutely. No wonder they’re doing so well. Can’t take it away from Tesla though.

[00:07:26] Trevor Long: The Model Y is going crackers. Yes, your favorite car. Like in August, the Frog sold 6,500. In September, 4,500. You remember that Tesla has waves through deliveries. Sure. It peaked in June with 8,000, but still selling in massive, massive numbers compared to the Model 3, which is selling about 1,000 or so. Is it now a couple of years since the upgrade? Remember the It’s been 18 months. Okay.

[00:07:49] Stephen Fenech: Year and a half. Okay. Juniper. I think that’s when I think we’ve seen, I think more people come into the, come into that model.

[00:07:55] Trevor Long: There was a definite drop-off leading up to that new model. What’s going to happen?

[00:07:59] Stephen Fenech: Like, yeah, I see on Tesla’s website they’ve got, they’ve got the Cybertruck, but as you know how they got the 3, the Y and Cybertruck and yeah, they haven’t got a buy now or build now, but they’ve got anything like a find out more. Yeah. Is that coming to Australia?

[00:08:13] Trevor Long: No, it’ll never come to Australia.

[00:08:14] Stephen Fenech: So why is it on their website?

[00:08:16] Trevor Long: Just because they think it’s the coolest thing in the world. So it’s the same same reason why bring the CyberCab to Australia. Yeah, they brought the, the little robot taxi to showcase what they do. Yeah, true. And you know what, that, that’s a smart move from, from Tesla because with Waymo and Zoox and others lobbying governments, there will come a time when some Australian city, some Australian state will push the button on some level of autonomous trials. Yeah, Tesla want to be part of that. Sure. And I do know I saw them everywhere in Dallas. I did.

[00:08:46] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, of course. Yeah, they were in Austin and that, hey, weren’t they?

[00:08:48] Trevor Long: Every time I tried to call one though, I was going to get a Model Y, so I didn’t I wanted to get in a CyberCab, but I think Austin is where the CyberCab is actually running. Yes. Whereas I think they’re still running it with drivers.

[00:08:57] Stephen Fenech: I’ve seen so many posts on TikTok and Insta. And the one post I see a lot, I don’t know if it’s my algorithm, but I’m seeing so many Tesla drivers just absolutely singing the praises of self-driving. Yeah. They’re thinking this is the best thing ever.

[00:09:13] Trevor Long: That’s funny, my algorithm’s different. My algorithm normally shows the videos of it failing. Really? Okay. Yeah. Isn’t that interesting? Every time I see it, I go, that’s outrageous that that is even in the hands of the public. Oh, it only takes 2 videos for me to go, that shouldn’t be allowed. Right. And I know these are in America or here or where.

[00:09:32] Stephen Fenech: I think the ones I’ve seen have been in America because there was a recent FSD update in Australia, major update, but it’s still supervised. Right. But the ones I’ve seen are from the States where— and there was a guy, I think it was an executive of a company, he was saying, he goes, this is the best car. He goes, I gave my Bentley to my dad.

[00:09:50] Trevor Long: This is now my car because of the self-driving.

[00:09:52] Stephen Fenech: He says, I bought all my staff one as well. So doing very well. Very well. But yeah, just I don’t know why that keeps popping up.

[00:10:00] Trevor Long: One of them was Australian because it was, it was about to overtake. The car pulled out to overtake and there was a car there and the driver had intervened. Oh, like, I’m like, dude, what are you talking about? What are we talking about?

[00:10:09] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but it’s like everything, you know, that the— you see the best of the worst of it on the, on social media.

[00:10:16] Trevor Long: I get it. But the best and the worst of a vehicle driving itself around is probably not something I want to play around with. And I’ve always argued that. Fair call. And when you look at in terms of automation, When you go to San Francisco, which we’ve both done, and I was just there for a couple of days, you see the number of Waymos on the streets and you see the amount of sensors on those things and the way they operate. And you sit in them and you realize how they veer around pedestrians in such a distinct and obvious way. There’s just, it’s much smarter in my mind. It’s safer.

[00:10:45] Stephen Fenech: I’ve never not felt safe in it. Like I’m thinking it knows what it’s doing.

[00:10:51] Trevor Long: I saw Bill Gates, and I might’ve said this in my other podcast, my FTM podcast this week, but I saw Bill Gates, I’m sure it was Bill Gates, Bill Gates talk about this and he’s talking about AI and stuff. And he said, just look at how many people choose Waymo over a taxi in somewhere like San Francisco. In fact, I didn’t see a taxi. Like I don’t think they’re doing very well because that market’s just been taken away.

[00:11:09] Stephen Fenech: But Waymo’s only limited to San Francisco proper. You can’t go to the airport, for example, in a Waymo.

[00:11:14] Trevor Long: Yeah, you can get them all the way down pretty much to San Jose. Really? You can get them down at Cupertino, yeah. No, but I’m talking San Francisco.

[00:11:20] Stephen Fenech: You can’t go to the airport in a Waymo.

[00:11:22] Trevor Long: Yeah, you’ve gotta be, it’s a certain group of users of drivers, but its big problem is you can go down to Cupertino, so it’s like an hour drive, but they don’t do the freeways. So it’s a lot, it’s a much longer— Yeah, I heard that too, I heard that. They’ve got some work to do there.

[00:11:38] Stephen Fenech: But you were talking about the Waymo and all the sensors and cameras, but the CyberCab has none. It’s all like LiDAR and radar. No, no LiDAR, just all cameras.

[00:11:47] Trevor Long: Anyway, wow. I don’t trust it. Anyway, before we get to your calls, let’s just shout out the kind of the sales, get back to the sales. The Model Y number 1, Sea Lion 7 number 2. The Geely EX5 did very well, 2,000 of those sold in September.

[00:12:04] Stephen Fenech: The Omada— they got 2 in the top 10, Geely.

[00:12:06] Trevor Long: The JQJ5 is listed at 1,700 sales. I’m assuming that is distinct EV only because there is a non-EV version of that. Zeekr 7X still selling in cracking numbers, 1,600 of them. Geely EX2, a couple of months on the market, selling 1,200. That’s, you know, an affordable win there for Geely. Model 3 is, is is behind all of those cars. Atto 2, MG4 Urban, Atto 1, the Aura, the Kia EV3, XPeng’s in there again. So that rebirth of XPeng from the Australian distributor.

[00:12:37] Stephen Fenech: How far down the Kia is the Kia EV3?

[00:12:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:12:41] Stephen Fenech: Like, I thought the EV5 and even the all-big beast would be in that.

[00:12:46] Trevor Long: EV9 wouldn’t be anywhere because they sell like 5 of them a month. Yeah, they don’t do very well with the EV9, but it’s an expensive car and not a lot of people are looking for a—

[00:12:55] Trevor Long: they sold, they sold EV9s in September.

[00:12:59] Trevor Long: Not bad. So, you know, it’s been a huge 3 to 6 months for, uh, for electric cars. Um, Tesla’s still absolutely dominating, but Geely and BYD are probably the two to look at most. I think MG should probably be looking at this going, what do we need to do? Because they, you know, they were doing very well before Geely and BYD really pumped it up. Yeah, they sort of— I think they need to now refocus themselves. We’ll drive, uh, over the next couple of weeks, we’ll drive one of their new models, which I think you’ll be pretty impressed with. So but maybe they’ve got a second wind coming.

[00:13:31] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, a new wave of vehicles coming. Well, we spoke to MG last week. That’s right. Yeah. So was that only last week? That was last week. Yeah. Felt like a month ago. Yeah, it was last week where he was talking about what’s on the horizon. He said some pretty exciting, some exciting new models coming. Yeah.

Goutham — Going fully electric with a Volvo EX90 and tracking the savings

[00:13:49] Trevor Long: No, bring it on. We appreciate them joining on the show and we’ll have many more interviews in the weeks and months ahead. We’d love to hear from you most though. So please, if you’ve got a conversation you want to have about electric cars, get in touch. Much, just send us a text. Save it as Stephen’s private number, uh, 0477 657 657, and, uh, we’ll get straight to your calls after this. I’ve missed your little, uh, your little jigs, uh, but, uh, great to have that back, mate. Always, always good. 0477 657 657 is the number to call or text. Don’t call it, it just won’t work. Send us a text and we’d love to get you on the show if you want to talk about EVs. Goutham’s on the line. G’day, mate, how you doing? Oh, I’ve muted you. I’m very, very well, buddy. Very well. Where are you at in the world of EVs? You’re, I understand you’ve got two now.

[00:14:46] Goutham: I’ve got two now. Yeah, I’ve been, I’ve had an EV for the last 5 years, a Tesla Model 3, and bought bang in the middle of COVID Nowhere else to go with the car. But yes, it’s been 5 years with the Model 3 and just last month we bought a Volvo EX90. Nice. And yeah, we are fully electric now.

[00:15:11] Trevor Long: So you made the decision that you’d loved your Tesla and you wanted to go all in. So you’ve had a few years to get used to being electric. Was there any pushback from the family to go fully electric?

[00:15:22] Goutham: Oh no, it was a collective decision. Me and my wife and I can’t remember why we bought a Tesla, honestly. We just, we just thought, what are we going to buy? We shortlisted a Kluger hybrid and then a Tesla, and then we thought, let’s go for a Tesla.

[00:15:40] Stephen Fenech: I suppose back then, did you say during COVID you made that decision? So that was like 6 years ago. The choices, the choices were far more limited than they were now. So Tesla was obviously, that was an easy choice to make back then, but Tell us how you have that decision you made. Are you happy with it? And obviously you’ve had it for 5 years now, so you must have, you must be liking it.

[00:16:05] Goutham: Oh, I loved it. So I mean, within a short period of time, we, we decided that we were going to go electric, fully electric. So we had a Pathfinder which we wanted to replace, but, you know, we wanted to have a like-to-like replacement for our Pathfinder.

[00:16:21] Trevor Long: Size and capabilities. Size-wise.

[00:16:23] Goutham: Yeah, sure. So back then there were not many options And so we waited. And in the meantime, I built my charging infrastructure and the solar and the battery and everything. So now I have everything in place and so let’s go, let’s go, let’s change our Pathfinder. So here we are with the EX90.

[00:16:42] Stephen Fenech: So that was the, so that’s the Volvo. The Tesla Model Y never entered the picture seeing you’re already in the Tesla family. So what drew you to the Volvo?

[00:16:52] Goutham: Well, that was my first choice, Model Y, because I’m so comfortable with, uh, with Tesla and, and primarily with its software and, you know, the way the, the vehicle interacts with the software. I don’t think, um, any other manufacturer could come anywhere close to that. But I wanted to go with the Model Y, but, um, my wife was more inclined on something even bigger. Oh, and, and the Volvo. I’ve been following the EX90 since the time they launched it, and I loved it. I loved the way it looked. And, um, I know there was some few issues with the initial models and, uh, with the London taxi on top. So I was waiting for something to change there. And yeah, so the newer one doesn’t have that, but it’s still a bit buggy with the software, but it’s a, it’s a dream car to drive. And what—

[00:17:41] Trevor Long: so did you look at anything else in that initial period when you realized you weren’t going to get the Y? The wife was thinking of something else. Was it the size of the Volvo? Because obviously there’s a bunch of midsize SUVs that compete with the Model Y.

[00:17:55] Goutham: Yeah, so we had a— at least I had a few conditions. One, it needs to be from a manufacturer that is reputable, safe, and, you know, um, uh, we— I was more inclined on either a European or an American, or— well, the Japanese don’t exist anymore in the EV market, so, um, yeah. And, and it needed to be a 7-seater, big, large SUV. So there’s not a lot around, are Goutham? Not a lot around still, but yeah, I think there are. Now we are seeing a few more come through, especially the Chinese ones.

[00:18:32] Trevor Long: You didn’t get tempted by an EV9, mate?

[00:18:35] Goutham: No, no. I think EV9 was launched much earlier, but I looked at EX90 about 3 years ago and thought, well, let’s let me wait for this to come to Australia.

[00:18:47] Stephen Fenech: Goutham, I picked up on something you said earlier. You sort of, you were really looking only at the sort of reputable brands. So, so all these new Chinese companies, BYD, Geely, all these other brands, Zeekr, they were never in the picture for you. And if not, can you tell us why?

[00:19:09] Goutham: No, I didn’t have them in my mind at all. I was, I was just waiting for a European brand, to be honest. European or American. It’s, it’s just— and Volvo, just the name itself, you feel so safe. Yeah. With the name.

[00:19:24] Trevor Long: It’s an amazing thing they’ve done as a marketing campaign and as a car company, really.

[00:19:28] Goutham: Isn’t it? Yeah, the way they market it, so it’s so simplistic. Even, I mean, transition from Tesla to Volvo, yes, it’s a luxury, luxury car, but when you look at the interior, it’s still very simplistic. Yeah, there’s not a lot going inside, and I love that. And, and also, um, I, I wanted a few things that I experienced with Tesla in, in my new car. I didn’t want a start-stop button. That’s ridiculous, I think, to have on an EV. You just get in and drive. What’s there to turn on? Yeah, right. Uh, some you know, little quirky things like that. And yeah, I test drove the EX90 and it was, it was pretty damn good.

[00:20:07] Trevor Long: Now you say you’ve been tracking the costs of the Volvo EX90. Are you a bit of a numbers nerd or were you doing this for a reason? Like, are you trying to understand how it compares to the Tesla, for example, or what it saves you? What’s your motivation behind that?

[00:20:22] Goutham: I know, I know. I’m convinced that it saves, it saves a lot. And I think the 5 years experience says that, but I just wanted to look at them on a spreadsheet. So I’m And with my EX90, I’m tracking them really, really closely. Every single kilowatt-hour that I put into my car, I have, as I said, I have a 10-kilowatt solar and a 43-kilowatt battery. And nearly 90% of my charging is at home, and out of which around 90% or 95% of the time it’s solar. I’m hardly— I’m not spending any. So my— I’m just looking at the figures. Yeah, my cost per kilometer, uh, per 100 kilometers is $2. Wow. And that includes one trip that I made to Canberra and back where I did a DC charging, you know, so, but my AC charging is 2 cents.

[00:21:18] Stephen Fenech: Tell us more about your system, Goutham. It sounds like you got quite the setup. So what did you say, you got a 43-kilowatt battery and how many, what’s the panel capacity you got as well?

[00:21:27] Goutham: Yeah, so I I have 2 years ago installed a 10 kilowatt-hour solar and I didn’t have a battery for a long time. And this year with all the new rebates, yeah, we installed—

[00:21:40] Trevor Long: I’m going to guess you went Sig Energy.

[00:21:44] Goutham: No, okay, Fox, Fox CSS. And yeah, it’s a 43 kilowatt-hour battery. And so that’s pretty good enough. We are really heavy consumers of electricity. And let me just to give you an example, last month I My household spending or usage of electricity was 1.5 megawatt-hour.

[00:22:05] Trevor Long: Wow. I don’t know what mine is, but I’m telling you, mate, I’m listening intently because we are. I remember when, I think I told this story, when we had people coming around to do the quotes on the solar, one guy was like, “Wow, you’re using a lot.” And then he took my bill to someone else in the suburb and said, “You should see what this guy’s spending.” And that was one of my mates. And I’m like, “Dude, don’t share my information.” But it’s, yeah, I realized I was spending an extraordinary amount on energy. And look, I’ve done everything I could to change it, but I think it’s just our life. That’s just the way we are. So I think, Goutham, you just got to adjust your energy, you know, pattern and that by being your solar and your battery to suit that.

[00:22:40] Stephen Fenech: And now you’ve got 2 cars, 2 EVs. This is all— that’s all part of the plan, wasn’t it? Having the added battery capacity and the ability to keep 2 on the road.

[00:22:49] Goutham: Yeah, I have everything that I could possibly get into my house. So we have that. I have the Destination or what you call the wall charger, Tesla wall charger, which charges at a higher rate. I have, as I said, the solar and the battery and I’ve got an EV. Planned just in case the battery is not, you know, it’s not charging up.

[00:23:08] Stephen Fenech: In case you’ve got to draw from the grid, right?

[00:23:10] Goutham: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So and I had to sometimes when it was cloudy and so on. And with 1.5 megawatt-hour of usage last month, my electricity bill, which includes my car charging and my household, is $100, which includes $60 of supply, daily supply charge.

[00:23:27] Trevor Long: Yeah, just the daily cost.

[00:23:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I know that costs you more than the actual electricity. Amazing.

[00:23:31] Trevor Long: That cost me more than the electricity. Yeah. Yeah. So out of interest, does the, does the Fox ESS system allow for— have they talked about anything about reverse charging back to the car, back to the house, back to the house from the car?

[00:23:46] Goutham: Not that, not that I’m aware of.

[00:23:49] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:50] Stephen Fenech: So you aware of that, Goffin, the vehicle to grid possibility of being able your car to be another battery for your home?

[00:23:58] Goutham: Did you say you’re worried or—

[00:24:00] Stephen Fenech: No, are you aware of it? The vehicle to grid?

[00:24:02] Goutham: I’m aware. I’m aware. Yeah. But I’m just thinking I’m thinking, when do I really need that?

[00:24:07] Trevor Long: That’s a good point. You’ve done the numbers and you’re looking at— you’ve kind of narrowed your electricity cost to a point where you’re doing the best with what you’ve got. What would adding more battery give you in that sense? But yeah, probably nothing.

[00:24:19] Stephen Fenech: You’ve already got 43 kilowatts in your house, mate.

[00:24:22] Goutham: That’s right. That’s right. So I’ve never had to really draw anything from the grid and I have some left at the end of the day.

[00:24:29] Trevor Long: So what’s your biggest learning from that spreadsheet then, mate? What’s the thing that you, I don’t know, brag about or even just use as a stat to impress people at barbecues or whatever? What have you learned most from this spreadsheet?

[00:24:43] Goutham: Just the difference in cost, the way that I’m comparing it against a vehicle with, let’s say, 10 liters per 100 kilometers because comparable to my EX90 and that in just one month it’s a $500 difference in just fuel costs. That’s huge. And we drive a lot. I live in Penrith. and I drive to the city a lot, so that cost blows out. And I just did the math, and with conservative figure, in the next 4 years I’m going to recover the cost of my solar panels and battery completely.

[00:25:23] Trevor Long: Wow. Right, did you say 4 years?

[00:25:25] Stephen Fenech: 4 years. Wow. In the next 4 years, yes.

[00:25:27] Goutham: And that is being conservative, including the road user charge that, that New South Wales government is going to impose on us. And I’m also looking at a $1.50 a litre petrol, not $2, $2.50. So even with that, I’m looking at 4 years to recover my solar panels and battery costs. From there on, it’s all savings, you know.

[00:25:48] Stephen Fenech: Good incentive to get a solar system if you haven’t. That was one thing that when I’ve had my solar system for like 9 years, I’ve had mine in now and it’s paid itself off a couple of times, I reckon, in that time. But that’s, that’s one big thing people need to get their head around is that it’s an investment in your house. You’re investing in your home and the money you save will pay it off for sure.

[00:26:09] Trevor Long: Well, Goutham, you’ve taught us all very much that the savings are there with electric vehicles. But you know the other important lesson that we’ve heard once again from Goutham that we hear from many, many callers? Happy wife, happy life. That’s right. Model Y, no chance.

[00:26:22] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the car your wife wanted. Yes, dear, you got it. Good for you, mate.

[00:26:26] Goutham: Yeah, yeah. I miss the Model Y. I would have loved to have a Model Y, but you know what?

[00:26:30] Stephen Fenech: Well, maybe, Kim, have you— you’ve had your Model 3 for what now, 5 years? Maybe. Are you thinking of another one? Upgrade to the Y maybe? What’s the future of the 3, you reckon?

[00:26:40] Goutham: I don’t know. I want to drive it as long as I can. I just love the car. I just want to drive it as long as I can.

[00:26:46] Trevor Long: We hear that a lot from people that they’re going to hold on to these cars for a very long time.

[00:26:49] Stephen Fenech: Just quickly, Goutham, let me ask you, on the Tesla, are you a fan of the full self-driving? Have you got that? Do you want that? Do you not want that?

[00:26:58] Goutham: One reason, one, I cannot have it on my car because my car has a different architecture, but I still don’t think I’m comfortable comfortable having a full self-driving car. Right. And I’m happy to have the control.

[00:27:09] Stephen Fenech: You prefer to be in charge, man, don’t you?

[00:27:12] Trevor Long: Yeah. I’m with you, God. Good on you, bro. You’re a smart man. Lovely to hear from you, mate.

[00:27:15] Trevor Long: Thanks for getting in touch.

[00:27:15] Goutham: No worries. Thanks, guys.

[00:27:18] Trevor Long: Cheers, mate. Excellent stuff. And if you’ve got a story about your electric vehicle, get in touch on the 0477 657 657. Ah, it’s good to be back.

[00:27:36] Stephen Fenech: Glad you joined in there.

[00:27:36] Trevor Long: I got into it a little bit there. I got into it a little bit. You know, it is what it is. Energy, more energy. Oh, more energy. Sorry, have I been low on energy?

[00:27:44] Stephen Fenech: No, no, just saying. Yeah, high energy is good.

Michael — Update on the Geely EX2 purchase and choosing a wall charger

[00:27:47] Trevor Long: Two blokes talking electric cars. Thanks to the great people at NRMA Insurance and Uniden. We’ll tell you more about them throughout the show, but we’d love to hear from you. 0477 657 657. And Michael joins us on the line. G’day, Michael. Michael. Hey guys, how you going? Mate, really good. Tell us about your EV journey. Where are you at, mate?

[00:28:04] Michael: So I spoke to you guys a few weeks ago. My wife recently got diagnosed with cancer and we were looking at downsizing her car from a CX-5 to something a little bit smaller.

[00:28:16] Trevor Long: Yeah, there wasn’t a lot of options as I remember. We were trying to find that kind of sweet spot.

[00:28:20] Michael: The sweet spot. Yeah. So not long after the episode actually aired, she put a deposit down on an EX30. 2. Oh, the Geely.

[00:28:30] Trevor Long: Yeah, the Geely.

[00:28:31] Michael: You’ve driven that?

[00:28:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, we drove that. Yeah, great car. In fact, was it out at the time we spoke? Did we talk about it at the time we spoke? Because, you know, like, we knew what was coming. We knew it was coming. I’d seen it in Beijing. It’s, you know, the biggest selling electric car in the world. But then we got to drive and I really got the sense that this was— I tell you, I got a sense that Geely was a company that I was okay to recommend to people. And I think that’s— it sounds crazy to some people, but we’ve lived our lives recommending phones and gadgets and people, and it comes back at you sometimes, you know, sometimes Sometimes someone will call back and go, yeah, but that was whatever. And you’re like, I did everything I could. But I got a good sense from the Geely as a brand, but also as a car. So, so tell us about it, mate. Have you picked it up or have you just put the money down?

[00:29:15] Michael: Yeah. So we have picked it up. When we spoke, it hadn’t come out yet, but then when the episode actually went to air, we actually test drove it that week. Nice. And the service that the sales guy was amazing. Uh, when we went to do the test drive, my wife wasn’t feeling up to it, so I drove it. She, she rode in the car with me, but we got back there, we talked about the costs and everything like that, and, um, she just was getting really fatigued. So he wasn’t really pushy, said, look, go away, think about it, come back to us. Um, we went home, had to think about it overnight, and the next day she went and put a deposit down. Uh, and she picked it up, uh, 2 weeks ago, 2 and a bit weeks go now.

[00:29:56] Trevor Long: What’d you end up color-wise, mate? Where— because there’s a few color choices on that one.

[00:30:00] Michael: She wanted the pink, but we’ve got a 4-year-old, so we wanted the gray interior. Uh, and unfortunately, all of the pink ones they brought in had the white interior. Uh, so that ruled that out, and it was a 3-month wait for a pink with gray interior. Wow. Um, the backup option was a green with gray. That was going to be around about a 2-month wait, so she just settled for white. She took the white. Uh, that was her sort of her default option if any of the colors weren’t available. And we had a week, I think it ended up being about a week and a half wait for a white. At all. Wow.

[00:30:36] Trevor Long: It’s pretty good for a brand new car. And we talked earlier in the show, Michael, that sales have been fantastic for that car. July 474, August 1279, and this last month gone, September 1211. So they’re selling, mate. They’re selling, I would say, like hotcakes for a car in that category.

[00:30:54] Michael: Yeah, 100%. We’ve started seeing a few more around our area as well. We went out for a drive on the weekend and took it away for a drive for whiz and saw 2 on our drive while we’re out. So they are definitely starting to show up around the area.

[00:31:09] Stephen Fenech: So is this the family’s first EV, Michael, or the first full EV?

[00:31:15] Michael: So I’ve got a Shark 6, so we’re used to the, the plug-in been hybrid style EVs with charging and things like that. But this is the first full EV that we’ve, we’ve had. Okay. Um, and yeah, loving it. It’s, um, it’s, it was only going to be a city car for us. The Shark is our, our road trip car. Um, but the, um, yeah, it was the, the, the Geely is the, uh, the city car. So, okay, yeah, they’re running around to appointments for to, if we need to run down, grab some groceries and things like that, it’s quick, easy, sort of nimble to get in and out of the car park and things like that. So, okay, that’s good.

[00:31:53] Stephen Fenech: And what’s your setup at home then? Have you, you got a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid? So have you got a wall charger or how do you get by?

[00:32:00] Michael: Not yet. So I’ve only been, uh, granny charging the Shark, uh, which has been enough for what we’ve needed to use it for because I just run the engine and top the battery back up. Um, we are getting, uh, solar and battery installed with a wall charger as well. We got the free wall charger from Geely, but I think we’re going to actually purchase a different brand. Just something we’ve heard mixed reviews about it. So we thought we’d get something that’s a bit more popular and potentially not as many problems with. Which one are you looking at?

[00:32:32] Trevor Long: Charging and things like that. Sorry, what are the problems being reported on the Geely one? Yeah.

[00:32:36] Michael: So what we’ve been seeing in the forums or on the Facebook pages is you’ve got to use like an after you carve to turn it on, so to speak. Yep. And so scheduling, if you tap it and then plug it in, but you’ve scheduled it for, say, 4 hours’ time for the midnight to 6 charging, whatever, it doesn’t actually initiate because it’s too long a period from after you’ve tapped on. So if I set it up at, say, 8:30, plug it in and then think it’s going to charge overnight, it won’t. Oh. Apparently there is a setting you can go into and change it, but it sounds quite complex. We’d rather just get—

[00:33:15] Trevor Long: Also, using an RFID card at home is stupid. Why? I get it that it’s, it’s you kind of locking it so someone can’t randomly park in your— like here at the office where I am, right? Someone could park and just plug into my charger. I don’t care. What are you going to do?

[00:33:27] Stephen Fenech: Don’t tell everyone that, man.

[00:33:28] Trevor Long: You’re going to find cars in your driveway. If you can enable that kind of feature on some, but having that as the default fault is a bit silly. So sorry, back to Stephen’s question. Yes. So what ones have you— which ones are you looking at then?

[00:33:41] Michael: Evnex is probably the one that I’ve seen sort of most about.

[00:33:44] Trevor Long: Is that the one that’s made in New Zealand?

[00:33:46] Michael: Yeah, the Kiwi ones. Yeah. But that’s what I was going to sort of ask you guys if there was any brands that you would sort of recommend.

[00:33:53] Stephen Fenech: We both have Wallbox. Yeah, yeah. Wallbox.

[00:33:56] Trevor Long: Now one of the key reasons for that is the solar capabilities and generation. It’s, you know, there’s many that do it now, but for us at the time, it was the ability to charge from pure solar, you know, a mix or pure, pure grid when you needed. Plus it’s a great app. It’s got good data in it. I just felt it was a strong— it was a really strong box. But, you know, it’s also more— it’s $1,500. So it’s, it’s, it’s more expensive than most on the market. So I get that there’s so many more options out there than when I installed mine. You know, what, what, what crops up other than EVNext? There’s actually not a lot of brands in this space that are, you know, really popular and reputable in that sense.

[00:34:37] Michael: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that’s probably why I’ve sort of leant towards the EVNext option, just purely for the, the online presence of it and reviews and all of that sort of stuff. Do you have three-phase power? You guys talk about— no, I’ve only got single-phase.

[00:34:56] Trevor Long: Okay. So a couple others that I was texting with Julie Del Vecchio from the EV Council of Australia the other week and I was asking about wallbox. We call them wallboxes. Sorry, that’s kind of a brand name, but it’s just what I call the thing on the wall. Yeah, wall chargers. StarCharge and Sig Energy also have a wall charger as well. So a couple to look at there from her perspective, just ones that I was looking for contacts on. But there is a lot of them. Are you going to Bunnings and buy these bloody things?

[00:35:24] Michael: Yeah, I think it really comes comes down to—

[00:35:27] Trevor Long: and you’re right to look at what people are saying in reviews and things, right? But I think it really comes down to what do you need it to do? Because there’s a couple of factors. The car, as you’ve already noted, has the ability to take— to set its schedule. So if you plug in every day and it just works, then the car can look after itself as to when it charges. But if you are trying to take advantage of things like solar, things like battery, or any other style of scheduling, then you need a bit more smarts in, in the wall charger itself. So those are the kind of only real things you need to worry about. Otherwise, Otherwise you are better off just getting one from Bunnings, essentially. I’m not being flippant, but essentially it doesn’t matter what you get if it doesn’t have the simple problems like that RFID tap on.

[00:36:09] Stephen Fenech: That’s as long as it does the job.

[00:36:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah. But unfortunately it’s not our area of expertise, to be honest. I think that, I think the forum is going to be there, but it feels like you are now being anointed as our wall charging researcher for Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars. Michael, we need to speak to you again soon to find out what you, what you looked at and how you narrowed spread the field because really it’s not always about price. Sometimes it is about reputation and feature. And I do get the sense that Ebnex has got such a good reputation. It’s going to be hard to not go down that path, which it’s good, mate. They’re a New Zealand company.

[00:36:42] Michael: And the after-sales support as well is another thing to think about as well. If anything does go wrong. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. A Bunnings one could be good, but who do you go to if it breaks? Yeah. You go back to Bunnings, you go to DeWalt, you go to Bunnings.

[00:36:56] Trevor Long: I think the critical part about it too, mate, is to contact contemplate the installation. Go with a reputable electrician, you know, your local guy, not with some, some guy that just advertises that they can do EV charging installs. You know, you want someone who’s done it before, who knows what they’re doing, especially with if there’s any features like if you are buying one that has features like off-peak, on-peak, you know, solar, whatever. Make sure you talk to someone who’s actually done that kind of installation. I think, I think to be honest, the installation is probably just as important as the choice of brand.

[00:37:26] Michael: Yeah. And that’s also another thing we’re probably looking at as well is the length of cable because whilst it’ll be installed in our garage. Yes. The Shark is probably just on the limit of fitting into the garage. So if I’m going to charging that, I’m going to need a cable that’s going to be able to run out the garage door. What?

[00:37:45] Stephen Fenech: I’ve got a 7-meter cable.

[00:37:47] Trevor Long: I’ve seen one with a 10-meter too. Yeah. Go big or go home. I really—

[00:37:50] Michael: 7 meters should be long enough for where we we were gonna put it in the garage, that either she could park her car in the garage and charge it or I could park mine.

[00:37:57] Stephen Fenech: Or, you know, nose in, back in, you’d see where all the charging ports are located.

[00:38:02] Trevor Long: Yeah, we have 3 spots in our driveway essentially that could be reached, but it requires for the further spot need to be backed in. But every other spot you can pretty much charge the car in any configuration. So it’s worked out really well, the positioning of ours on the corner of the driveway kind of thing, on the corner of the house.

[00:38:18] Stephen Fenech: Michael, good luck.

[00:38:18] Michael: Yeah. Thank you.

[00:38:21] Trevor Long: No, no, it’s critical to think about that placement. And that’s another thing to talk to the electrician about is, and again, it’s like not— he might say it’s going to cost you an extra $200 to put it over there because I’ve got to run cable. Well, mate, it’s worth it. Do it. If it means that, that if the Shark is easier charged and it’s not a— you tell yourself in your head, ah, it’s fine, we’ll just move the EX2 to charge. No, you want to do it.

[00:38:42] Stephen Fenech: It’s going to be less.

[00:38:43] Trevor Long: So you don’t have to worry about that, mate. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:38:46] Michael: Well, our meter box box is directly outside our garage. So it was actually going to be a back-to-back install putting it in the garage. So, right. Yeah. Nice. Nice job. So the guy that’s doing our solar said that he can, he can hook it up for us while he’s here doing the battery and everything like that. So it’s all, all done in one, one go. So that’s better. I think we’re at about a 6-week wait. So I’ve got 6 weeks to do some research and try and find something.

[00:39:08] Trevor Long: And we look forward to hearing from you in about 6 to 8 weeks once it’s all been done, my friend.

[00:39:11] Stephen Fenech: Full report.

[00:39:12] Trevor Long: Yes. Give your wife our love, mate. Hope she’s doing okay. Yes. And, and you’re You’re a great supportive husband and I’m sure she appreciates that. And she’s got a nice new car to get around in, even if you’re taking her to one of the worst of the appointments, mate. It’s a nice thing to be in your fancy little EX2, mate.

[00:39:28] Michael: She’s loving driving it. She said it’s the best purchase that she’s made. That’s good. She’s fallen in love with it. So yeah, very much.

[00:39:36] Trevor Long: She didn’t say it was the best day of her life when she picked it up because obviously that was the wedding day. You know, she didn’t get in trouble for that. Hey, we often— I’ve been caught foul of that statement a couple of times. Michael, good to see you, mate, and we’ll talk again soon. Thanks, guys. Thanks, mate. Thanks for getting back in touch. Good to hear from a regular listener. If you want to talk about electric cars, we’d love to hear from you. 0477 657 657. Stephen, after this, we’re going to get behind— we’re going to go around the block, around the block in the Hyundai Ioniq 6. 6N. The N is critical. Two blokes talking electric cars, welcome back. We’re going around the block, Stephen, in the Hyundai Ioniq 6N.

[00:40:31] Stephen Fenech: What a car. I’m gonna say this is, of all the cars we’ve driven, and we’ve driven a lot, and really, really nice cars, this has been the one I reckon that’s had the most attention. More people have stopped me asking about this car, wanting to have a look inside. People saying it’s the first one I’ve seen in the flesh. I’ve had people photographing me at the lights. Have you had the same experience?

[00:40:54] Trevor Long: I have. So my favorite thing is parking a really different car out front of the office and having the security camera that looks down, and you see people as they’re walking by stop, and then they walk around it and take photos.

[00:41:03] Stephen Fenech: It’s unbelievable.

[00:41:03] Trevor Long: Now, um, The thing is, this is the N class of Hyundai’s, you know, electric vehicle range. They’ve got the IONIQ 5 N, which is the kind of hatchback-looking car, which has been widely regarded as just one of the greatest electric sports cars out there, and a real good, I guess, demonstration of what you can do with an electric car. Because it’s not just about it’s got better torque and all this, it’s not just about the cool sounds like this. So it does all things, right? But that—

[00:41:34] Stephen Fenech: this is produced for the driver, 100%. So outside the car, can they hear that?

[00:41:39] Trevor Long: I think there is a sound. Yes, right.

[00:41:40] Stephen Fenech: Okay, there is a sound. So you can—

[00:41:42] Stephen Fenech: they could hear you coming.

[00:41:42] Trevor Long: But this is all for the driver. This is a car you will take to a track day. Remember on the show we had a guy who drove down to Sydney to take his Ioniq 5 to the track? I remember. Um, and I can imagine that happening with this. Now, something very strategic about this week and this, this drive is that I said to Stephen, do you not look up the price? Yeah, I have not.

[00:42:00] Stephen Fenech: I’ve been banned from looking it up online, so I don’t know any information about the car apart from my own experience.

[00:42:05] Trevor Long: This is a premium vehicle. What? It’s a Hyundai. What’s it going to cost, Stephen? What’s your, what’s your ballpark?

[00:42:11] Stephen Fenech: If you told me not to look, my initial impression was—

[00:42:14] Trevor Long: that’s given it away, yeah, hasn’t it? Yeah.

[00:42:16] Stephen Fenech: If you’ve told me not to look, my initial impression is it’s— well, it’s going to be over $100,000.

[00:42:20] Trevor Long: And you’re right. Yeah. Yeah, this is, this is a $115,000 car. Wow.

[00:42:25] Stephen Fenech: But Stephen, yeah, wait there. Yes.

[00:42:28] Trevor Long: And I have gone to the trouble here of hopefully filming a little bit of a walk around of the car so people can see what we’re talking about. Because I understand two blokes driving around the block is just us talking about the car to get us in the car thinking. Yeah, but you can’t see what people we’re driving past can see. This car is not the standard IONIQ N. This is an IONIQ N with an extra pack put on it, right? So the carbon skirting along the bottom of the doors, the carbon bonnet, um, scoop, that enormous spoiler on the back, which to me is like a— I think it’s called Weissach Pack Porsche. Like, I’ve driven a 911 GT3 RS with almost the exact same one.

[00:43:05] Stephen Fenech: Is that the purple one? Crazy.

[00:43:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah. This— the carbon package alone on this is $24,000. You could buy a BYD ATTO 1 almost for the cost of the carbon, for the cost of just the carbon package.

[00:43:20] Stephen Fenech: Just, just on that, right? This thing, the, the tail— well, the tail gives it the appearance that it should be in The Fast and the Furious, right? It’s that sort of look. It should be. And if that’s a look you’re going for, then mission accomplished. But the, the tail, like, when you— when I’m looking, when I’m reversing, you see light catching off it sometimes and you think, oh, hang on, is that another car? So it interferes with, with you reversing.

[00:43:43] Trevor Long: The spoiler interferes with your reverse.

[00:43:46] Stephen Fenech: Hey, and it’s not just any old spoiler, it’s a solid spoiler.

[00:43:49] Trevor Long: Should pull up here to the ampole for the charger. Just charge it up.

[00:43:53] Stephen Fenech: Oh, is this where the charger is? Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. But I’ve got to say, driving the car, it’s a driver’s car.

[00:44:00] Trevor Long: It’s a driver’s car.

[00:44:01] Stephen Fenech: It really hugs the road. The seats are great. The feel of it, yeah, it’s got the sports seats, really hug you in, keep you secure, and still, even while you’re driving around, really I think just, just the handling and the, the road holding of the car is amazing.

[00:44:17] Trevor Long: And look, the sound you were hearing there is obviously artificial, it’s amplified, but you— I’ve turned everything on, right? So I’ve turned it into sport.

[00:44:23] Stephen Fenech: I actually turned it off. Of course, it got, it got annoying hearing that noise for me for a little while.

[00:44:29] Trevor Long: You’ve got to get— you’ve got to actually go— if you’re in eco mode, you’ve got to go into sport mode, then you’ve got to enable this NGB button, and I think you’ve got to push both, um, N buttons to get the gear changing. So you’ve got sound comes kind of by default. But then there’s the artificial gear changing. And by the way, the artificial gear changing isn’t just a sound, so it’s the whole deal. It’s actually the feeling. So if you change gears, you get a bit of a—

[00:44:53] Stephen Fenech: oh, it gives you a bit of a, bit of a kick.

[00:44:55] Trevor Long: Yeah, you get a little bit of a kick, especially when you’re changing down through the gears. They’ve engineered it.

[00:45:00] Stephen Fenech: Isn’t it strange how a full EV still gives you the experience of a regular car. And you know, that was— how many customers are out there that are thinking, well, I want an EV but I don’t want to lose that other stuff? So this is the vehicle they would buy.

[00:45:17] Trevor Long: Just the idea of— I can go, you know what, I’m a rev head, and just that sound. I’m only going 65. It’s, it’s, it’s just that sound. That’s exactly what you do when you’ve got a crazy car with a great exhaust. Every now and then you drop it down a gear and you go, I want to hear it.

[00:45:33] Stephen Fenech: But like, how many— how many— that’s great, but how many customers— like, let’s, let’s talk about $115,000 car. Does that include the carbon pack or not? No, no, no, no, no, no. So, so add that to it. So we’re talking $120,000, $130,000, $140,000. We’re driving $140,000 on the road.

[00:45:48] Trevor Long: So $140,000 on the road, that’s— plus on roads.

[00:45:51] Stephen Fenech: So say you’re the driver— plus on roads— say you’re the driver who wants all that stuff, wants those sounds, wants that experience. They think, I got to pay $140K to get that and it’s an EV. Yeah, is it cheaper to buy a regular car and do that? This is special.

[00:46:06] Trevor Long: Yeah, it is. You’re not buying this if you just want it for the sound. You’re buying this because you want to, you want to be a little bit into the next generation of, of what is a sports car. And I get it, this is not a sports car in the truest sense for most people, but if you, if you were able to take off your blinkers and, and not, not be blinded by your thoughts about electric cars and you took this this on track, yeah, you would be—

[00:46:27] Stephen Fenech: you would be happy. I know there’d be a lot of people thinking, even the biggest rev head of all time, yeah, petrol heads would love this as well.

[00:46:33] Trevor Long: By the way, performance, $24,000 carbon pack. Yes, it’s also $900 to install it. Yes, you think that includes— that does include the price, include the $900. Oh, is it big?

[00:46:45] Stephen Fenech: Is it because like enthusiasts might want to do it themselves?

[00:46:48] Trevor Long: I don’t think you’d want to do that yourself. I don’t think so.

[00:46:50] Stephen Fenech: So the $900 is on top of that.

[00:46:52] Trevor Long: This bike’s got 140.

[00:46:53] Stephen Fenech: Why don’t you build that in the process say, plus free installation.

[00:46:57] Trevor Long: Because this bloke’s got $140,000, he’ll cop the extra $900,000. It’s all good. Yeah, boy. Anyway, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N with carbon pack, it’s a showstopper.

[00:47:08] Stephen Fenech: $140,000 showstopper. Literally people stopping in their tracks. So where we went to, for clues for the, uh, Ecovacs thing, yeah, I parked it around the corner from the house and a bloke— that’s the one the bloke comes, he goes, I’ve never seen one of these in the flesh, do you mind if I have a look? I said, mate, if you. I said, and I just said, look, I didn’t claim— I said, just say no, man, it’s not my car, it’s a press car.

[00:47:28] Trevor Long: But he said, oh wow, he depends on the person whether I say that or not. Took a photo.

[00:47:32] Stephen Fenech: No, I was, I was upfront. I said, no, it’s not my car, mate.

[00:47:35] Trevor Long: But it’s— last thing I’ll say is I think the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is not a— not— is not a good looking car in this form.

[00:47:43] Stephen Fenech: Love it. Yeah, it’s good. It’s pretty slick. It’s got the— is that a, is that a, uh, the matte finish?

[00:47:47] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s got matte gray. Yeah, I think they might—

[00:47:49] Stephen Fenech: is that a, is that a—

[00:47:50] Trevor Long: what do they call that, wrap? No, there’s a It’s paint.

[00:47:52] Stephen Fenech: Okay, well, because you’re normally going to have to have a wrap to achieve that, don’t you?

[00:47:55] Trevor Long: No, there’s paint. There is paint.

[00:47:57] Stephen Fenech: Okay, well, wow, there you go.

[00:47:59] Trevor Long: Beautiful. If you’ve bought a Hyundai Ioniq N, we’d love to hear from you. And you must be doing very well. Yeah, because even the 5 is an expensive car. Yeah, get in touch, send us a text, 0477 657 657. We’d love to have you on the show.