The Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast – Episode # 143 – EV Sales Predictions rise

143 – EV Sales Predictions rise – NRMA, and the Zeekr owners group

Podcast: Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars
Date: 26 October 2026
Hosts: Trevor Long & Stephen Fenech
Guests: Shawn Ticehurst (NRMA Insurance Research Centre), Andrew (Melbourne Zeekr Club)

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[00:00:01] VOICE OVER: This is Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars with Stephen Fenech and Trevor Long. Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden.

[00:00:09] Trevor Long: Yeah, we do it thanks to NRMA and Uniden. NRMA, one of Australia’s largest insurers of electric vehicles, helping Australians protect what matters most. And Uniden, bringing you the best dash cams you can get for your car. Doesn’t matter whether it’s petrol, diesel, or electric, it’s still useful to have a dash cam for your own peace of mind so that if you’re having an argument with your wife about what happened on the road, you can prove you were right, or she can prove that you ‘You were wrong.’ Send it to the

[00:00:33] Stephen Fenech: insurance company too, that’s important also.

[00:00:35] Trevor Long: You never know, it might help with, with proving just what happened. So we’ll tell you more about them as the show rolls on. Stephen, good to be with you, mate.

[00:00:43] Stephen Fenech: Great to be here too, a lot to talk about, some great guests as well.

[00:00:46] Trevor Long: And we will get to your calls a little later. We love to hear from people who are on the electric vehicle journey. I think we’re going to talk Zeekas again, and Gary mentioned this last week, these two have been colluding, I think. Gary mentioned a bloke called Andrew from Victoria who’s part of the Zeeka Owners Club, and I’ve just looked ahead, he’s on the He’s on the run sheet. He’s on the show today. So we’re going to talk to another Zeekr owner a little bit later in the show because that brand is doing gangbusters. And we actually want to unpack what Gary told us last week about that concept of them renting out things like spare tires and spare wheels to people who are in the club for those long journeys and things like that.

[00:01:21] Stephen Fenech: It pays to belong. Is

[00:01:22] Trevor Long: that right? It pays to belong.

[00:01:25] Stephen Fenech: Do you like that?

Shawn Ticehurst — NRMA's record EV quote requests and the Changing Gears report

[00:01:25] Trevor Long: Two blokes talking electric cars. So we’d love to hear from you on 0477 657 657. Now, Stephen, Record sales we’ve talked about a week or two ago and now NRMA has shown again, this is something we saw earlier in the year. The number of people getting quotes for electric vehicles is a very good indicator of what’s happening with sales. Record levels of EV quotes is genuinely reflecting the consumer interest and we thought we would have a chat about that and the latest Changing Gears report from NRMA, who are a sponsor of the show, with Shawn Ticehurst, Head of NRMA’s Insurance Research Centre, and he joins us now on the line. G’day, Shawn.

[00:02:02] Shawn Ticehurst: Hi Trevor. Hi Stephen.

[00:02:03] Trevor Long: Great to be with you again. Mate, great to see you for the first time on the show. We’ve spoken on the phone many times.

[00:02:08] Stephen Fenech: I’ve heard you, but now we can see you.

[00:02:10] Trevor Long: Welcome to the over-investment in the Two Blokes Talking Electric Car Shows and just more headaches for me to technically bring this off. But mate, it’s a fascinating time because we’ve seen these enormous growth in sales. It’s been unbelievable. But this, like, I think it’s a 72% year-on-year jump in sales, in quotes, requests. Clear indicator that this is not slowing down. These, these sales are going to continue, I would suggest.

[00:02:39] Shawn Ticehurst: Absolutely. There’s no doubt. There’s so many signs here. 2026 is the tipping point for electric vehicles in Australia and our work and looking at the quote requests just reinforces that yet again. We’ve revised our forecast for EV sales for this year. I’m sure, you know, you guys know and a lot of your listeners would know last year, 2025, battery electric vehicles were 9% of vehicle sales. We pegged this year at the start of it, January 2026, we said it’ll probably grow to about 12% by mid-year. We’d up that to 18%. We’re now saying comfortably 20% of sales. Wow. So that’s phenomenal growth. And yeah, people are still going online looking for insurance quotes through NRMA Insurance. They’re— people are doing their research and This is the year it’s really swung up.

[00:03:36] Stephen Fenech: So speaking of the research, you guys have done plenty of your own research. So what do you put it down to, Shawn? What’s the main couple of reasons why we’ve seen this sudden and sustained growth in EVs?

[00:03:49] Shawn Ticehurst: I think, Stephen, there was a groundswell there. People were interested in electric vehicles. There was that early majority that were already on board. Buying cars, a lot of your listeners probably well on board with EVs, could see all the benefits. There were people that still had some questions and a little bit of uncertainty. The big tipping point came on, I think the date was 28th of February, you know, the, the Middle East issue. And all of a sudden fuel prices went up and people said, hang on, I’ve got a way to avoid these petrol prices that I’m watching go up daily as I drive past the service station or I fill up my tank. EVs were that solution, were the solution to that problem. And all those little issues, maybe they were, oh, do I, don’t I? All of a sudden it was, this makes economic sense. I’m on board.

[00:04:40] Trevor Long: And I think what’s most fascinating about that story, and we’ve talked about it back in March and April as it, as it progressed along. And for us, you know, our, our audience numbers went up in the same trajectory because of the interest. So it’s every indicator of electric vehicles shows that there’s interest. But what’s fascinating now is we’ve still got high fuel prices. I know there’s still dramas in the Middle East, but I I think even when things settle, the fuel prices settle a little bit, but then the demand and the interest continues because it’s actually not just about the fact that prices are high, but it’s the realisation that you don’t have control over what that price is going to be. And Shawn, that’s what people, I think, learn from listening to us and reading and talking to owners is, hang on, you can not only save a lot of money, but you can control it yourself by adopting things like solar and battery to actually own the power and, you know, know what the cost is going to be. So it’s that just an eye-opening moment of cost savings.

[00:05:40] Shawn Ticehurst: Absolutely. Yeah, Trevor, you’re absolutely right. That whole topic of fuel security, I don’t think was in the Australian conversation agenda until this year. And now people are thinking about it, you know, oh wow, what if I couldn’t get petrol and I had to get to work and take my kids to school and do all the things I need to do? Those problems weren’t on our radar and all of a sudden they were this year. And here was a solution sitting there ready to go with electric vehicles.

[00:06:10] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I think you touched on this in your previous answer, Luke, but another thing that was a lot of myths were dispelled too. I think people, they sort of got off the fence with the EVs and discovered that, oh, hang on, this isn’t too bad. Have you found that as well, that the range and charging speeds and things like that people are coming to terms with now?

[00:06:32] Shawn Ticehurst: Yes, it’s— there’s still some concern there, but it’s less of a concern. And there were probably those people just ready to make a decision and not quite sure. They— I would think they did a little bit more research and, you know, listening, listening to people like you, doing other research to find out, do I really need to be worried about range? And if I can charge the car at home, You know, what’s the problem with charging that if I’m going to be driving it around the city and charging it at home each night? And we all know you don’t have to charge it every night, then maybe it’s not a problem. But it was interesting. We saw our Changing Gears report that we did this year, and the last time we did it was 2024. So quite a different sentiment.

[00:07:20] Trevor Long: Yes,

[00:07:20] Shawn Ticehurst: we saw some new issues start to come through.

[00:07:23] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:07:24] Shawn Ticehurst: And one of them was the resale value one.

[00:07:27] Trevor Long: Excellent.

[00:07:27] Shawn Ticehurst: And that’s one I’m sure a lot of electric vehicle owners are familiar with, where there’s a concern still there about the resale value of cars.

[00:07:36] Trevor Long: And so how is that— is that concern gone up in a couple of years because it’s become more prevalent and essentially more cars are hitting the secondhand market? But more importantly, what are people— is that— are people finding the solution to that problem or is it a burning question that the industry now needs to work on? Is that where we need to go next?

[00:07:56] Shawn Ticehurst: I’d say it’s something we all need to work on, is how do we make sure that is supported? Because without a good used car market, a new car market can collapse and people will start to get burnt financially. So all of that money they save on fuel, then all of a sudden when they go to sell their car and you won’t see this cost until, you know, 3 or 4 years down the line, all of a sudden you say, oh, hang on, that was a bad financial choice. We don’t want people to be going through that. So it’s crucial that there’s support there for a good used car market. And the other concern that still remains is concerns about battery longevity.

[00:08:36] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:08:37] Shawn Ticehurst: And rightly or wrongly, and, you know, happy to talk on that one because I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of the research I have. You know, there are EVs now that are running around with 200,000 kilometers on them, still running on their same battery.

[00:08:51] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:08:52] Shawn Ticehurst: We’re seeing great tools, testing tools out there now for battery health that are showing—

[00:08:57] Trevor Long: we’ve spoken to Brendan Pickles a few times. About how it’s become mainstream for them. And that, and, and that the statistics are showing that these secondhand cars are actually very, very good in their battery health. And, and it often doesn’t vary too much based on the number of kilometers driven. And I think in my assessment of that is that the industry promoted these 8-year battery warranties, but everyone, especially the, the haters, hung on to that as if to say the battery lasts 8 years. But that’s like saying your traditional car warranty of 7 years means your engine’s not going to last for more than 7 years. It’s absolutely not the case. So there’s really just a, I guess, a sentiment problem based on something that’s actually very good. An 8-year warranty was excellent, but we now need to let people know that that’s just there for the worst-case scenario in those first 8 years. It’s just like your mobile phone, it’s gonna work, it just won’t last as long, it might not drive as many Ks, and even that isn’t as bad as it seemingly might have been.

[00:09:52] Shawn Ticehurst: That’s right, exactly. And I guess it’s a valid concern because EVs weren’t around long enough to have a proven history there. So the concerns were valid. I understand. But we’ve now got some evidence out there, especially globally, showing the health of these batteries and building that confidence in the used car market will be crucial to support people buying new cars, but also create a really viable used car market. Not everyone wants to buy a new EV and we need a group of people out there buying used EVs. What about that confidence in battery health? It’s crucial.

[00:10:33] Stephen Fenech: Shawn, what about being— I think I know when people are looking for an EV, it’s all, you know, we’ve spoken about this before, it’s all rosy, new car, how exciting. They don’t think about what happens if something goes wrong. If they have an accident, they need to repair it. Is that another factor? And you being an insurance company, you know, having somewhere, knowing that there’s a place to get your EV repaired if necessary. And we’re seeing—

[00:10:59] Trevor Long: and the people doing it are skilled. Yield and train.

[00:11:01] Stephen Fenech: They’ve got to be certified to do that. Is that another— that’s another sort of thing that’s growing, giving people confidence too?

[00:11:10] Shawn Ticehurst: The fact is, yes, the repair network is growing, but there’s still a perception lag. And this came through our consumer research as well. 57% of people were still concerned there’s a lack of trained mechanics and repairers out there to handle their EV. So people are concerned. The reality is the repair network is building up. Right. And at the moment we’ve got through our repair network over 60% of them ready to repair EVs today. And that’s with EVs being 3% of the Australian vehicle fleet. So it’s growing. There was— and I’ll just add in, there was a great initiative, the government initiative in September, the Driven program that helps repairers and mechanics fund the equipment they need in their workshops is a really good initiative. Up to $50,000 and 80% of that can be funded. It helps those small businesses who have got to invest a lot to get ready to repair EVs.

[00:12:14] Trevor Long: Because I think people, especially EV owners, aren’t even thinking about the fact that, hang on, my local mechanic might need different diagnostic tools, different repair tools, different things in the workshop, let alone the guys that are repairing smash cars. So it is— it’s an investment from from the industry for all of us owners to go and buy new cars is actually an investment for the industry to support it.

[00:12:34] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely.

[00:12:35] Shawn Ticehurst: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And Trevor, the return on that investment right now is small. Wally, these are 3% of all the cars out there. Yeah, it’s a good point. But we know that’s going to grow. So, you know, getting that investment in now helps build the confidence. And we saw that in our research. You know, this was, this was a genuine concern for Australians who wanted to buy an EV but were saying, this is one of the issues holding me back. So it was It’s great to see this initiative rolled out.

[00:13:03] Trevor Long: We, I mean, look, we appreciate talking to you because you’ve got this knowledge and you’ve got this research and you’re doing great insights. Is it the job of the NRMA Insurance to be gathering this information and to be advocating for the overall industry, or should there be someone else alongside you doing this? I just feel like, and maybe it’s just us, but we obviously have a great relationship and we hear from you on this stuff, but I don’t feel like anyone else is really talking about the whole ecosystem and the used car market and the new car market and the after-sales and things like battery recycling. These are things that the car industry needs. Shawn, I wonder whether there’s been a bit of a tone of voice change at the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, a bit more supportive of EVs, given the public are getting behind it. Do you think that the industry, the car industry, is going to start becoming part of this conversation a bit more?

[00:13:52] Shawn Ticehurst: Trevor, I think they are. Yeah, I think it’s happening from 3 different angles. One is, I guess, policy. So the new vehicle efficiency standard, the NVES, that is very short terms for listeners that aren’t familiar with it. It’s essentially forcing the car companies to bring in fuel-efficient and especially electric cars. The car companies at the same time, though, are seeing the demand there from their customers. People are walking into showrooms saying, I want to buy an EV now. Which one? What have you got? So the car, whether it’s a car company that’s fully EV, you know, they’re on board, the ones that that were just coming to the market now, I’m seeing a big change. And yes, I’d say everyone is embracing it. But having these sort of holistic discussions about repair and about battery end-of-life solutions are very important to put on the table at the same time. And it’s good you bring up the battery end-of-life one. I think that’s a really important topic for us all to talk about.

[00:14:58] Stephen Fenech: More choices. I was seeing too in your report showing all the major brands and like, yeah, from as recent as like 2, 3 years ago. There are so many more car companies now, same number of drivers in the country, but more car, more choice, and that, that can only help the industry, surely.

[00:15:16] Shawn Ticehurst: Yes, certainly the choice in electric vehicles helps a lot. We saw that as a barrier 2 years ago in our research that people are saying there’s not an EV for me. You know, there was whatever car type they wanted, there wasn’t an EV. That’s changing now. There are EVs across almost every new car segment. Not quite every, but it’s filling up close. Yeah, we’ll start to see that feed through to the used car market as well then as those cars hit the used car market. So those choices are there. But yes, there’s a— there’s an enormous, enormous influx of new brands onto the market and it’s important Anyone buying a new car does their research into any brand they’re looking into to make sure that it’s a brand that looks like it will stay. Can you—

[00:16:05] Trevor Long: and this may be a tough question without notice, but forgive me if it is— if I’m a random person who is thinking about getting an EV and I see a Facebook ad for some new car brand I’ve never heard of before, and it’s literally new, maybe they’ve only been here for a month, and I’ve seen some brands I’ve never heard of, can I ring my insurer and say, hey, is this a car that you can support aftermarket? Like, if I crash, is this going to be a problem for me? Like, is that a conversation I can have with my insurer? Because that’s the peace of mind, that’s that piece we’re worried about here, is can it be serviced? Can it be repaired? Is it going to be 8 weeks without a car? Can I just ring my insurer and find that out, do you think?

[00:16:43] Shawn Ticehurst: I guess the short answer, Trevor, is no, we can’t offer that sort of consumer advice. But we’re doing a lot of research through that. That’s why we have an automotive research center here in Australia that we can look into each of these brands and understand where any risks lie, where the good opportunities lie. And then we feed that through to our insurance model and we make sure we’re—

[00:17:07] Trevor Long: Could we— So does that mean that essentially the premium might not be as appealing for a vehicle that you don’t see as being as repairable or as easy to work with? Is that an indicator of of your concern because it feeds into your insurance system that way?

[00:17:24] Shawn Ticehurst: It’s— if we’ve got concerns about things like parts supply or we’re seeing the parts pricing being really expensive, the simple fact behind insurance is we’ve got a price for that risk. So yes, it does get built in and it’s things like parts supply and parts prices where we monitor those for all these new brands.

[00:17:47] Trevor Long: Well, overall, It’s a massive year. I think you’re right. It’s the year. It’s the turning point. I don’t know that every month the EV sales are going to outpin petrol continuously for the next 12 months, but it’s been a few months already and it’ll probably up and down a little bit as sales happen and new cars hit the market and different things like that. But I do think it’s very clear that the industry is starting to get ready and the consumers are very ready. And I think that price has very, very clearly been a big part of that. The ongoing savings that people are seeing is rewarding for average households. We speak to them every week and And I think it’s important for an industry and I think we support the industry overall working on these things like you have been and you’ve talked to us about. And so we appreciate the research you’re doing, Shawn, and hopefully we continue to get those insights from you, mate.

[00:18:35] Shawn Ticehurst: Yeah, no, always happy to come on and chat, guys. No, always good to do.

[00:18:39] Trevor Long: All right, mate, thank you very much and we’ll talk again very soon.

[00:18:42] Shawn Ticehurst: Thanks, Trevor. Thanks, Stephen.

[00:18:44] Trevor Long: See you, mate. Cheers, mate. Very good. Yeah, I mean, it’s the tipping point. It’s the year, Stephen, without any question. Absolutely right.

[00:18:49] Stephen Fenech: So there the words are in my head. We’ve reached the tipping point. And it’s, look, it’s not going to, it’s not, I don’t think it’s going to recede too badly. It’s probably going to hang in there. Like you mentioned, sort of, can it keep up with petrol sales? I’d say we’re at a point now where they’re going to be in the same ballpark.

[00:19:05] Trevor Long: 0477 657 657. We’d love to hear from you. We’ll take your calls after this. I don’t know, I’m just pressing buttons because they’re there, you know. Sometimes you just want to press the buttons because they’re there.

[00:19:23] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, got to do something. Let’s keep the energy level up, mate.

[00:19:26] Trevor Long: Oh, are you saying there’s a problem with my energy?

[00:19:27] Stephen Fenech: No, not at all. That felt like a slide. Just got to keep my own energy level up.

[00:19:31] Trevor Long: Is there a problem with Fashawn’s energy? He was great. What are you talking about?

[00:19:33] Stephen Fenech: He was fantastic.

[00:19:33] Trevor Long: Stephen, the energy levels are unbelievable.

[00:19:36] Stephen Fenech: I want to keep them high. Oh, keep them high. Yeah, yeah.

Andrew — Melbourne Zeekr Club and owning a Zeekr 7X

[00:19:39] Trevor Long: All right, two blokes talking electric cars. 0477657657. Uh, let’s keep going with the calls. Andrew’s on the line. G’day, Andrew.

[00:19:46] Andrew: G’day, guys. How you going?

[00:19:48] Trevor Long: Mate, really well. Gary Buck was on the show last week talking about his Kia and his Zika, and he threw you under the bus and said that you were a big part of an owner’s club in Melbourne. Is that correct?

[00:20:00] Andrew: That’s correct. Gary and I have had a fair bit to do with each other in a very short period of time.

[00:20:05] Trevor Long: Is that because he’s pestering you? Because I think he’s retired and you don’t look like a bloke who’s retired yet. I’m just being ageist.

[00:20:13] Andrew: No, no, still on the tools. So I run a a gardening business and we’re lucky enough to have crossed paths through our ownership experience. We decided back sort of mid last year that we needed to upgrade my wife’s car with a new arrival on the way. And— Congratulations.

[00:20:32] Stephen Fenech: Congrats, mate.

[00:20:32] Andrew: Passively, thank you guys. Passively looking at the market for a while, we’d had a few criteria that we were really trying to narrow things down to. And unfortunately at the time there was really only one car that was ticking most of those boxes. And then sort of out of left field, another contender arrived and we ended up jumping on that being the Zeekr 7X. Yeah. Hang on, hang on a minute.

[00:20:55] Stephen Fenech: What was the other car? What was the other point?

[00:20:58] Andrew: Yeah, it was the Tesla Model Y.

[00:21:00] Stephen Fenech: Ah, the Frog. Trevor’s favorite car.

[00:21:03] Andrew: Yeah, the Frog. We had a strict sort of little criteria list we were trying to meet. One of them was a realistic 500-kilometer highway yeah, driving potential, needed to be able to charge quickly.

[00:21:19] Stephen Fenech: Yep.

[00:21:20] Andrew: Needed to be all-wheel drive because we take it up to Mount Hotham a fair bit. We live down in Melbourne.

[00:21:26] Stephen Fenech: Right.

[00:21:27] Andrew: And we wanted a car that was going to be able to be family friendly as well.

[00:21:32] Trevor Long: Perfect.

[00:21:33] Stephen Fenech: And so, so which part of that did Tesla not meet? Yeah.

[00:21:38] Andrew: Tesla did meet those criteria. So that was the thing. It was a contender and we had a budget that we had in mind and Tesla Long Range Model Y was sitting at the top end of that budget.

[00:21:51] Stephen Fenech: Yep.

[00:21:52] Andrew: But when the Zica came along, I don’t know, there was something about the Tesla that we didn’t love. It’s a different, different style of car. There were things that we really did like about it, but there are a few things that didn’t make us jump on it straight away. I didn’t necessarily see the value that they were asking for it as a whole package.

[00:22:13] Trevor Long: Right. Right.

[00:22:14] Andrew: And the other car that entered the picture in our mind presented more value for the same money.

[00:22:23] Stephen Fenech: Right.

[00:22:23] Trevor Long: The Zeekr 7X is honestly, it’s phenomenal value, I think. And Stephen, you’ve dealt more in the European car world. You know, when you buy a European car, there’s often a lot of accessories, options, options, options, or a pack or a thing or whatever. But I feel like with the Zeekr 7X, It’s just, just,

[00:22:41] Stephen Fenech: you

[00:22:41] Trevor Long: get it. It’s just all in. It’s just a bloody good car. It’s— there’s very little that it doesn’t have.

[00:22:45] Andrew: Pick a color and off you go.

[00:22:46] Trevor Long: Yeah, pick a color. And what is it? There’s a step up that gives you a couple of trim options and maybe some range. I can’t remember, but yeah.

[00:22:54] Andrew: Yeah. So we ended up with the all-wheel drive, which is their Performance, which is their top spec model. And from there it was a matter of choosing colors. That, that was the only choice that we had. And because we were in that Phase 1 early launch offer, the first 1,000 preorders that they got, we got some extra bonus value, which really again pushed it in the value front. So that 7-year warranty covering the whole vehicle, not only the battery, 7-year roadside assistance, an included 7-kilowatt wall charger, included granny charger, and an included 22-kilowatt Type 2 charging cable. All of that was in the price for $80,000. $2,000.

[00:23:39] Trevor Long: Crazy.

[00:23:40] Stephen Fenech: Not bad.

[00:23:41] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:41] Stephen Fenech: What color did you end up getting? That’s what I was going to ask.

[00:23:45] Andrew: Wife’s request was green. So forest green.

[00:23:47] Stephen Fenech: Forest green. That is a nice color on a Zica. Beautiful color. So is this your first? Is this your first EV? It is. Okay. Wow. So you dived in headfirst.

[00:23:56] Trevor Long: Yeah, bloody oath.

[00:23:58] Andrew: Yeah. I’d been sitting on the sidelines, not able to, not able to play due to the money side of things for a very long time. Since 2013, I think I started religiously watching YouTube videos by a gentleman in Norway called Tesla Bjørn.

[00:24:13] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:24:14] Andrew: When he picked up his Model S over there. And so vicariously, I was living through his experiences in living in an electric vehicle. But the opportunity didn’t come for my family until late last year. My, my, my broader family had bought in with a BMW iX. Again, just a totally different price of vehicle. But in retrospect, when you compare the 2018, 2019 BMW iX to Zeekr 7X today, there’s actually a lot of similarities between those two vehicles. Very true. But, you know, significantly different price point. Now, how far the market’s come.

[00:24:50] Trevor Long: Our audio listeners don’t know that you’re sitting in front of— you’ve put up a green screen and sadly, mate, our video viewers can’t see you.

[00:24:57] Stephen Fenech: Our video slices you in the middle.

[00:24:58] Trevor Long: Yeah, you’ve got a big banner that says the Zeekr Melbourne Club. Melbourne. Melbourne Zeekr Club.

[00:25:02] Andrew: Yeah, Melbourne Zeekr Club.

[00:25:04] Trevor Long: So Yeah. What did you, were you, did you form that club?

[00:25:09] Andrew: It was a combination of key people that sort of culminated in Victoria to do this. Why?

[00:25:18] Trevor Long: What, what, what? I mean, I’ve owned cars all my life. I never joined a club. What is it that makes you, is it because you want to learn together? Is it because you want to grow the community experience? Share? Yeah. What makes you want to do that?

[00:25:31] Andrew: My sort of start with it was quite unique. So even before we got our car, I noticed that one of the things that ZEEKR were doing that was a bit of a different thing was they were organizing events for owners. And, you know, early on that was obviously quite limited in the number of people that that was available to. And I didn’t have my car yet. So instead of watching on the sidelines and missing out, I decided, I just decided to attempt to create an independent event. So I picked a date in February and contacted a few venues down in Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and asked if I could book a spot for 40 people. And then I took a risk and put it on Facebook in some of the Zekr community pages that were popping up and said, any chance 40 random people would be keen to catch up and go for a drive in our Zekrs? And the response was incredible. You know, I was initially expecting that maybe I’d end up with 20 people, people, something like that, and it’d just be a fun day out.

[00:26:31] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:26:32] Andrew: We sold out the 40 spots entirely. Everyone paid their own way. It was a drive down the coast, um, down the Peninsula Link, and then a lunch. And it filled me with confidence, so I decided to keep doing that. Zeke saw what I was doing, um, sort of off my own bat, and reached out to me through some channels and encouraged me to sort consider taking it to a bigger audience across Australia. And we began working together, but mostly through my own actions to try and spread that across Australia, to bring other owners together. The whole thing for me is just, as fun as it is to chat with other owners and be on the forums on Facebook, it’s a totally different experience to get people out from behind the computer and actually live an experience that involves the car and things you’re passionate about. To be able to show one another your accessories discuss tips and tricks.

[00:27:27] Stephen Fenech: I’ve gotta say, I had that experience, like, mate, I bought my Tesla back in 2018 and when there weren’t many Teslas on the road. And that’s how I felt when you’re at the charger and you’re chatting with other Tesla owners. That was a really good way of sort of getting some insights and shared experiences. So I’d imagine same deal for you guys in the Zica Club down in Melbourne.

[00:27:54] Andrew: Yeah. So for me it was just about sharing that. And we’d get owners from, you know, first week of ownership to people that were quite au fait with electric vehicles. And the sharing of knowledge was just free-flowing at that point. It then connected with a whole bunch of different people. So I was doing events and then we had other people in Melbourne that were specializing in organizing things like PPF wraps and dash cameras and communities that were building around things that people would need. For their new cars. People that were working in the home assistance space and coming up with interesting ways of integrating the ZEEKR 7X into charging systems and getting more out of the vehicle than, you know, the app was providing. And so these people, very active in the community, just connected. We noticed one another, and I think naturally we sort of found space together and through some—

[00:28:53] Trevor Long: I just think it’s a great system. So I went down and spoke in Canberra to the MG Owners Club, and we’re talking about proper MG owners from back in the day. They’re not electric car people, but the idea was that I would bring them into the modern world with a bit of a chat about it. And I thought it opened my eyes to what a car club did. You know, they were organizing events for each other and things like that. But Gary said to us last week that you have a system where you rent spare wheels and tires to people because they don’t exist in the car. And when you want to go on a long road trip, do you really want to risk that? I mean, mate, that is a brilliant idea. That’s a great idea. That is sensational to be as a community exercise. You know what I mean? Like, sure, you could get roadside assistance. Sure. I don’t know. There might be someone else that does that. But for the community to get together around each other and go, here’s something we think is lacking in our community. Mate, great idea. That’s a great initiative.

[00:29:44] Andrew: Yeah. There’s a lot of these things that pop up when you start to make yourself open to connecting to these different ideas. And yeah, the Spare Wheel initiative is unique, I think, to Melbourne. And it’s an individual sort of collective of ideas that have come together. But we noticed that owners, if they get a significant puncture in their car, the roadside assistance will tow you to a tyre shop. They won’t repair your car. Out. And, you know, the ZEEKR 7X all-wheel drive at a minimum, I know, has quite a unique sort of tyre specification.

[00:30:23] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:30:24] Andrew: If that happens to you on a Saturday and you’re— or a Sunday and you’re just SOL as far as being able to get back on the road, you might be able to get it fixed on Monday or Tuesday, but people need their car to get back up and running. And for a, you know, for a modest cost, we’re able to provide that solution to people. Tool through the, through the club. And the whole premise of the club is to enhance that owner experience, whether that’s providing that information to new owners to help them to just get out there and on the road or to take the enthusiast experience to a higher level through offering driving events that might even long-term move into motorsport access, that kind of stuff as well to really test the limits of cars.

[00:31:06] Stephen Fenech: Well, you know what, it says a lot about Zeekr’s popularity in Australia. One. But also too, you mentioned that the brand itself is active and supportive of you guys as well. Why wouldn’t they be? It’s a great opportunity for them to spread the word.

[00:31:23] Andrew: Yeah, I mean, we’ve been lucky in the access that we’ve had. And Gary might have mentioned to you, we were taken to China. A small group of people that we were on that trip to,

[00:31:33] Stephen Fenech: mate. How good’s that?

[00:31:34] Andrew: It’s only raw if you’re not in it.

[00:31:35] Stephen Fenech: Hey, there you go.

[00:31:36] Andrew: I was very lucky to be taken over as part of that. And it was insightful and enlightening to see the operations they’ve got over there and the contrast between the experience that they’ve got going on over there versus what we have over here. And there’s so much room for growth is the key takeaway there.

[00:31:55] Trevor Long: When you go there and you realize the scale of these organizations, this is—

[00:31:59] Stephen Fenech: They’re not a fly-by-night company, are they?

[00:32:02] Trevor Long: They’re here for the long haul. Can I ask just finally, I’m curious, how do you connect connect? ‘Cause you mentioned Facebook a bit, but are you using different platforms to connect as a club or?

[00:32:11] Andrew: Yeah, so Melbourne’s Zeta Club, primarily we have a WhatsApp group. It’s got about 400 and I think, numbers are escaping me, 300, 400 participants now. It’s pretty active. And it’s the kind of thing where if you’ve got a question, within a couple of minutes you’ll get the right answer the first time. And that’s something that owners really value versus a Facebook community where, Sometimes you might ask a question, you’ll get 10 answers and none of them are right in the first 10 minutes. And you know, the WhatsApp group really prides itself on providing tailored information to individuals that are seeking it. But we’re moving towards a website platform and that’s where that melbournezeekahclub.com.au website is gonna really play into the future of the club and the services that we’re able to offer to people.

[00:32:58] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:32:59] Andrew: Streamlining the access that people have WhatsApp can get a bit overwhelming when you’ve got that many people.

[00:33:04] Trevor Long: I was gonna say, mate, I get overwhelmed on a Saturday morning with the kids’ sport groups, mate. I don’t know how I could handle 400 people that’s potentially talking about their cars.

[00:33:10] Andrew: It’s a lot to manage, but people, everybody that’s coming together in there is in there for the right reasons. They’re all owners or prospective, or, you know, order holders. They all live in Victoria and they’re all passionate about sharing information. And so it really looks after itself at the moment. At the moment, but we know long-term as this grows, there’s more that we want to do. And so building out the website to share more information with people, to give our events and future events, which are going to be many and quickly coming, the proper space that they need to be able to share that information in one space for everybody to see it and to join up. And also to continue out things like the Spare Wheel Program and access to other member discounts that we’ve organized through providers for things like roof racks, snow chains, dash cams, etc.

[00:34:05] Stephen Fenech: You know what, you’re also doing a lot of Zekr’s marketing as well. You’re their marketing department now. So have they offered your group or any other Zekr groups any kind of mates rates for prospective buyers of a Zekr?

[00:34:20] Andrew: It’s a lot of free work, I’m told. I keep getting told I’m doing a lot of free work. I enjoy it. I do. It’s become a bit of a hobby for me and it’s lucky that it fits in that category. Otherwise I would have given it up a long time ago. I’m a busy guy with two kids that are quite young, so I got a lot on my plate. But I do really get a lot of intrinsic or sort of altruistic value out of helping build this. Seeker have definitely come to the party on a few different things and helped us out, and I hope to continue to see them finding space to to help organizations like this grow. I think there’s a lot of potential for value being delivered to the owners without Zeka having to put their own personnel time directly on it.

[00:35:09] Trevor Long: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:35:09] Stephen Fenech: Just tell them two words, discount code. That’ll get more people into your group.

[00:35:15] Andrew: Hopefully someone’s working on it in the background. We’ll see, we’ll see. That’s not what it’s about for me necessarily. What I’d love to see is them help us to, to, to complete that function of enhancing the ownership experience. That’s really where I’d love to see more value put in. They’re extremely busy, it would seem, selling cars. And I think it’s— yeah, no, they’re under no illusion that one of the biggest challenges they’ve got right now is just how popular the car is and the brand is going to be. And they’ve got a lot of competition that they’re having to deal with and, you know, limited resources despite being a global business.

[00:35:55] Stephen Fenech: Yeah,

[00:35:55] Trevor Long: yeah.

[00:35:56] Andrew: But we’d always love to see more time for the community, the grassroots and the owners to have that best experience possible.

[00:36:07] Trevor Long: Look, the bottom line is they’ve got to be mindful of the people who made them who they are in this country. I know they’re a bigger brand overseas, but they are who they are because of the people that we’ve talked about many times that passionately bought their products. People like you.

[00:36:18] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that’s right.

[00:36:18] Trevor Long: They bought these cars sight unseen in any case. So they’ve got to think about those people a lot, mate. So congratulations on what you’re doing. Congratulations on the car. And mate, I look forward to the view count going very well because you shared the YouTube link for this episode directly in that WhatsApp group.

[00:36:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, please, guys.

[00:36:35] Andrew: I really appreciate you sharing.

[00:36:38] Stephen Fenech: Sharing is caring, as they say, mate.

[00:36:40] Andrew: I appreciate you taking the time to share our story as well. And yeah, we’ll keep you updated as things grow out from here.

[00:36:46] Trevor Long: And for Zeker owners in Victoria, what’s the website again? What’s the website

[00:36:48] Andrew: again? MelbourneZeekrClub.com.au. And if you jump on there, we’ll help you to get connected with us.

[00:36:55] Trevor Long: Good on you, mate. Thanks. And good to talk to you, Andrew.

[00:36:57] Andrew: We’ll talk to you soon.

[00:36:58] Trevor Long: Thanks, mate. Cheers. There you go. Andrew is a very passionate Zeekr owner and for a good reason, mate. They’re a bloody good car.

[00:37:04] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know what? That’s what I was going to say. They’re not popular because other people like just the name. They like the cars, the quality and the whole experience is top notch.

[00:37:14] Trevor Long: We’d love to hear from you no matter what car you own. If you’re passionate like Andrew is about a different brand, get in touch. 047-657-657. We’d love to hear from you. After this, we’re going to go around the block in the MG S6. Two blokes talking electric cars, and, uh, I bet you there’s an MG owners club of some sort, Stephen. You think Andrew with his Zeekr club has inspired others?

[00:37:45] Stephen Fenech: M— hasn’t— didn’t you speak at an MG?

[00:37:48] Trevor Long: Yeah, but I mean like electric. I guess they probably are just trying to—

[00:37:51] Stephen Fenech: are they accepting the other two owners in that group?

[00:37:53] Trevor Long: I think— look, here’s the thing, with the greatest respect to the MG Club that I spoke to in Canberra, I think if I was an EV owner and I turned up there, I’d be like, I don’t want to do a track day, I don’t want to, I don’t want to drive through the mountains. Like, they’re, they’re built for the beautiful old MGs. There’s probably an MG EV Owners Club.

[00:38:09] Stephen Fenech: So we are

[00:38:09] Trevor Long: in, Stephen, what,

[00:38:11] Stephen Fenech: the MG GS6, an SUV, uh, bit bigger than a regular— I’d call this a large SUV.

[00:38:20] Trevor Long: I, I think it’s certainly medium to large at the very least. It’s like, I can feel already this is a much bigger car than what I’ve been driving for a little while. And I, from the outside, it’s got a, got a tail on it, like it’s a big boot.

[00:38:32] Stephen Fenech: Yes, has a, the golf club size, uh, boot in there. You can fit your golf clubs in there, not a problem.

[00:38:36] Trevor Long: Back row It’s excellent.

[00:38:38] Stephen Fenech: Definitely a family car. Yeah. Um, and look, this is a very popular segment, of course, the SUVs. And this isn’t MG’s only SUV in the lineup, but the largest that I’ve seen, uh, in their EV lineup for sure.

[00:38:49] Trevor Long: Fit and finish in here is beautiful.

[00:38:51] Stephen Fenech: I got to say, I’ve had a few comments. I’ve taken this and people think, wow, this is nice. That’s their very first reaction, which is pretty good. A good reaction to have inside the car.

[00:39:01] Trevor Long: That’s the dealership reaction, right? If you’re, if you’re thinking I’m going to buy I’m going to spend this much money, I want an SUV, and this becomes part of your list, which it should. You’re going to go, oh wow, this is— yeah, this is nice. Like, those first touch points are critical, right? You’ve got a very nice big instrument cluster, small but decent size infotainment system.

[00:39:19] Stephen Fenech: Yep, not too big. You know, you get some cars— I think the Mazda last week, that was a big, big one because there were no other buttons, right? That’s right. That was a— that was a big, uh, a big screen for the car, and

[00:39:29] Trevor Long: that’s That was the point that, uh, one of our callers made. I think it might have been Dean, uh, it was last week, talking about the MG. I wonder if he’s bought one. I wonder if he bought it last week.

[00:39:39] Stephen Fenech: I think so. I think so. You think he did?

[00:39:41] Trevor Long: I hope he did. The simple thing that there’s buttons here for hazard lights, for demisting, just seeing the temperature and stuff like that. Just basics, man. That’s important. Can we just mandate that? I want a volume button, you know. It’s not—

[00:39:52] Stephen Fenech: because, you know, because like the whole idea when you’re driving is you want to be be able to get to what you want to do without being distracted, because a lot of these cars have the little cameras to say you’re distracted, you know, and give you another beep and a bong.

[00:40:03] Trevor Long: Mine normally tells me I’m falling asleep, but I’m just singing. No, it thinks I’m yawning, but I’m singing. I’m like, you know, and it thinks because my mouth’s open, it thinks I’m yawning.

[00:40:14] Stephen Fenech: Oh wow.

[00:40:15] Trevor Long: Yeah, so that’s, that’s my problem. It’s, uh, it’s not always perfect. Um, so what are Logan, price-wise

[00:40:22] Stephen Fenech: here, this is starting at $49,999 on the road. Yeah, this is the— so price-wise, you’re, you’re on board. I think there’s another, another model above it that’s, I think, about $53,999. Yeah, so you’re, you, you’re getting, I think, a lot of value there. The size of the car, the, the fit and finish.

[00:40:42] Trevor Long: Let’s do it.

[00:40:43] Stephen Fenech: The range is about 520k.

[00:40:46] Trevor Long: Yeah, right, it’s ticking all the boxes. And again, we’re not motoring journos, so we might miss a car here, but if we think about what we did last week with the Mazda and think about what are these competing with, you know, Sea Lion 7, Model Y, um, it probably is competing in some way with the Zeekr 7X, but I think those people probably wouldn’t— I feel like it’s just a different—

[00:41:04] Stephen Fenech: two different customers.

[00:41:05] Trevor Long: I think it’s a different league. Yeah. Um, honestly, I think that it, it, it’s a very big car. Like, that’s my number one takeaway here is I feel like this is a big car.

[00:41:16] Stephen Fenech: Well, it’s, it’s not quite the size of, say, your EV9. No, no, but I think it’s, it’s— I think it’s good to see that it’s in that size that people are looking for. Remember, we’ve had the discussion on the show where people, they want an SUV that’s slightly bigger than midsize.

[00:41:30] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:41:31] Stephen Fenech: This, I think, is sort of more in that category.

[00:41:34] Trevor Long: Family car. So let’s say you’ve got 2 kids in car seats, even if they’re just in, get in the, in the car boosters. So they’re back there. There’s room in the boot for a pram and all the goods. Oh yeah, so that’s great. Like, it’s not at all lacking in that sense. So I think actually boot size is probably what sells this car in a big way.

[00:41:52] Stephen Fenech: And also cabin size. I’ll look how roomy this is. There’s storage underneath here. You got, you got wireless charging for your phone. You’ve also got the, the physical, um, driving controls, the gear choice setting. It’s not up here on the cluster, it’s down here. Yeah, which is— is— I don’t know whether people like that or don’t like that, but I don’t mind it having it here. It’s sort of that tactile feel. Um, but yeah, and the screen is not too big but still big enough to get you what you want.

[00:42:21] Trevor Long: You can probably see the moonroof here, folks, and it comes with— and again, this is insane that you buy a Tesla Model Y and you don’t get what we’re getting right here above us, which is an automatic blindfold. Yeah, like How would you not have that? You spent 70 grand on a Model Y and you don’t get that?

[00:42:34] Stephen Fenech: You don’t get that built in. Yeah,

[00:42:36] Trevor Long: like, it’s in— it’s embarrassing.

[00:42:38] Stephen Fenech: It’s those little features, I think, that sell the car. Just like, yeah, the size, the fit and finish, those little considerations for, for the driver.

[00:42:46] Trevor Long: Is it just me, or— so your Model S, yep, had an instrument cluster?

[00:42:54] Stephen Fenech: Yes, it did.

[00:42:54] Trevor Long: Yes. This looks a little bit like that, you know, the way—

[00:42:57] Stephen Fenech: I don’t know, just similar.

[00:42:59] Trevor Long: The

[00:42:59] Stephen Fenech: shape of

[00:42:59] Trevor Long: it is something about the way that sits that makes me think of the old Model S.

[00:43:03] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, you’re right, you’re right. Uh, but they were a bit further apart.

[00:43:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, this is right near. This is also tilted the other way. I know, I’m a big fan. This is really nice.

[00:43:11] Stephen Fenech: I don’t know whether it’s leather or vegan leather or— but it— leather feel, it’s, uh, it’s pretty good. I think with the holes in the seat, are they ventilated? They’re ventilated seats as Let’s go. So you got, uh, press that. That’s what you normally do. So, uh, pretty good.

[00:43:31] Trevor Long: Where’s the seat?

[00:43:32] Stephen Fenech: Oh, I can feel it, I can feel it.

[00:43:35] Trevor Long: Turn on. There it is, there it is.

[00:43:37] Stephen Fenech: There we go. Cool.

[00:43:39] Trevor Long: So now with summer happening, Aussie summer day, man, change it. Oh

[00:43:44] Stephen Fenech: yeah, can you feel that trim?

[00:43:49] Trevor Long: The first time blown. Anyway, oh, this— we’ve nearly blown—

[00:43:53] Stephen Fenech: just cut another driver off here. Bit of—

[00:43:55] Trevor Long: I got that on the 360 camera. You can need the evidence, my bro. We don’t have a— I don’t have a dash cam installed, but I do have a 360 camera.

[00:44:03] Stephen Fenech: There we go, there we go. Yeah, yeah, she’s looking at her. She’s not even paying attention, mate.

[00:44:08] Trevor Long: She’s not really—

[00:44:09] Stephen Fenech: I’m going to get ahead of her.

[00:44:11] Trevor Long: All right, well, look, it’s a big win, it’s a big win.

[00:44:13] Stephen Fenech: Oh, look, world— put on your list and And I’ll tell you now, one of the more my favorite cars I’ve driven.

[00:44:20] Trevor Long: Could this be Joe’s next car?

[00:44:22] Stephen Fenech: I absolutely think it could be, yes.

[00:44:24] Trevor Long: It’s a great price,

[00:44:25] Stephen Fenech: definitely. And in fact, Joe loved the car. Yeah, right. She’s driven it, loves the color. The color is like a goldy metallic, goldy color, and she’s a big fan.

[00:44:34] Trevor Long: All right, well, I think, I think Dean’s probably bought one by now, so anyone— Dean can call back too. But, um, if you are in the market and you’re thinking I could be looking for a largis SUV, good boot space, good range, great price, consider the X.

[00:44:49] Stephen Fenech: Ticks all the boxes, mate, I reckon.

[00:44:50] Trevor Long: X6. Yep. Alright, get in touch with us, 0477 657 657. We’d love to hear from you, no matter what car you’ve got, are buying, or whatever it might be. That’s what the show’s all about. See you next week, Stephen.

[00:45:01] Stephen Fenech: Ciao.