The Sydney EV Podcast

SydneyEV “SydEV”

Thinking about going electric? You've found the right podcast. Whether you're already driving an EV, seriously considering one, or just watching the petrol price creep up and wondering if there's a better way , Aussie EV Pluggers is your weekly guide to all things electric in Australia. Every week we cut through the hype, roast the slow chargers, celebrate the good, and give you straight-talking news and reviews from actual Aussie owners, just real talk. We cover what's arriving in Australia, what it actually costs to run, the charging infrastructure

  1. Jul 12

    The End of the ICE Age, Electric Trucks in Brisbane & Bentley's Very Expensive Limestone

    Australia just hit a milestone nobody’s talking about loudly enough: internal combustion engine vehicles have peaked. After 116 unbroken years of growth, the ICE fleet is going backwards, and EVs are why. This week on the show: 🇦🇺 NSW declares Peak ICE , the total ICE fleet hit its all-time high on February 27 and has been shrinking ever since. Pure EVs hit 23.5% of new car sales in June. The tide has officially turned. 💸 Lexus drops the price of the RZ by up to $42,000, yes, really. The posh electric SUV now sneaks under the Luxury Car Tax threshold. Coincidence? Absolutely not. 🚛 Australia’s first locally-made electric prime movers roll out of Brisbane Volvo’s Wacol factory handed ten heavy-duty electric trucks to Linfox, with up to 700km range. Big rigs. No smoke. Albanese showed up. ⚡ Xpeng G6 opens Australian reservations 800V architecture, 10-80% charge in 12 minutes, four variants from $51,800. It charges faster than you can make a decision in a drive-through. 🆕 Xpeng Mona L03 confirmed for Australia RAV4-sized, coupe roofline, priced around $46K. The EV price war just got another combatant. 🪨 Bentley names their first EV after a pile of limestone the Torcal. FIVE POINT FOUR METRES LONG. oh, and 1500nm torque. Also they’ve quietly abandoned their 2030 all-electric pledge. Shocking scenes. 🚌 And finally: America has weaponised the school bus 6,700 electric school buses are now acting as grid-connected power brokers, and in Florida they’re keeping hurricane shelters running. The yellow menace has evolved. The Ice Age is ending. The Plug Age is here. Pull up a charger.

    The End of the ICE Age, Electric Trucks in Brisbane & Bentley's Very Expensive Limestone
  2. Jul 5

    Skoda Peaqs, Ute Transformer and BMW's 700km IMAX

    Welcome back! Today we are looking at the local and international EV news, which is currently a delightful mix of "cars that look like spaceships" and "desperate corporate price wars." First up, we dive into the brand new, 7-seater Skoda Peaq and its ridiculous 647km range. But it’s not all good news—we look at the depressingly slow charging speeds of the upcoming KGM Musso EV ute, the shape-shifting madness of the Deepal E07 (an SUV that transforms into a ute at the push of a button), and the race to the absolute bottom of the budget barrel with the sub-$35k Leapmotor B05. Plus, is Cupra’s latest EV about to make the Tesla Model Y look vastly overpriced? In international news, we check in on BMW’s multi-billion-dollar nervous breakdown as they attempt to redeem themselves with the new 700km range "Neue Klasse" iX5... which features a dashboard display so wide you could watch an IMAX movie on it. Finally, we tackle the absolute circus that is EV geopolitics. From Australia bringing a very nice, artisanal butter knife to a global battery howitzer fight, to the mind-boggling logic of the US government banning the South Carolina-built Polestar 3 while subsidizing the identical Volvo EX90 built on the exact same conveyor belt. And if you live in an apartment in NSW? Congratulations, you’ve officially been handed the legal right to enter a legally binding thunderdome with your strata committee just to plug your car in. What do you think of this week's lineup? Would you buy a transformer ute or brave a strata committee meeting for a charger? Let me know in the comments below!

    Skoda Peaqs, Ute Transformer and BMW's 700km IMAX
  3. Jun 27

    Mitsubishi Quit, Honda Went Tiny & 2,000 People Bought a Mazda They've Never Sat In

    Big week. Mitsubishi, the brand that gave us one of the first modern EVs back in 2009 , has officially announced they're done building their own electric cars. Meanwhile 2,000 Australians have already put deposits on a Mazda they've never sat in. And sodium batteries are quietly matching Tesla's lithium benchmarks while some politicians are still out here demanding more coal. Standard Tuesday, really. Local cars this week: The Geely EX2, Geely's best-selling hatchback with 465,000 units sold in China last year , has been approved for Australia, arriving mid-to-late 2026 at around $30,000. It comes in beige and pink, tows absolutely nothing, and will probably outsell everything you'd expect it to. Xpeng dropped the X9, a seven-seater people-mover that charges 10-80% in twelve minutes, does 615km WLTP, and has an AI chassis that sees obstacles 30 metres ahead. It also tows 1,500kg, which means it will absolutely be used to tow a new camper trailer directly to its permanent resting place in someone's front yard. Mazda already has over 2,000 firm orders for the 6e and CX-6e and nobody's even sat in one yet. This is either peak Australian enthusiasm or the world's most successful cult. Possibly both. Mercedes is bringing the CLA Shooting Brake EV to Australia before year's end , "bargain luxury" in their words, which means you might only need to sell one kidney instead of two. And the Polestar 4 is now taking orders from $78,500 the one with no rear window, because apparently visibility is for people who don't appreciate Scandinavian minimalism. Internationally: Ford has produced its first American-made LFP battery cells in Michigan, licensed from Chinese tech, because nothing says manufacturing independence quite like that. Honda is going tiny and quirky with the Super One. Mitsubishi is outsourcing their entire EV future to Nissan and Foxconn. And Jeep has opened orders for the new Compass EV with 674km WLTP range and genuine off-road capability, because apparently even Jeep figured out that silence doesn't mean soft. Battery and tech: Sodium-ion batteries from Hina Battery are now matching key Tesla lithium benchmarks, cheap, abundant, doesn't require mining half of Chile. In Western Australia, home batteries are flattening the solar duck curve and helping slash the need for peaking gas. Your neighbour's Powerwall is doing more for the grid than your local coal lobbyist, and that's just where we are now. And finally , EVs can't go around corners. I know. I've heard. I addressed it. The physics laughed. Still dailying an OG i-MiEV like a true masochist. Catch you next week.

    Mitsubishi Quit, Honda Went Tiny & 2,000 People Bought a Mazda They've Never Sat In
  4. Jun 6

    The Quickest Subaru Ever, Massive 7m BYD Vans, & a Renters' EV Revolution

    G’day everyone, and welcome back to EV Down Under! Coming to you live from the back of the car as usual, we’ve got a massive local and international news roundup this week. No beating around the bush—we are talking major price drops, giant electric people movers, and some serious upgrades for Aussie renters. Here is what’s on the menu today: Subaru Uncharted: It’s officially priced at $59,990, making it their cheapest EV yet. But don't let the price fool you—this dual-motor, Symmetrical AWD setup pumps out 252kW and beats a fabled WRX to 100kph. Perfect for some soft off-roading (and V2L campsite karaoke). XPeng X9 Approved: Moving families with "more people than most people," this 5.3-metre electric people mover is officially approved for Aussie roads to take on the Kia Carnival. The BYD V9 Commercial Monster: A massive 6.95-metre long electric van landing around the $80k mark later this year. Goodbye diesel running costs for logistics fleets! EOFY Deals: GAC Aion V is dropping insane 0.99% finance deals and free 22kW home chargers before the June 30 cutoff. International Highlights: The MG IM 07 launches in China (essentially a Porsche Taycan at Aldi prices) and Rivian opens up the highly anticipated R2 configurator in the US. Rewiring Australia & The Renter Revolution: A massive push to get the NSW Government to mandate V2G-ready plugs in rentals so you can power your home for up to 5 days using your car battery. The Fun Stuff: Big batteries saving Aussie solar farms from curtailment, ClearVue's solar skyscraper glass, and a quantum physics trick in Japan/Germany pushing solar limits to the absolute edge. What do you reckon? Should landlords be forced to install EV-ready plugs in Australian rentals? Drop your thoughts on the Uncharted or the massive BYD van in the comments below—I read every single one.

  5. May 10

    The Era of the Land Yacht, and a ute Tax!

    Episode 6: Land Rovers Are Chinese Now, BYD Is Unstoppable & New Zealand Wants to Tax Your Ute Sorry for the delay ,turns out house painting is exactly as exciting as it sounds. But we're back, and this week did not disappoint. In Episode 6 of the Australia EV Podcast, I cover a massive week in the EV world ,new affordable options possibly heading to Australia, Chinese brands giving British icons a battery-powered second life, BYD dropping absolute weapons, ute tax drama across the Tasman, and some genuinely exciting battery tech that could change everything. In this episode: On the local front Kia's EV2 is still on the cards for Australia with a potential sub-$45k price point, but Slovakia and shipping costs are making things complicated. MG's premium IM brand is bringing the massive IM8 three-row SUV to Australia in early 2027 think $80-100k territory with a 68cm 5K screen and Shiatsu massage seats. The Land Rover Freelander is back Chinese-made, electrified, and bigger than a Prado. Mitsubishi is finally waking up from its electric nap with a Foxconn-built small SUV landing before the end of 2026. And Chery is launching yet another brand — iCaur — a dedicated off-road range with proper spare wheel on the tailgate and up to 1,000km of hybrid range. Internationally, BYD's new Atto 3 charges from 10 to 97% in nine minutes, which is barely enough time to grab a servo pie. The BYD Datang picked up 30,000 pre-orders in 24 hours from $51,000 Australian equivalent ,because apparently that's just what BYD does now. The Audi E7X flagship SUV has landed in China with 900-volt architecture and a ByteDance AI assistant. And the BYD Sealion 08 is a 5.1-metre, 480kW luxury people-mover with 900km of range that should make every European premium brand very nervous. On the politics front, New Zealand researchers are calling for a ute tax, citing pedestrian safety stats that are genuinely hard to argue with. Back home, new national rules make it significantly easier to ditch your gas connection entirely. WA is trialling electric kilns for lithium processing using renewable energy. And CATL has signed a 60 gigawatt-hour sodium-ion battery deal ,sodium, the working-class hero of the battery world. The bottom line this week: BYD is playing 4D chess against itself while everyone else is still reading the instructions. The affordable EV options are coming. The off-road EVs are coming. The luxury EVs are already here. And the "EVs aren't ready" crowd is running out of arguments faster than a petrol car runs out of excuses at the bowser. Drop your thoughts in the comments, which upcoming car has you most excited? Fuelled by cold coffee. Powered by solar. Broadcasting from where the sun is free and the coal lobby owns most of the government.

About

Thinking about going electric? You've found the right podcast. Whether you're already driving an EV, seriously considering one, or just watching the petrol price creep up and wondering if there's a better way , Aussie EV Pluggers is your weekly guide to all things electric in Australia. Every week we cut through the hype, roast the slow chargers, celebrate the good, and give you straight-talking news and reviews from actual Aussie owners, just real talk. We cover what's arriving in Australia, what it actually costs to run, the charging infrastructure

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