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EV Quest is the electric vehicle podcast for New Zealand, Australia and beyond. Hosted by Adrian Maidment in New Zealand, and joined regularly by Riz Akhtar from Carloop, EV Quest delivers the latest EV news, reviews and industry insights from across New Zealand, Australia and the global EV market.
Each week you’ll hear conversations about electric cars, charging infrastructure, EV ownership and the future of sustainable mobility.
From interviews with EV industry leaders to reviews of the newest electric vehicles, EV Quest keeps you connected to the fast-changing world of electric transport.
EV QUEST PODCAST - 16 Aug 26
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[00:00:00]
[00:00:03] Adrian: Kia ora, and welcome to the EV Quest podcast, called the EV Quest Podcast. I'm Adrian Maidment here in New Zealand, and joining me again from lovely Melbourne, Australia, it's Riz Akhtar. Hi Riz
[00:00:14] Riz: hi, Adrian. Good to be on. I've been in your home country in the last week or so, so I've got a few things to share on that front. But, New Zealand was, pretty good. There's a lot going on
[00:00:23] Adrian: Glowing endorsement. Pretty good. So we'll get to that story. That's quite-- that's our big story. R- Riz living the dream for a few days in New Zealand, which is an interesting combination.
this week's news.
BYD has upgraded the Atto 3, the Atto 3 Evo, coming soon to New Zealand and Australia. it's been updated. There's some new specs. I'll, I'll start with the, the advertising promotion on the website for the Atto 3 in New Zealand, just to give-- set the scene. I always like to do the copywriting side of things,
"Smarter, sharper, more electric." I, I don't know how you get more-- I... More electric, it's a bit vague. [00:01:00] "BYD Atto 3 Evo builds on the success of New Zealand's most popular BYD, bringing in significant upgrades to charging speed, driving range, and performance. Built on BYD's advanced e-platform 3.0, the Atto 3 Evo introduces new dynamic, premium, and performance variants."
That's three variants i- in New Zealand. "Offering a choice of front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive capability. "With DC fast charging of up to 220 kilowatts, up to 150 kilometers of #WLTP driving range, and a refreshed exterior and interior design, the Atto 3 Evo is ready for the next generation of electric driving Riz."
[00:01:41] Riz: Yeah. So this car, of course, is quite remarkable because of it did to the, EV adoption in Australia and New Zealand, when it first launched back in 2022. and yeah, this seems to be quite a bit of an upgrade, but also, Adrian, upgraded [00:02:00] price. What are your thoughts on the price?
[00:02:04] Adrian: yeah, upgrade. So at, at the moment in New Zealand they've got the current version selling. They've got it final call, you know, what do they call it? Fire sale kind- not... Run out, run out stock sale f- from $49,990 plus on-road costs, and the new version is priced from $59,990 plus on-road costs in New Zealand.
the Australian prices, which are a little bit different to the New Zealand prices, I've got here from $41,990 for the Dynamic
[00:02:33] Riz: Yeah. So that Dynamic in Australia appears to be cheaper than the previous, version with that same battery pack. There was an entry-level battery, that was a bit cheaper at thirty-nine nine ninety. the, spec with the bigger battery was, close to forty-four nine ninety. So this forty-one nine ninety is a bit cheaper
[00:02:55] Adrian: And the premium Aussie is $46,990
[00:02:59] Riz: Which in New [00:03:00] Zealand starts at what? 60
[00:03:04] Adrian: Where is it? Where's my list? we've got... I've got my list here. the next one up is 65. Mid-range premium at 65,990
[00:03:14] Riz: Yeah, so that's priced at 46.990 I think we said
[00:03:20] Adrian: Yeah, and then it says that the, the New Zealand, the top of the range one, which I don't think is in Australia, 75... Yeah, I don't, what is it? I don't understand that, Riz. 75,990 all-wheel drive
[00:03:29] Riz: Yeah, so the all-wheel drive we do not get. it could be a variant coming down the track. maybe they don't wanna price it closer to the Sealion 7, which is where it's-- this is all sort of heading. yeah, so that's the, that's the new Ato. It's got faster charging. It's got a refreshed interior, quite a few updates.
I think there'll be updates to the software as well, which would improve the overall experience.
[00:03:54] Adrian: It's not a, and it's not a, it's not like a brand new, it's, it's a refresh we should say, isn't it? It's a refresh.
[00:03:58] Riz: That's right, [00:04:00] yes
[00:04:00] Adrian: Yeah, so it looks quite... That was one of the first EVs I reviewed, so, bit of a soft spot for that. And like you said, it's sort of a, I'm gonna drop in game changer early in the, in the episode here
[00:04:08] Riz: Now, now, as a, as a comparison, how is the Geely EX5 priced in New Zealand? Because I think the Atto 3 is slightly smaller. obviously the new version charge is slightly better
[00:04:23] Adrian: Yeah, the EX, oh, Geely EX5, which I saw in the Crossing yesterday, shop- shopping mall. I walked past that when I was getting a bubble tea, priced from 49,990 plus on-road costs
[00:04:36] Riz: See, that's, that's a, pretty, interesting comparison. And then I know we're gonna talk about this later on. I was walking through, Wellington Airport, a couple of days ago, and they had the ORA5 priced at $37,990
[00:04:53] Adrian: Yes, which I have reviewed
[00:04:54] Riz: Yes. So, you know, the Ano 3 is similarly sized.
[00:04:59] Adrian: [00:05:00] Yeah. I don't know. 'Cause it's
[00:05:00] Riz: it worth twice the money? I'm not sure
[00:05:03] Adrian: kind of in, in the, in the early days it was sort of a, in a sort of almost a unique space, but now there's heaps of competition, isn't there, Riz?
[00:05:09] Riz: then there's Jaecoo J5 EV as well, which... A- and then there's MG S5. I mean, there's just a huge list
[00:05:16] Adrian: Yes. So what, yeah, so I guess, I guess we'll see what happens there. It is quite a very competitive space, and people are quite price sensitive
[00:05:25] Riz: maybe people will revolve towards the BYD brand given how strong it is in general, but are they willing to pay that sort of premium compared to some of the cars that we've just spoken? I guess we will see
[00:05:38] Adrian: And, and some of those cars have been getting very favorable reviews, haven't they? The p- sort of low price, but c- you know, v- value for money. We'll see how the market evolves
Anyway, that's good to see. Good to see a new vehicle. and then moving along, next up I've got, I've got- we're gonna go,
the classic legacy, legacy [00:06:00] brand, Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi, the new ASX VIRE based on the Foxtron Bria, an electric crossover developed in Taiwan, and I have driven the, Bria. I have a YouTube video on that.
I think I'm the only person to do, or the first person at least to do an English version review of that. So if you s- if you do a Google search, YouTube search Bria Taiwan, my lovely face should pop up. so that's a p- Mitsubishi's bringing that out. it's a compact electric crossover around four point, 4.3 meters long, sort of a small SUV compact crossover.
the Bria was designed by Pininfarina styling, Pininfarina styling. and then Mitsubishi's done their thing on, giving it a bit of a Mitsubishiness. so that'll be coming out in the fourth quarter. and price-wise, I've got some... I've got the Taiwan pr- you can't really compare the Taiwan prices directly because the New Zealand dollar's rubbish as well.
but the base model of Bria is, is roughly [00:07:00] 48,000 New Zealand dollars for the base model. But I, I don't think you can get too close 'cause like New Zealand exchange rate's rubbish. but that's what it sort of compares to at the moment, going up to 56 and then 61,000 for the top spec model of that at the moment.
So like, like the, like the Atto 3, it's in a competitive space as well
[00:07:22] Riz: yeah. So this is gonna be interesting because yeah, w- it's, it's coming out. We don't know the exact pricing. I'm a bit, you know, I'm a bit confused about the name because the ASX already as an ASX, and if it was Maybe it's like the Suzuki Vitara and e-Vitara. if it's priced anything like Suzuki e-Vitara, although in my opinion it looks, lot nicer than the e-Vitara, it's... Hopefully we'll get a few Mitsubishi buyers. But my thinking is this is going to be priced, a bit higher than what you would pay for some of the cars that we have been [00:08:00] talking about
[00:08:00] Adrian: Yeah.
[00:08:01] Riz: podcast
[00:08:02] Adrian: I don't think it's like your budget, going on price completely sort of thing. It's gonna be a higher price definitely. So it's gonna have to compete not just on price, it's gonna have to compete on quality and performance
But styling-wise, it looks good. Mitsubishi, of course, has a pretty solid brand in both, New Zealand and Australia. strong dealer network. I'm not sure if it will end up coming with their ten-year warranty that they've been sort of-- or Diamond Advantage or whatever they've been putting out there for their other cars. but yeah, I think it's, going to be interesting to see now that some of the legacy brands are starting to bring their own electric models, however they're produced, And the Foxtron which built the Br- Bria, they've actually got a-- There's a larger model out as well, the Caveira, which is sort of in the Model Y space. So that's just re- re- recently been released as well. So that could also turn up under the Mitsubishi brand or [00:09:00] another brand. Probably Mitsubishi, I guess.
[00:09:01] Riz: watch this
[00:09:02] Adrian: Watch this space. and talking of watching this space, let's get onto Riz is living the dream in New Zealand. Riz rec- recently flew into New Zealand, caught the snow Over to you, Riz.
[00:09:14] Riz: Yeah. So,
I had a chance to, head over to Queenstown and, look at some of Zeekr's upcoming products in the Australia and New Zealand markets. quite interesting to see the type of cars they're bringing in. There's, luxury SUVs. There is, more luxury SUVs. and, and also got to drive some of their current lineup on, ice, up in the sort of, alpine part of, the South Island. can't disclose the exact location, but, they-- it was, quite interesting to see how these cars performed on, snow and icy conditions. and yeah, it's-- appears to be one of the brands to keeping-- to keep an eye out, out on, as we sort of head into late [00:10:00] 2026, into 2027 with their future models that they're bringing in
[00:10:05] Adrian: One model that was there. What's, what is the... They had a couple of the, the sort of ones that they've already got, haven't they?
[00:10:09] Riz: So the ones they've already got, the Zeekr X, the Zeekr 009, and the Zeekr 7X were there. being sort of their best-selling vehicle to date. then they also had the Zeekr 8X and 9X. They're the large plug-in hybrid SUVs, but with of power. They had the Zeekr 001 FR, which is a quad motor, zero to a hundred in two seconds sort of a car. it was surprisingly interesting driving that on ice because you'd think with that sort of power, it'd be pretty hard to control. but doing some of the Gymkhana and other sort of activities that they had planned, it was surprisingly well managed. I think the quad motor setup does help it quite a bit of traction when it needs it. and, then they had, the, the Zeekr 7, GT, which, [00:11:00] we have seen at some of the shows being, early previewed late last year in Australia. and, yeah, so that was there as well. So that's quite, a big sort of lineup of cars. also got to drive the new Zeekr X. I was pleasantly surprised at all the changes they've made in that car. For a-- For that size of car, there's not a lot of other cars with that level of premium feel, and they've done a lot-- they've made a lot of changes on the inside, as well as have upgraded the motor on that car as, as well. So it's pretty powerful. so yeah, lots of cool things from and it was really unique for them to show that in South Island in New Zealand.
[00:11:45] Adrian: That's good.
And, and speaking of driving, what have you been, what have you been driving this week, Riz, apart from vehicles in the snow?
[00:11:50] Riz: I have been, I've, I've been driving the Kia PV5,
[00:11:53] Adrian: yeah, the van. The van. That's right. How's that? You looking, rocking the, rocking the, the roads on that
[00:11:59] Riz: [00:12:00] Yeah, really good. Really easy to sort of drive around in and, yeah, quite fun. haven't been able to load it with anything yet,
[00:12:05] Adrian: I was gonna say,
[00:12:06] Riz: a
[00:12:06] Adrian: she haven't moved house or anything this week with, with that extra opportunity there.
[00:12:15] Riz: so yeah, that's cool, and then I that for another week, and then after that I will have another van which I'll share with you
[00:12:21] Adrian: Okay. and probably get to our weekly sometimes Tesla story. This is in The Driven.
Tesla launches vehicle-to-load on all Model Y premium models. This is your article, Riz, in The Driven
[00:12:34] Riz: Yeah. So that, that sort of, came-- that news sort of came out in the l- last day or so. only in the US at the moment. and you do need a bit of additional hardware to make it all happen. you need a Tesla mobile wall connector or, and a adapter as well. So but apparently it's only-- We don't really know which models it's compatible with, but as far as we can see at the moment, [00:13:00] it's with model Ys you can purchase today from the configurator. So we don't know about its backwards compatibility. but yeah, it seems like quite a few hoops to jump through to get V2L when a lot of the Chinese cars have been doing that for a long, long time now, including giving you, you know, a power board type of an adapter that you just plug in like the BYDs do. So we'll see how pop-popular it is, in, in the US and, what Tesla's plans are to broadly rolling it out to markets like, you know, Australia and New Zealand.
[00:13:34] Adrian: And just into the sort of the car loop space, any sort of charging key stories this week news or
[00:13:39] Riz: look,
charging-wise, there hasn't been a lot in the last week or so, but there's a few sites. There's a big site going up near Melbourne Airport that I'm quite interested to see, with 24 charging bays. it appears from some anecdotal evidence that there's, more and more, people queuing up on certain days, on [00:14:00] the weekend at some of the larger charging sites as well. so, you know, we just need more chargers in the ground in both Australia and New Zealand
[00:14:08] Adrian: And, and anything, and what would, any sort of key point to finish off on for today, Riz? Anything, any, any top tip or, driving insight or
[00:14:14] Riz: I'm starting to get more and more, insights into the models that are coming up for the rest of the year. There'll be a few unveiled in the next couple of months at some of the car shows that are being held locally here in the Australian market, which of course, many of them are going to be heading to New Zealand as well.
So, watch this space. We'll be bringing more and more of this stuff on EV Quest to all the listeners
[00:14:36] Adrian: Okay, Riz,
we'll leave it there, and, look forward to seeing some of those snaps from New Zealand. And, oh, also the Evie Quest website, I'm in the process of actually updating that. I've done a temporary one. Evie Quest. Hang on. Got to give you the right one, because I was Googling and then there's someone else with the same name down the south, and they've got a website.
So my one is eviequest.co.nz.co.nz. [00:15:00] Tell me I'm not gonna have a--
[00:15:01] Riz:
[00:15:02] Adrian: one down in the South Island where you just were. I'll have to give them a call. so that, and I'm working on a more advanced one. Anyway, Evie Quest, it's to start a website up, rebuilding.
and that's pretty much it, and we'll see you all next week, and thank you, Riz
[00:15:18] Riz: Thanks for having me on, Adrian. See you next week