This week’s episode discusses new charging technologies from Sinexcel and the Sydney Zeekr launch.
Adrian Maidment (00:00):
Hello and welcome to EV Loop, powered by CarLoop. I’m Adrian Maidment.
Riz Akhtar:
And my name is Riz Akhtar.
Adrian Maidment:
Today, we’re covering the comings and goings of brands in Australia, international EV news stories, the return of the chart of the week, and we’ll also look at what’s coming up in the world of EVs. Hi Riz, good to see you.
Riz Akhtar:
Hi Adrian, good to be on. Once again, there’s lots for us to talk about after all the big shows we covered last week.
Adrian Maidment:
Yes, yes, Riz. There’s a lot going on, but I’d like to start…First up, your trip to Sydney. That was with Zeekr, correct?
Riz Akhtar:
We touched on it briefly last week when Zeekr showcased at the Melbourne Electric SUV Show. They’ve finally had their official launch. So, the Zeekr X is now officially launched in the Australian market. We got a bit of a demonstration of what’s included in the product, the two variants on offer, and a hint at the pricing—not the actual pricing, but just a hint at where both of those variants will fall.
Adrian Maidment:
And what are they hinting at, Riz?
Riz Akhtar:
So, the base model rear-wheel drive is priced at under $60,000, and the all-wheel drive version is going to be priced at under $70,000. They’re sort of teasing it, so we’re not too sure where it’ll end up, but at least this gives us a good starting point. They also reckon they have plenty of pre-orders, which is exciting.
Adrian Maidment:
Yeah, and in the bigger picture, they’re part of a large company.
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, they’re owned by Geely Holdings, which also owns premium brands like Volvo Cars, luxury sports cars like Lotus, and other premium brands like Polestar. So, it’s significant that they’re considering the Australian market. They’re also coming to New Zealand. We don’t know the exact timing, but it’s likely after the Australian test drives begin in a couple of months.
That’s exciting news for the New Zealand EV community. They also announced that they’ll be releasing the newest SUV, the 7X, which was only teased a couple of weeks ago. At the press conference, they kept talking about Zeekr’s speed in releasing products, and I believe it, because the 7X was only unveiled to the world a couple of weeks ago, and they’ve already firmed it up for an Australian launch later next year.
Which obviously means it’ll end up in other markets like New Zealand as well. Quite exciting to see, and yes, I think this brand is going to do quite well in the Australian market.
Adrian Maidment:
So, do you think they’ll be like some other Chinese brands, smashing out new models left, right, and centre?
Riz Akhtar:
I have a feeling they’re a bit more poised. They might do refreshes of existing models, but they’ll bring in the latest technology and take a more staged approach. They know they’ve got established dealers across Australia and want to satisfy the needs of early adopters first. So, they’re focusing on starting from the ground up and supporting those early customers before bringing in 20 new models in the next three years, like we’ve seen with some other brands.
Adrian Maidment:
How are they distributing their vehicles? Do they have their own network?
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, they’ll be going through their own dealer network. It’s good to see they really want to set this up properly. And globally, Zeekr is doing quite well. I think their sales are up by well over 80% year on year, which is impressive. And that’s before some of those global models start rolling out.
And in other general industry news in Australia, Citroën is leaving the Australian market. They weren’t selling too well—they’re a very niche brand, and in the electrification space, they haven’t had much to offer in the Australian market. With the influx of many electric vehicle brands from China, the writing was on the wall. So, after nearly 100 years, they’ve decided to focus on other markets.
Adrian Maidment:
Now, moving on to some sad news regarding EV job losses.
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, Adrian, it’s a tough one. This week, we heard that Evie Networks had to make some difficult decisions and let some people go. For those who may not know, EV Networks runs possibly the second-largest charging network in Australia. The difference being that they own their sites.
They’ve been expanding pretty quickly over the last couple of years, but now they want to refocus their efforts on rolling out more reliable fast-charging infrastructure and perhaps not focus as much on other areas like fleet charging and home charging. While this refocus is necessary, unfortunately, it has led to some redundancies.
We’re really hoping that the rest of the industry can step up and support these people as they transition. It’s a bit of sad news, but we’re hopeful that the industry will support them moving forward.
Adrian Maidment:
That’s very difficult. Now, moving on to a more positive story—Mark Lampard, the charging guru.
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, Mark Lampard’s company, go EV, is a distributor for DC fast chargers for Sinexcel. This week, Adrian, I got to see the latest charger—essentially an upgrade of the existing fast chargers that Mark’s currently helping the industry deploy through go EV. This time around, I got to see three of the latest Sinexcel 80-kilowatt dual output chargers with some interesting tweaks.
Things like cable management, which wasn’t available in the first generation of chargers, making it easier to plug in the car and reducing the weight compared to other chargers on the market today. They also have a larger screen, so the user interface is improved. And, as expected from Sinexcel products, they’re extremely reliable.
I think they’re part of one of the biggest charging sites in the world in Shenzhen, operated by Shell Energy. That sort of technology is now making its way to Australia and New Zealand in the near future. It was really exciting to see it all in place. I wish Mark and the team all the best as they roll these reliable fast chargers out to more Australian sites.
Adrian Maidment:
And not to be outdone in charging, Tesla has new chargers too.
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, Tesla continues to roll out more charging infrastructure. Three new sites opened in August alone in Australia. Starting in South East Queensland at the Ginger Factory, they even held an event involving the public, which was quite exciting. Then in New South Wales, at Chatswood, one of the inner Sydney suburbs, they’ve opened a new 8-stall V4 Supercharger site.
And moving further south to Victoria, where I’m based, the closest site to Melbourne CBD has opened—surprisingly, in South Melbourne, only a couple of kilometres from the heart of Melbourne. It provides EV charging options for many residents and travellers passing through Melbourne, which is exciting to see.
On the back of that, they’ve also announced multiple new fast-charging locations. In Victoria alone, there are four other sites they’ve announced in both regional and metropolitan areas. I think other states and territories have received similar announcements with more sites on the way. Despite what some mainstream media might have suggested, Tesla’s charging network is far from dead, and we can expect many more chargers before Christmas. And many of these sites will be open to non-Tesla vehicles as well, so it’s a win-win for all EV drivers.
Adrian Maidment:
Right, now let’s move on to the chart of the week. What chart have you got for us this week, Riz?
Riz Akhtar:
Adrian, this week’s chart is a special one. We’ve put together EV uptake data and tracked it across multiple states over the last couple of years. We have data from some of the more popular states, including New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. The surprising figure is actually Queensland and how quickly they’re catching up to Victoria.
Queensland has some of the best charging infrastructure in the country, and the government is extremely supportive, which is leading to Queensland, despite being a smaller vehicle market, really catching on to EV uptake and electrification. So, they’re catching up to Victoria, and I think a bit of healthy competition is always a good thing. Queensland now has over 45,000 electric cars, while Victoria has just tipped over 50,000. New South Wales leads the way with close to 65,000 passenger electric cars, and the other states and territories are also doing their bit.
So, I thought I’d put it into a chart to see how it all pans out. It’s worth tracking on a monthly or at least a quarterly basis.
Adrian Maidment:
Just moving on to international news—it’s a bit of a Zeekr week. What’s happening with Zeekr internationally?
Riz Akhtar:
It certainly is, Adrian. Zeekr has announced a refreshed version of their latest car, the 007.
Adrian Maidment:
A refresh? It hasn’t even been on the market for long!
Riz Akhtar:
Exactly. The first deliveries started in December last year. It’s their flagship sedan, loaded with new technology, but it’s already seen a massive boost with their new 800-volt architecture, and the charging speeds are insane. According to Zeekr, and they’ve even released a video showcasing this, the Zeekr 007 can charge from 10% to 80% in just 10 and a half minutes.
To put it into perspective, some of the fastest charging cars in Australia, like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, which are based on Hyundai-Kia Group’s EGMP 800V architecture, claim that their vehicles can charge from 10% to 80% in 18 minutes. This is nearly half that time. And this is a vehicle that’s only been on the market for less than nine months.
It’s an insane amount of charging speed. In the video they shared, the car was able to reach over 470 kilowatts at one stage and maintained a consistent 350 kilowatts throughout most of the charging session. The unique part is that in Australia, I can’t even think of a charger that offers charging speeds over 350 kilowatts, and that was the average speed this car achieved on Zeekr’s 800 kilowatt charging stations. So, it’s exciting stuff. I did get a chance to ask the Managing Director of Zeekr Australia whether there are plans to bring Zeekr Power, their charging division, to the market, and they said, “Watch this space.”
So, they aren’t confirming or denying it, but it’s quite exciting to see that this ultra-fast charging technology is not only coming to these vehicles but we may even get those types of fast chargers in our market in the coming years.
Adrian Maidment:
Any more Zeekr stories?
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, there’s an interesting one about electric autonomous vehicles. There’s a story that came out of the US, shared on X by an EV enthusiast called The Kilowatts, who usually covers Tesla news.
They’ve spotted Waymo’s latest next-generation electric vehicle being tested, and the interesting part is that it had a Zeekr logo on the back, which means Zeekr has been working undercover, potentially supplying the next generation of autonomous vehicles to the autonomous vehicle giant Waymo, backed by Google. We’ll have to watch this space and see what happens. It’s quite fascinating to see how far Zeekr has come—just a couple of months ago, we hadn’t even heard of the brand.
Adrian Maidment:
Upcoming events?
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, Adrian. I’ll be presenting this coming week at the ACT Australian Electric Vehicle Association Members Forum, talking about some of the new trends in the EV market. The ACT, with Canberra as its capital, is quite progressive, so it’ll be good to see what the Australian Electric Vehicle Association members are doing in that space.
I’ll also be attending an event with Europcar to check out trends in the EV rental car industry. I received an invite, so I’ll be there and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share in our next episode.
Adrian Maidment:
And finally, any thoughts on the state of the industry this week?
Riz Akhtar:
Yes, we touched on it earlier. The EV charging sector is going through a bit of a tough time, but given the new electric vehicle models and the variety of them that will be landing in our market, many more people will want to make the switch to an electric vehicle. Hopefully, this will support the charging industry by increasing the utilisation of those chargers, so we can continue rolling out reliable fast-charging infrastructure. I’m hoping this is just a bump in the grand scheme of things.
So, to any of our listeners who are industry-focused, especially those in the charging space, keep an eye out for some very talented people who are looking for new opportunities. And I’ll see you again next week.
Adrian Maidment:
And what should people be doing to keep up to date with the podcast?
Riz Akhtar:
People should like, subscribe, and share. And if anyone’s interested in being a guest, we’re going to start inviting guests to talk about some of the trends they’re seeing in the EV industry. So, reach out to us via CarLoop, and we look forward to it. Thanks, Riz.
