The EV Charging Podcast

Installing an EV charger in an apartment building isn't always straightforward as limited electrical capacity, strata approvals and the cost of upgrading older buildings can all make the process difficult.

In this episode of The EV Charging Podcast, Solar Choice speaks with Carter Li, founder of SWTCH, a Canadian company specialising in EV charging solutions for apartment buildings and shared parking facilities.

Carter shares how his own experience trying to install an EV charger in his apartment building led him to start SWTCH. We discuss the challenges facing apartment residents, how buildings can install chargers without expensive electrical upgrades and what strata committees and building managers need to consider.

We also look at Australia's growing EV market, the arrival of more affordable Chinese electric vehicles and what increasing EV ownership means for apartment charging infrastructure.

Topics covered:

• Why apartment EV charging can be difficult
• How SWTCH got started
• Managing electrical capacity in older buildings
• Strata approvals and the role of building managers
• Installing chargers without major electrical upgrades
• Australia's EV market and the growth of Chinese EVs
• Preparing apartment buildings for future EV demand

Just Jeff Sykes and Daniel Carson running through the EV news that mattered without a guest, plus everything Jeff saw fresh off a trip to China.

They dig into Ampol's ~$225 million acquisition of Evie Networks and the petrol giants racing into charging, then Jeff reports back from what he saw in Wenzhou:

• Charging stations with 100+ chargers 
• 86 EV brands (including BYD, Xiaomi and Li Auto)
• NIO's battery swapping that pulls a full pack in two and a half minutes
• Geely's Horizon vans dominating the commercial segment
• Countdown-timer traffic lights, and 
• Electric heavy trucks with swappable battery packs.

An honest look at how far ahead the EV transition already is overseas, and what's hopefully coming to Australia next.

Brought to you by Solar Choice. Compare free quotes for solar, battery, EV charging, heat pumps and aircon at solarchoice.net.au

Petrol cars could soon be the ones with range anxiety. And some of the world's biggest carmakers may not survive the shift to electric.

In this episode of The EV Charging Podcast, Jeff Sykes and Dan Carson sit down with Sam Evans, creator of The Electric Viking and one of Australia's best-known independent EV voices, to unpack where the global car industry is heading.

Sam shares why he believes Chinese EV manufacturers caught Western and Japanese carmakers sleeping, why decades of brand loyalty could disappear faster than expected, and why buying a hybrid today may carry more risk than many drivers realise.

We also explore:

• Can Toyota, Ford and other legacy carmakers catch up?
• Why Chinese EV manufacturers have moved so quickly
• The electric ute Australia is still waiting for
• Why Sam thinks petrol cars could eventually suffer "range anxiety"
• The rapid evolution of EV batteries and charging
• How rooftop solar could accelerate EV adoption in Australia
• How The Electric Viking grew to hundreds of thousands of subscribers
• Paid car reviews, sponsorships and independence in automotive media

It's a wide-ranging and unfiltered conversation about EVs, batteries, China and the disruption reshaping the global automotive industry.

Australia just passed a milestone: more than one in five new cars sold is now electric.

In this special episode of The EV Charging Podcast, Jeff and Dan report live from the EV Infrastructure Summit in Sydney with three short interviews from the summit floor — covering where vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging really sits, how apartments and public spaces get charging done, and a world-first charger that can rescue a stranded EV on the roadside.

They also run the numbers on an Origin subscription idea — around $800 a month for a BYD Atto 3, a V2G charger and all your home charging in one payment — and share early results from Amber's V2G trial, where owners are expected to earn $2,000 to $3,000 a year letting their car sell power back to the grid.

Guests:
- Portia Rooney — Net Zero Engineering Solutions & Good Batteries on Wheels: where V2G is really at, and how long until you can buy it off the shelf
- Alex Killeen — ACT Government: how the nation's EV capital makes apartment and public charging work
- Mark Wexler — Alpine Energy: the world-first vehicle-to-vehicle charger that gets a flat EV moving again in about 15 minutes

In this episode, we cover:
- Why EVs have passed 20% of new-car sales in Australia
- How much you can earn letting your EV sell power back to the grid
- When you'll actually be able to buy vehicle-to-grid charging off the shelf
- How the Netherlands built a working V2G system Australia can copy
- Why underground car parks are the cheapest place to install apartment EV charging
- What the ACT did to reach 36.5% electric new-car sales in a single month
- Origin's $800-a-month all-inclusive EV subscription idea, run against a novated lease

Petrol and diesel cars are starting to look a lot more expensive.

In this episode of The EV Charging Podcast, Jeff and Dan are joined live from the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney by Tom Gan from Ludicrous Feed to unpack why Australians are suddenly buying EVs, what rising fuel prices mean for petrol car owners, and whether now is the right time to make the switch.

The conversation covers record EV sales in Australia, the changing EV fringe benefits tax rules, the real five-year cost difference between petrol and electric cars, what Tom saw at the Beijing Auto Show, and how home charging, solar and batteries are changing the economics of EV ownership.

In this episode, we cover:

- Why EV sales in Australia have jumped so quickly
- Whether petrol and diesel cars are now becoming the expensive option
- The EV fringe benefits tax changes coming from April 2027
- How EV running costs compare with petrol over five years
- Why Chinese EV brands like BYD, Chery, MG, Kia and Zeekr are gaining ground
- What ultra-fast charging could mean for future EV adoption
- Why electric utes are still harder to crack
- How solar, home batteries and EV charging are becoming one connected home energy decision
- What V2G and V2H could mean for Australian homes in the future

If you are thinking about buying an EV, installing a home charger, or working out whether your next car should still be petrol, this episode is a practical look at what is changing and what Australian drivers should be watching next.

Most people still think of EVs as just cars.

But what if your EV could also help power your home, cut your electricity bills, or even support the grid?

In Episode 18 of The EV Charging Podcast, Jeff Sykes speaks with Matt Downie from V2Grid about the shift that could change how Australians think about EV charging: bidirectional charging.

This conversation explores why the first real use case may not be chasing grid profits at all, but something much more practical — backup power, energy resilience, and getting more value from the battery already sitting in your driveway. Matt also shares what’s happening on the ground in Australia, what’s still holding the market back, and why fleets, councils and everyday households could all play a role in what comes next.

In this episode:

•  Could an EV act like a home battery? 
•  Why bidirectional charging is getting so much attention 
•  The difference between V2H and V2G 
•  What’s already possible in Australia 
•  Why outages and grid pressure are making this more relevant 
•  Where Matt thinks the market is heading next 

In this episode of The EV Charging Podcast, we sit down with Scott Maynard, Managing Director of Polestar Australia, to unpack how one of the world’s fastest-growing EV brands is positioning itself in an increasingly crowded market.

We cover how Polestar has grown in Australia, why the brand is doubling down on a premium EV strategy (while others race to the bottom on price), and what actually matters to buyers beyond spec sheets. 

The conversation also dives into some of the biggest questions facing EVs right now:

•  Is vehicle-to-grid (V2G) actually ready in Australia? 
•  Why aren’t car manufacturers switching it on yet? 
•  What’s really happening with autonomous driving? 
•  And how will policy and incentives shape EV adoption over the next decade? 

Scott also shares insight into Polestar’s shift to a retailer-led model across Australia, the thinking behind its sustainability approach, and what to expect from the upcoming Polestar 5. 

If you’re considering an EV — or just want to understand where the market is heading — this is a practical, no-hype look at what’s actually happening on the ground in Australia.

You’ve seen Woolworths’ electric delivery trucks driving silently through the suburbs.

But where do they charge — and how does that infrastructure actually work?

In this episode of the EV Charging Podcast, we’re joined by Gareth Ridge, Country Manager at Zenobē Australia, to go inside one of Australia’s most innovative commercial EV charging projects: an off-site, multi-user charging hub in Mascot powering last-mile Woolworths delivery trucks.

We break down:

• ⚡ Why space and grid constraints are shaping EV fleet charging
• 🏗️ How a 1MVA, 22-bay charging hub was built on an Ausgrid site
• 💰 The commercial model behind fleet electrification (Total Cost of Ownership explained)
• 🔋 What happens to EV batteries after 8–10 years (second-life storage use cases)
• 🚚 Why light and medium trucks are electrifying faster than prime movers
• 🔮 2026 predictions: megawatt charging, electric ferries, mining fleets & more

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the infrastructure quietly driving Australia’s transport transition.

If you’re interested in EVs, grid-scale batteries, commercial fleet electrification, or the future of energy — this episode is for you.

Jeff Sykes and Dan Carson take a step back to reflect on what actually happened in Australia’s EV market in 2025 and to make some bold, evidence-based predictions for 2026.

From EV sales data and charging infrastructure growth, to government policy, vehicle-to-grid progress, and the rise of Chinese EV brands, this episode connects the dots between headlines, real-world experience, and where the industry is heading next.

The conversation kicks off with a very real (and slightly painful) Christmas road-trip charging fail — before zooming out to the bigger picture of adoption, affordability, infrastructure, and grid reform.

In this episode, Jeff and Dan unpack:

• What Australia’s 100,000+ EV sales milestone really means (and why growth has been slower than early predictions)
• Why plug-in hybrids surged in 2025 — and whether that’s a stepping stone or a detour
• How BYD overtook Tesla in key segments, and why brand “social proof” matters more than specs
• The explosion of new EV models (including sub-$40k and sub-$50k vehicles)
• Why EV utes are still the missing piece — and why the BYD Shark matters
• The impact of vehicle emissions standards and novated lease FBT exemptions
• What’s really holding back public fast charging profitability
• A clear, plain-English explanation of network tariffs and why they matter for EV charging
• The real state of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) in Australia — progress, pilots, and remaining roadblocks
• Why battery health concerns are increasingly misplaced
• What 2026 could bring for:
  • EV adoption rates
  • Charging network consolidation
  • Second-hand EV markets
  • Electric motorcycles
  • Smart home EV chargers and tariff-driven charging

This episode is part industry analysis, part lived experience, and part crystal-ball gazing grounded in data, policy, and what Jeff and Dan are seeing on the ground every day.

If you want a clear-eyed view of where Australia’s EV transition really stands — and where it’s likely headed next — this one’s for you.

Recorded live at Everything Electric Melbourne, this special episode of the EV Charging Podcast takes you onto the show floor with Jeff Sykes and Dan Carson.

Across a series of 3–5 minute interviews, they talk with innovators in:

• EV battery health testing
• On-street home charging for houses with no driveway
• Classic car EV conversions
• High-performance electric motorbikes
• Thermal home batteries for heating & cooling
• Home energy ecosystems (solar, batteries, EV charging, hot water)

You’ll hear from:

• Nathan Gore-Brown – Founder, TEST EV
  Bringing AVILOO battery diagnostics from Austria to Australia & New Zealand to give buyers, sellers and fleets objective EV battery health reports. 
• Ross de Rango – Director & Co-Founder, Vehicle Charging Solutions Australia (VCSA)
  Former Head of Energy & Infrastructure at the Electric Vehicle Council, now piloting an overhead “boom” charger so people without off-street parking can safely charge from their own supply. 
• Scott Anderson – Co-Founder, Revival EV
  Converting classics like a 1970s BMW 2002 into fully electric cars, with reversible conversions that keep the original driveline whenever possible. 
• Sam Carter – Marketing Manager & Lead Creative, Savic Motorcycles
  Part of the founding team behind the Savic C-Series electric café racer, an Aussie-built high-performance electric motorcycle made in West Melbourne. 
• Nick Zeniou – Founder, Thermal Dawn
  Building a “thermal battery” for homes that stores heating and cooling rather than electricity, based on his experience in HVAC and large-scale energy generation. 
• Shahram “Shaz” Shadan – Managing Director, myenergi APAC
  Senior leadership at myenergi, leading the rollout of the zappi EV charger, eddi, harvi and the libbi home battery as a single home-energy ecosystem across Australia and New Zealand. 

Along the way they bust myths about EV battery life, explore how councils are handling on-street charging, and look at how smart home energy management is evolving as more households electrify everything.

Brought to you by Solar Choice, Australia’s online quote comparison tool for solar, batteries, EV chargers, air con and heat pump hot water systems.