Episode 63 | Deep Dive: Leapmotor B10 EREV Lands, BYD Pushes V2G, Skoda Peaq Takes Shape, and EV Prices Keep Falling

In episode 63 of Plugged In Australia, we cover another big week in Australian EV and plug-in news. Skoda’s upcoming Peaq seven-seat electric SUV is getting closer, with official aero details now out ahead of its full reveal. Cadillac explains why it has slashed Lyriq pricing in Australia, and BYD steps to the front of Amber’s expanded vehicle-to-grid rollout.

We also dig into the Leapmotor B10 Hybrid EV, a new range-extender SUV priced from $37,888 before on-road costs, with a proper credit to listener Muzza for flagging the story. Plus, Lexus edges closer to a decision on the six-seat TZ electric SUV for Australia, Dreame promises physical buttons in its upcoming EVs, BYD outlines its Shark 6 ute growth plan, CATL pushes sodium-ion battery development, BYD signs Pickles as its Australian auction partner, Essential Energy seeks approval for 300 kerbside chargers in regional NSW, and BYD claims it wants to become the world’s biggest carmaker within five years.

Main episode YouTube timestamps

0:00 Intro
1:02 Skoda Peaq seven-seat electric SUV takes shape
7:30 Cadillac explains Lyriq price cuts in Australia
12:34 BYD moves to the front of Amber’s V2G expansion
17:25 Leapmotor B10 Hybrid EV lands from $37,888
26:55 Lexus TZ Australia decision expected later this year
32:56 Dreame says its EVs will keep physical buttons
36:49 BYD Shark 6 sales plan, new variants and 3500kg towing
41:35 CATL sodium-ion batteries move closer to production
45:48 Used EVs gain ground as BYD signs Pickles auction deal
48:49 Essential Energy wants 300 kerbside chargers in regional NSW
52:15 BYD wants to become the world’s biggest carmaker
55:57 Outro

Disclaimer:

All specifications, pricing, and information discussed in this episode were correct at the time of recording. The electric vehicle market moves quickly, so we recommend you always check the latest details directly with manufacturers, dealers, or official sources.

This podcast provides general news and information only, based on publicly available sources and Australian Consumer Law guidelines. It is not legal, financial, or professional advice. For advice specific to your situation, please contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) or seek independent professional guidance.

Plugged in Australia and its hosts are not responsible for any decisions, misunderstandings, or purchases made based on the content of this show.

Sourcing & Transparency

At Plugged in Australia, all our stories are sourced from publicly available news articles and reports. We do not receive any advance information or briefings from brands or manufacturers.

Any analysis or opinions we share are based solely on this public information.

Our main sources include (though we also use many others, and they vary by episode):

• https://www.carsales.com.au/
• https://www.carexpert.com.au/
• https://thedriven.io/
• https://www.carsguide.com.au
• https://autotalk.com.au
• https://www.carsguide.com.au
• https://evcentral.com.au
• https://www.drive.com.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

G'day, welcome to Plugged in Australia episode 63 for Friday, the 12th of June 2026. Today we've got another Packed Australian EV and plug-in news roundup, and this one really shows how quickly the market is changing. Skoda's big 7-seat electric SUV is getting closer. Cadillac has explained why the lyric needed a serious price reset. BYD is moving deeper into vehicle to grid with amber, and Leap Motor is bringing a very interesting range extender version of the B10 to Australia. We're also going to look at Lexus and the 6-seat TZ Electric SUV. Dreams promise that its future EVs won't be just another screen on wheels. BYD's plan to grow Shark 6 sales, CATL sodium iron battery push, Australia's used EV market, curbside charging in regional New South Wales, and BYD's Very Bold Global Ambition. Let's get into it. It is due to make its full world premiere on the 23rd of June. But Skoda has already started talking about one of the big technical priorities behind the car, and that's aerodynamics. And for a big 7-seat SUV, the Aero figure is pretty interesting. SCODA says the lowest achieved drag coefficient is a 0.249. It's a pretty impressive number for something this large because big electric SUVs have a constant fight on their hands. They need space, they need battery capacity, they need comfort, but they also push a lot of air at highway speeds. And in Australia that matters. The large family EV is not just going to do the school run. It's doing Sydney to Canberra, Melbourne to the coast, Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, you got the Blue Mountains, regional getaways, holiday runs with your luggage, and all the usual family chaos at highway speeds, aerodynamics can make a real difference to range. Scotter has said the peak gets there through a whole package of details rather than one magic trick. It uses air curtain ducts through the front bumpers to smooth airflow around the front wheels. There are integrated wheel arch spoilers, underbody air deflectors, an active rollerblind between the coolers, aerodynamic wheel covers, smoother body sides, minimal transitions around the glass house, flush retractable door handles, and carefully shaped rear end details, including a roof spoiler. That's the sort of stuff that sounds pretty boring until you remember what it does. Every bit of drag reduction helps the car use less energy at speed, and it can also reduce wind noise and improve cooling efficiency. For a family SUV, quietness and efficiency matter just as much as headline range. The peak is expected to be around 4.9 meters long with a wheelbase of around 2965mm. That puts it close to large SUV territory, but not as massive as some of the biggest electric SUVs now appearing. Underneath it rides on the Volkswagen Group's MEB electric platform. That's the same broad electric architecture used across vehicles like the Skoda Enyak, the VWID4, and ID Buzz, though the peak will obviously sit at the larger end of the family. Now, because the full production model has not yet been revealed, we need to be a little bit careful with final specifications. Pre-production and overseas reporting point to multiple battery options, including a smaller pack which is around the low 60kWh range, and a larger pack around the low 90kWh range. Reported WLTP range figures are expected to stretch from the mid 400km zone in lower variants to more than 600km in long range versions. That sort of spread makes a little bit of sense. You've got a cheaper entry-level variant, which will give Skater a better shot at the value conscious family buyers, while the large battery gives long distance users the range they expect from such a big EV. There's also talk of rear-wheel drive single motor variants and higher grade all-wheel drive versions. That would line up with how the MEB platform is already used across other Volkswagen Group EVs. Again, though, until SCODA locks the production specs, it's best to treat those details as expected rather than final. Where the peak would really be interesting is practicality. SCODA has built a reputation on clever packaging, big boots, sensible cabins, and simply clever, as they uh like to say, in their marketing. And a seven-seat EV is exactly the sort of car where those things matter. Boot space with all three rows in use, access to the third row, charge and cable storage, child seat friendliness, re-seat ventilation, and how the third row folds will all matter just as much as battery size. The interior is also expected to follow Scoda's newer design direction with a more modern layout, larger screens, and the brand's newer software approach. But the big selling point should be the space and usability, not just the screens. For Australia, the timing is still the big unknown. Scoda Australia has already shown interest in upcoming electric models, and the smaller Epic has been talked about for local launch in 2027. The peak would logically follow or arrive around the same broad period, however, timing is not formally locked. The competitive set is pretty obvious. Kia already has the EV9, Hyundai has the Ionic 9, Volvo has the EX90, and Lexus is evaluating the TZ, which we'll touch on a little bit more later. Zika and other Chinese premium brands, rather, are moving pretty quickly. And if Skoda can bring a proper 7-seat EV with European practicality, long range and a price below the very top luxury players, could have a strong case. Doesn't even need to be above the luxury players. EV9 is and the Ionic 9 are all, you know, 130 to 150 grand for decently spec' models, so we'll see how we go. But the risk is that SCODA cannot afford to arrive late or overpriced. The Australian EV market is moving very quickly. A car that looks competitive in Europe in 2026 can be under pressure by the time it lands here if Chinese brands keep pushing range, equipment and pricing. But conceptually the peak is exactly the sort of EV Australia needs more of, not another tiny city car. Not another luxury coupe SUV, a proper, family-sized electric SUV with seven seats, decent aero and sensible packaging. And that's not to say that small city cars aren't very important, they certainly are, especially as second cars, but as I've probably mentioned about half a dozen times now, we don't have many big seven-seat SUVs, and you drive around and you see plenty of Palisades and Santa Fe's and all those sorts of seven-seat SUVs, and they're mostly diesel and a little bit of petrol mixed in there, so it's definitely a very untapped area of the market. So hopefully, if Skoda gets the price and the timing right, this could be one of the more relevant European EVs for Australian families. Now Cadillac has given some more context around why the lyric has had such a major price cut in Australia, and this is one of those stories that says a lot about where the EV market is now. The Cadillac lyric launched in Australia with a very premium pricing. It was originally positioned well above $100,000 before on-road costs, and later pricing sat even higher again. Now Cadillac has reset the lyric to $90,000 before on-road costs for both the luxury and sports variants, with a nationwide driveaway offer of $95,000, which is running until 30 June 2026. That's a huge cut. We are talking about roughly $32,000 less than where the car started. Cadillac's local leadership has essentially acknowledged what anyone watching the market could already see. You know, as they say, blind Freddy in a dark room could see it. The Australian EV market moved quickly, and luxury EV buyers now have more choice than ever. That's the key point. This is not just Cadillac deciding to be generous. The brand looked at the market and realized the new luxury EV badge alone is just not going to cut the mustard. Australia is now getting premium EVs from Europe, Korea, China, and the United States, and the Chinese luxury brands in particular are putting serious pressure on established names. Now a few years ago, a luxury brand could bring in a large EV, price a comfortably above 100 grand, and rely heavily on brand appeal. That window is narrowing. Buyers are comparing range, performance, battery size, interior tech, charging speed, warranty, ownership support, your tax treatment, and resale risk. If the value equation doesn't stack up, they will wait. Negotiate, salary package something else, or move to a rival brand. There's also a tax angle. By moving the Lyric to $90,000 before on road costs, Cadillac has positioned it below the fuel efficient luxury car tax threshold for the 25-26 financial year. That threshold is $91,387,000. And from 1st of July 2026, it rises slightly to $91,661. So at $90,000 the lyric sits just under that line. That matters because eligible battery electric vehicles under the fuel efficient luxury car tax threshold can qualify for the federal government's fringe benefits tax exemption. Fornovated lease and business buyers, that can make a pretty decent difference to the real world monthly cost. Cadillac clearly wants the lyric to be part of that salary packaging conversation, which is going away pretty soon. It's one thing to have a luxury EV sitting at 120 grand plus where it becomes very hard to justify. It's another thing to have it sit just under the key threshold with a driveaway offer under 100k. Now that does not suddenly make it cheap, definitely not, but it does make it sound like a very different proposition. The other factor is brand establishment. As I have mentioned before on the previous episode, Cadillac is a famous American name, but in Australia it it's effectively a new showroom brand in the modern era. That means it has to build trust. Buyers are gonna ask, what's the dealer support like? Not very good. What's the part supply like? Who knows? What happens to resale? If you bought one before the price dropped, hold on to your pants. Is Cadillac here for the long haul? Again, like we saw with Holden, genuine, very genuine questions. A sharper price helps reduce some of that hesitation. Possibly. The lyric itself is still a serious large electric SUV. It's not being turned into a budget car, it has a strong road presence, a premium cabin, and a very different flavour for the from the European and Korean rivals. However, the pricing reset shows that the luxury EV premium is under some pressure. And Cadillac isn't alone. Lexus has cut the RZ pricing, Volvo has adjusted electric model pricing, BMW has introduced some sharper EV pricing in parts of its lineup. So the market is sending a clear message. If you want volume in Australia, especially above 80 grand, you need to be very careful. Fact of the matter is that it's great news for buyers, but not great for early adopters. As I said, if you bought a luxury EV at full price and then the brand chops tens of thousands off the sticker, that can hurt resale confidence. Car makers need to balance short-term volume with long-term trust. But from a market point of view, that is this is exactly what competition does. Drags the prices down. It forces brands to sharpen the offer. It gives Australian buyers a little bit more leverage. It's also worth noting that I don't think Cadillac are reporting their numbers. The Big Fat Zero next to their numbers for May and for April. Don't know anything further back than that, so they may be and they're just not selling anything. But more most likely they are not reporting their numbers. So it's very hard to know how the market is going with that. So I think the days of simply launching an EV at a luxury brand premium and expecting buyers to line up are pretty much done and dusted. Alright, onto a story that we've uh covered, I believe it was the last episode, in regards to the Amber, the vehicle to grid rollout before. So a little bit of uh fresh information to update on that story is that BYD is being pushed to the front of the next stage of that expansion. So Arena is adding $13.6 million in funding to expand Amber Electric's EV charging project. That brings total project funding to $16.8 million, and the vehicle to grid side of the trial is set to grow from $50 to 1,000 households. The wider smart charging site is also growing from 950 homes to 2,000 homes. It's a pretty meaningful step, it does not mean every BYD owner can suddenly export power from their car tomorrow, but it does mean V2G is moving from small pilot territory into something much closer to a proper real-world rollout. The idea behind vehicle to grid is pretty simple, even if the execution is a little bit more complicated. An EV does not just take electricity. With the right car, the right charger, the right approvals, and the right retail setup, it can send electricity back to the house or to the grid. Instead of an EV only being for transport, it becomes a mobile battery. For Australia, that makes a lot of sense. We have a lot of rooftop solar. I believe we have the largest rooftop solar per capita in the world. We have big evening peaks, we have more households looking at batteries, and most cars spend most of their lives parked up. So if you have a 60, 70, or even a hundred kilowatt hour battery sitting in the driveway, you only need a fraction of that for daily driving, which is a pretty decent opportunity. Now, in theory, you could charge when solar is abundant or wholesale power is cheap, then export some of that energy when the grid is under pressure or prices are higher. For a household with the right tariff and control software, that could reduce bills or even create export revenue. But we need to be honest about the barriers. The first issue is vehicle compatibility. Not every EV supports bidirectional charging, and even when the hardware can technically do it, manufacturer approval and warranty support are crucial. The second issue is charger compatibility. You need a bidirectional charger that is approved for local use, safely installed and integrated with the retailer and with the network's requirements. Third issue is grid approval. Electricity networks are cautious about export because they have to be. Thousands of household batteries and EVs pushing power at the wrong time in the wrong place can create local network problems. The fourth issue is customer trust. People need to know the car will still have enough charge in the morning. Nobody wants to wake up to a half-empty EV because an app got too enthusiastic overnight. That's where the BYD angle matters. BYD is now one of Australia's most important plug-in brands. It's gone pretty mainstream. The AtO3, Dolphin, Seal, Sealine 6, Sealine 7, Shark 6, Sealion 8, they've all put the brand into the middle of the Australian market. If BYD can help normalise V2G or at least help validate how the technology works with current high-volume vehicles, that could move things along much faster. This trial is also not just about proving the technology works once. The bigger goal is to have car makers' confidence around battery use, battery health, warranties, and real-world behaviour. That matters because V2G creates a different type of battery use. A car battery may cycle more often if it is supporting the house or the grid. It doesn't automatically mean disaster. Modern batteries are built to cycle, but manufacturers need data and consumers need confidence. The other thing to remember is that smart charging may be just as important as V2G in the short term. Even if a car cannot export power, it can still charge at better times. If thousands of EVs automatically avoid peak demand and charge when renewable energy is strong or power is cheaper, that helps the grid and helps households. V2G is the more exciting story here, but smart charging is the immediate foundation. The hard truth is that Australians have heard Vehicle to Grid is coming for years and years and years. A lot of people are tired of being told it's nearly here. It's like the solid state batteries almost. The difference now is that the ecosystem is slowly coming together. Government funding, an energy retailer, charging partners, manufacturers, and real households. So this is why I thought I'd mention this story again, just given that fresh perspective on BYD's more prominent role for anybody thinking about buying a car that may want to look at V2G, know that BYD is definitely in that headspace. So for EV owners, this is one of the more important energy stories to keep an eye on. Not because it changes everything tomorrow or because it shows where the market is heading. Cars, homes, batteries, solar, and the grid all starting to work together. So this is uh exactly the sort of plug-in story worth paying attention to because it's not a regular hybrid, it's not just another petrol SUV with a tiny battery. So Leap Motor is bringing a range extender version of the B-10 small SUV to Australia, and locally it's being called the B-10 Hybrid EV. The naming's a little messy, don't really like it because different brands use different terms. But the basic setup is this it's an electric drive SUV with a petrol engine used as a generator. The petrol engine does not directly drive the wheels, the wheels are driven by the electric motor, the petrol engine is there to generate electricity when the battery needs support. So that puts the B10 hybrid EV into EREV territory, an extended range electric vehicle. This matters because EREVs are starting to look like a very serious bridge technology for us in Australia. They give people electric driving for day-to-day use, but with long distance flexibility for road trips, regional driving, towing, light duty cases at least, or areas where public charging is still very patchy. The B10 hybrid EV is priced from 3788 before on-road costs for the style and 40,000 AAA for before on-road costs rather for the design. That's the same price as the fully electric B10 long-range variants. I think this is a smart move from Elite Motor, means buyers are not being punished for choosing the range extender version. Instead, they can choose based on use case. If you're ready for full battery electric, you choose the BEV. If you want mostly electric driving, but you still want that petrol back up for long distance trips, you can choose the hybrid EV. I really don't like that that they're calling it hybrid, it makes it sound like a Prius or something. Anyway, the powertrain uses an 18.8 kilowatt hour LFP battery, a 1.5 litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the generator, and a rear-mounted electric motor. Output is 160 kW and 240 Nm, with drive going to the rear wheels. The claimed 0 to 100km an hour time is 7.5 seconds. It's not a performance car, so but that's the figures anyway. The electric only WLTP range is up to 84 kilometres. Total range is up to 900km, helped by the petrol generator and a 50 litre fuel tank, of course. Claimed combined fuel consumption is 0.9 litres per 100km. But as always, with these sorts of cars, that number only makes sense if the owner, say it with me, charges the car regularly. That is the key point. If you plug it in every night or every few days, 84 kilometers of electric range could cover most daily use for a lot of households. School runs, uh commuting to work, shops, sports trips, local trips, but most of that could be electric if not all of it. Then when you need to drive further, you've got the generator there. If you never plug it in, don't bother, you're not using the car properly. Go and buy something else. Charging is modest but appropriate for the battery size. AC charging is up to 6.6 kW and DC charging up to 46 kW. Leap Motor claims a 30 to 80% DC charge can take around 20 minutes. On a battery of this size, you do not need an ultra fast 200kW charging to make the car useful. The B10 hybrid EV also gets four energy modes EV Plus, EV, Fuel, and PowerPlus. Now those modes give the driver a little bit more control over whether the car prioritizes battery use, holds the charge, uses the range extender more heavily, or leans into maximum performance. The car remains rear-wheel drive and uses a multi-link rear suspension setup. That's worth noting because it's not just a basic budget SUV platform with a token plugin system added. Equipment is pretty pretty strong. The style grade includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a fixed panoramic roof, which for some reason I call a moon roof. I'm not sure where I got that from. I think that's what they're called, and that's what we always called it when I was in the car game. Uh an 8.8 inch digital instrument cluster, a 14.6 inch central touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto, wireless phone charging, automatic climate control, heated exterior mirrors. Surround view camera, integrated 360-degree dash cam recording, rear parking sensors, connected services, over-the-air update capability. Actually got to get over the air updates, anyway, and the Leap Pilot Driver Assistant Suite. Now the design grade adds Hancook Ion EV to Evo tires, rather, a power tailgate, power folding mirrors, range sensing wipers, privacy glass, synthetic leather trim, power adjustable front seats, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a 12 speaker audio system, and multicolour ambient lighting. For early buys, Leak Motor is also offering a launch pack for the first 500 orders, as long as the order is placed before the end of September 2026, and delivery is taken before the end of December. That pack includes three years of scheduled servicing support, premium paint, a 7kWar box charger, and a vehicle to load cable with carry case. I don't just a quick side note, I'm digressing a little bit in this episode on some of these points. I write them down and then I, you know, as I'm reading these back out to you, I think of them of another point. It's a few people have been mentioning on the socials about charges, and I I really wouldn't be installing a seven kilowatt charger. Now that car can only use that. Fair fair, fair. But you're gonna be spending all this money to get it installed, and it's gonna be almost the same price to install a seven kilowatt charger as it is to install a 22 kilowatt. Now that's provided you've got three phase, but if you're single phase and the 11 or 12 kilowatt charger, okay, maybe the cable size might be slightly different, and so that will change the price slightly, but nothing dramatic. So I don't know why they don't just offer a 11 kilowatt charger, single phase, and then have the three-phase there as an option as well. We want to be future-proofing these things, and then the last thing you need is you know to install this, have this car, and then say, Oh, I want a full B battery electric vehicle, and that one then comes out, it's got better charging. You need to be future-proofing your installs, not sticking seven kilowatt chargers on the wall. Anyway, I digress. Um, it'll also come with a vehicle to load cable with a carry case. Installation of that wall box is separate, so do not read that as a fully installed charger, but still a nice sweetener there, I guess. Warranty coverage is listed at six years or 150,000 kilometers for the vehicle and eight years or 160,000 kilometres for the battery. Roadside assistance is also included, and servicing intervals are every 12 months or 20,000 kilometres. Now, in market terms, it's a very interesting car. It sits near the price of entry-level EVs and affordable small SUVs, but it offers a use case those cars do not. Now, it could appeal to buyers who like EV smoothness, a low running costs, but still do occasional long distance driving where they do not want to depend entirely on charging. It also puts pressure on regular hybrids. A normal hybrid can be efficient, but it cannot do 80 plus kilometres of electric only driving from a plug-in battery. Now, for the right household, this sort of EREV setup could be far closer to an EV experience than a regular hybrid. The risk is education. As I said before, a lot of buyers hear hybrid and think Toyota style, regular hybrid, Prius, Camry, etc. etc. That's not what this is. This is closer to an electric vehicle with a petrol generator backup. Leap Motor and its dealers will need to explain that reasonably clearly. They need to show people that B10 hybrid EV is not about avoiding charging, it's about doing most of your driving electrically while having a backup plan. Now, my thoughts on why they haven't called it an EREV could be because it has a very small battery in EREV terms. Now, in hybrid terms, it's reasonable, but you look at some of the other plug-in hybrids, and they've got 30 kilowatt hour batteries. So it's important to know that it's a very small battery, and so generally e-revs have almost the same size battery as EVs, 50 kilowatt hours, 60 general big batteries, and then a very small one to one and a half litre generator and genuinely a E-Rev. So that could be the reason why they don't want people thinking these have big batteries because e-revs typically have bigger batteries. So just my thoughts on that after sort of pondering that. Um I had don't have any uh inside information from Leap Motor there, but just my uh my thoughts on that particular one. So uh and it's priced reasonably well at 37 uh 888 before on road costs, it's pretty sharp and should get a little bit of a uh little bit of attention on there. So it's not just another model variant, it is one of the clearest signs that range extender EVs are becoming a real part of the Australian plugin conversation. Lexus is edging closer to a decision on the TZ Electric SUV for Australia, and this is another story we need to treat as an update rather than a brand new reveal. I've already talked about the Lexus TZ a couple of times before, so a little bit of fresh new information is that an Australian decision is expected later this year. The TZ matters because it gives Lexus a proper large electric SUV. It is a six-seat, three-row luxury EV designed around comfort, space, and quietness rather than just maximum seat count. Internationally, Lexus describes the TZ as a driving lounge with its marketing language, but the idea is clear: this is meant to be a premium, long-distance family cruiser with a proper second row experience, a calm cabin and usable third row space. The provisional European specifications are reasonably strong. The TZ is a 5.1 metres long, 1990mm wide, and 1705mm tall with a 3050mm wheelbase. Now that makes it longer than a Kia EV9 and puts it right into large luxury SUV territory. It uses Lexus's Direct 4 all-wheel drive system with E-axles front and rear. System output is listed at 300kW and the claimed 0 to 100km hour time is around 5.4 seconds. Battery is a 95.82 kWh lithium-ion pack in the provisional European material with a claimed range of up to 530 kilometers, depending on your specification. Charging is also decent, but it's not class leading. DC charging is rated at around 150 kW with 10 to 80% charge expected to take around 35 minutes. The really interesting detail for Australia is the onboard AC charger is listed at 22 kilowatts. Now this is the DC charging is garbage. Like when you consider how much this car's gonna cost, 200 grand plus most likely. But how often really most people are gonna be doing short trips? AC charging. If you've got solar or you're on a cheap uh EV plan, you know, you've got that 22 kilowatt AC charge, you're gonna fully charge the car in about four or five hours, and it's done. So that's and you're gonna be using that all the time, every week, every day, however often you need to charge it. But the DC, what, twice a year? You're gonna go away at Easter, you might go away at Christmas, I don't know. Some people like to some people clogged up the uh Great Western Highway coming back from the King's birthday long weekend for two days, I don't know, anyway. That's got nothing to do with EVs, but you you get where I where I'm going with that. Um you know it matters because Australia has plenty of three phase homes, businesses, and and depots. I have three phase at home, I have three phase at work. Three phase at home is normally because you've got a big as uh air conditioning unit and it needs three phase, um, which is my case. So might as well take advantage of it. So yeah, um it just makes a lot more sense. So a lot of people need to not focus so much on the DC charging, but that 22kW AC charging is mint, as they say. The TZ also has a 1500kg braked towing rating in the provisional specs, and luggage space is listed from 290 litres with all seats in use to just over 2000 litres with the re rows folded. Those numbers matter because a large family EV needs to do more than look impressive on paper, needs to carry people and stuff. Lexus is also expected to load the car with the latest Lexus safety and assistance systems. It includes an evolved pre-collision system, a dynamic radar cruise control, lane change assistance, and the sort of quiet, refined cabin that Lexus buyers expect. For Australia, the business case is clear but not guaranteed. The opportunity is there, and still not many proper large luxury electric SUVs with three rows. There's none. Well, there's not none, there's three. The Kia EV9 is already here, it's already proven that buyers exist. Hyondo has the Ionic 9, and Volvo has the EX90. Cadillac's got the Vistic coming, maybe. Uh Mercedes Benz has the EQS SUV, uh, but that's at a very high price point. The Lexus TZ would give Toyota's luxury arm a serious entry in that space. Challenge is going to be pricing. Lexus has already had to adjust the EV pricing in Australia with the RZ, and the wider luxury EV market is under serious pressure. If the TZ stands too high, it risks being squeezed by Korean rivals below and European luxury rivals above, while Chinese premium brands keep sharpening that value equation. But Lexus does have real advantages. It has a loyal customer base, it has a strong dealer network, it has reputation for reliability and ownership experience. And for buyers who do not want to jump into a newer Chinese premium brand, Lexus may feel like a safer choice. This is also a very relevant car for Australian families who want six seats rather than seven. A six-seat layout with captain's chairs can be more comfortable and easier to live with than a packed seven-seat bench setup, especially if the second row is heavily used. So if you've got car seats, if you've got three car seats and you're going to put one in the back, let's say one is a little bit older, five or six year old, um, they could be in the back because they're going to have their own belt. It's just a booster seat. Um, but the last thing you want to do, if anybody's ever had proper harnessed car seats, you want to try and fold that middle row to get into the back. It's a nightmare. Then you want to try and squeeze them both onto the 60 part of the 6040, and yeah, that's uh good luck with that. So six seats makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. So this is one to watch later in the year. The TZ is not confirmed for Australia yet, but the fact Lexus is actively evaluating it means the door's open, if only ajar. If it comes, it could be one of the more important premium family EVs in the market. Chinese consumer electronics company Dream is still planning an Australian car launch, and the latest interesting detail is that it says its EV future will have physical buttons. Now that might sound like a small thing, but it actually taps into one of the biggest frustrations with modern car interiors. A lot of new vehicles, especially EVs, have moved to too many basic controls into the touch screen. Climate control, mirror adjustment, drive modes, wipers, seed heating, demisters, and even glove box releases are sometimes buried in menus. Now it looks clean in photos and it can look futuristic in marketing shots, but in real driving it can be annoying and distracting. That is most definitely. We've got an EV5 and a and a C Lion 7. The EV5 has a lot of those physical buttons. I can pretty much access anything important that I need to, whether as the wife drives a C Lion 7, and pretty much everything is in the screen. Okay, not the glove box or the mirrors, but you want to put the seat heating on, you've got to tap, tap, tap, tap, tap a hundred times just to do that. So it's uh it's a real thing. So Dream appears to understand that, at least in theory. The company says it does not want to build just another car with an iPad stuck on the dashboard. Its local car project has pointed to the influence of designers with experience at brands like Jaguar Land Rover, and the message is that physical controls still have a place in premium vehicles. That is a surprising sensible point from a brand that at this stage is still better known for robot vacuums and home appliances than cars. Dream already has a presence in Australia through consumer electronics, and it is targeting a vehicle launch around 2027. It has not yet revealed final production models for our market, but pre-production models are reportedly getting close to being shown and evaluated with dealer and distributor activity expected around the middle of this year. The first vehicles are expected to be fully electric SUVs, although plug-in hybrids and e-rev models are also under consideration. A Ute has also been mentioned as a longer-term possibility, which could be interesting. Now, here's the caution. Dream has not sold a production car globally yet. None nil. Now that matters. Designing and selling vacuums is not the same as engineering, homogulating, homogulating, homologating, warranting, and supporting cars in Australia. We have seen plenty of new car brands talk big before customer cars actually arrive. A good concept is one thing a safe, reliable, well-priced vehicle with parts supply, server support, software updates, crash testing, and long-term warranty backup is a whole other kettle of fish. But the physical button angle is still worth discussing because it sort of lines up with where the market could be heading. Buyers are getting tired of cars that hide everything in screens. Safety bodies and regulators are also paying closer attention to distraction. NCAP's newer testing direction puts more focus on driver monitoring, distraction, and usability of key functions. A cabin that looks minimalist but forces you to tap through menus for basic actions, it may not age very well. For Australian buyers, this could be a pretty unique selling point. We'd talk about range, charging, speed, and power all the time, every episode, but day-to-day usability really matters. Can you change the temperature without taking your eyes off the road? Can you demist the windscreen quickly? Can you adjust basic settings without hunting through a menu while doing 110km an hour down the M4? If Dream genuinely combines strong EV hardware with a cabin that brings back useful physical controls, it could stand out. But for now, the verdict is simple. Interesting promise, unproven car brand. Let's see the production vehicle, the safety rating, the warranty, the support network, and the pricing before we all get too excited. And BYD is talking up the next growth phase for the Shark 6, and it's a story worth covering because it kind of gives us a clear look at what BYD thinks the plug-in hybrid Ute market can become in Australia. We have already covered the Shark 6 range expansion, including the new variants and the move to the 3.5 ton towing. So we're just going to look at what BYD sales forecast is, the expected sales mix, and how the company expects the Ute to settle after the early launch rush. The Shark 6 had a huge start in Australia. It arrived as the country's first plug-in hybrid, JouleCab U, and early demand was boosted by novelty, sharp pricing, strong performance, and at the time the fringe benefits tax exemption for plug-in hybrids. That exception ended for new plug-in hybrid orders from the 1st of April 2025, and that changed the equation for a lot of buyers. Sales have cooled from the biggest early burst, but they haven't disappeared. BYD believes there is still room to push the Shark 6 higher again as new variants attract different customers, especially fleets and trades. The expanded range now starts with a dynamic cab chassis at 55900 before on-road costs, the premium remains at 57900 before on-road costs, and the performance flagship sits at 62900 before on-road costs. The performance is the version that answers the biggest complaint about the original Shark 6, and that's the towing. It brings the 3.5 tonne brake towing capacity, matching the number that you buyers expect from traditional rivals like the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, and the Isuzu D Max. Whether every buyer uses that full number or not, in Australia, 3.5 tons is a psychological and commercial benchmark. The performance uses a larger 2-litre turbo petrol engine as part of its plug-in hybrid system, and combined outputs are listed at 350kW, 700 newton meters of torque. That makes it seriously powerful for a dual cab Ute. Claimed 0 to 100 time is 5.5 seconds, which is pretty wild. Remember, we're talking about a Ute that can tew 3.5 tons. The performance also gets upgrade front braking hardware, revised damping, a new crawl mode for low speed off-road work, and an electric-only driving range listed at about 80km WLTP. The Cab Chassis is a very different play. It uses the 1.5 litre setup from the premium with a 321kW, 650Nm, a 29.5 kWh LFP blade battery, a claimed 100km electric only range, and the 2.5 tonne braked towing capacity. That towing number is lower than the performance, so the cab chassis is not the heavy tow hero of the range, but it is strategically important because cab chassis opens a lot of doors. A tub only Ute suits, lifestyle buys, and some private buyers, a cab chassis can be fitted with trays, toolboxes, canopies, service bodies, custom fleet bodies, tipper bodies. That matters if BYD wants the Shark 6 to be taken seriously by businesses rather than just private buyers. Now BYD is expecting the premium to remain the main seller, but about 55% of Shark 6 volume. The performance could make up around 25%, and the Cab Chassis around 20% if demand lines up with the internal expectations. Now those numbers are only projections, but they show how BYD sees the market. The premium is still a broad appeal version. The performance brings towing and power credibility, and the cab chassis opens the fleet and work vehicle door as well. The Shark 6 is still not going to knock off Ranger or Hylux anytime soon. Those vehicles sell in massive numbers, have a deep dealer network, long fleet histories, massive accessory ecosystems, and years of customer trust behind them. But the Shark 6 does not need to beat them outright to be successful. If BYD can consistently sell meaningful volume with a plug-in hybrid Ute, changes the conversation. For years the line was that Australians would not accept electrified youths, or that plug-in drive trains could not work for tradies. The Shark 6 is not perfect and it will not suit every buyer, but it's already proven there is demand for a Ute that can drive electrically day to day and still handle longer trips. Hard truth for BYD though is that expectations are now higher. Ute buyers are very unforgiving. They care about towing, payload, accessories, fuel use when towing, off-road durability, spare parts, servicing, and then of course resale. BY has done the first part by getting attention. The harder part is proving the Shark 6 can be trusted as a long-term workhorse. But as a plug-in vehicle story, it's already one of the most important launches Australia has seen. CATL has announced more progress on sodium iron battery development, including technology it says can support electric driving ranges that eventually reach the 500 to 600km zone in suitable vehicles. Now, this is not an Australian launch model or product, and we just want to be careful not to overhype it. But the reason I thought it good to cover is because CATL is the world's largest battery manufacturer, or when CAT moves, the EV industry pays attention, whether they want to or not. Sodium iron batteries are not new as a concept. The appeal is that sodium is abundant and cheap compared with lithium. It can be sourced from materials like salt and does not rely on the same supply chains as lithium, nickel, or cobalt. That could make sodium ion batteries cheaper to produce and in some applications safer and more resilient. CATL's Naxtra sodium ion battery has been quoted with energy density up to 175 watt hours per kilogram, and CATL has talked about strong cold weather performance, including high capacity retention at extremely low temperatures. That could make a huge difference in some of the colder markets, though in Australia the cost and supply chain angle may be more relevant than extreme cold performance. We don't get it too cold down here. The trade-off is energy density. Sodium ion generally stores less energy per kilogram than the best lithium ion batteries. It is below high nickel lithium ion chemistries and generally below or around lower end LFP, depending on the specific cell and pack design. That means sodium ion is unlikely to replace every EV battery overnight. If you're building a long-range premium EV or a performance EV, or even one that needs maximum range from minimum weight, lithium ion still makes sense. However, sodium iron could be very useful in smaller EVs, cheaper city cars, and some commercial vehicles, stationary storage and grid scale batteries. CATL has already shown sodium iron moving into mass production passenger vehicle applications with Chang'an in China, and the company says future versions could support 500 to 600km of range in pure electric vehicles or 300 to 400 km in range extender or hybrid applications. The important word there is future a sodium iron battery that can eventually support 600km in a suitable car. Does not mean every cheap EV suddenly gets 600km of range next month. For us here in Australia, the most interesting angle may actually be for energy storage and affordable EVs. We have a grid with huge rooftop solar, growing wind and solar farms, and increasing need for storage. If sodium ion can reduce the cost of stationary batteries, that could support grid storage, community batteries, commercial storage, and eventually cheaper home battery products. On the vehicle side, cheaper battery chemistry could help bring down entry-level EV pricing. Australia does still need some more affordable electric cars below $40,000. LFP has already helped with that. Sodium iron could become another step, particularly for city cars and lower cost models where ultra long range is not required. The hard truth though is that battery announcements often sound magic. Every year there's a new battery story promising cheaper, safer, faster charging and longer range, and some of those claims become real products, some take gears, some disappear. So the sensible take is this sodium iron is not replacing lithium iron across the board, but it is becoming more real. And CATL is already moving it toward vehicles and broader commercial use. And just remember CATL is a very reputable battery company. They're not just going to make announcements willy-nilly, and they're not like the uh the company that had that solid state battery in their motorbikes. Um can't even think of the name of it anymore, but the the what happened to that? It's kind of disappeared. So if CATL are saying this, they've they've obviously calculated and they've checked, and they're not just making announcements for announcement's sake. So if it scales, it could make affordable EVs and stationary batteries cheaper over time. And for Australia, I think that's worth watching. Australia's used car market is starting to show more electric and plug-in activity, and BYD has signed a three-year deal with Pickles to handle auction sales of its company fleet vehicles. This is one of those stories that sounds less exciting than a new model launch, but I think it's actually pretty important. A healthy EV market needs a healthy used EV market. Not everyone buys new. Most people don't buy new. In fact, for a lot of Australian households, a secondhand market is where new technology becomes affordable. If used EVs are hard to value, hard to inspect, or scary for buyers, it's gonna slow the adoption. The used EV market is still developing, but it is growing. More early EVs are cycling out of first ownership, fleet use, lease arrangements, and demonstrator programs. That means buyers are starting to see more used at O3s, Teslas, MGs, Polestars, Hyondice Kiers, BYDs, and other plug-in models appear at more reasonable and accessible prices. BYD's deal with pickles is part of that maturing market. Under the arrangement, Pickles becomes BYD's exclusive Australian auction partner for company fleet vehicles under a three-year agreement. The first vehicles are being offered through Pickles National Government, Fleet Lease and other vehicle auctions, and the deal gives BYD a more formal remarketing channel as its Australian fleet grows. The battery health part is the key. A petrol or diesel used car buyer worries about your service history, kilometers, crash damage, engine wear, transmission problems, and just your sort of overall general condition. EV buyers still care about some of that, probably not engine wear, but they also want to know what shape the battery is in. How much capacity remains? Has the car been DC fast charged constantly? Has it lived in extreme heat? Is the battery warranty still valid and is there a state of health report? If used EV buyers can see proper health information, confidence improves. If they cannot, they either discount the car heavily or just walk away. And that's why auction infrastructure really matters. It helps create clearer pricing, more transparent condition reports, and better confidence for both dealers and private buyers. For BYD, this is especially important because it is now selling in volume. The more vehicles it puts on Australian roads, the more used BYDs will eventually come back through the market. If the resale pathway is messy, that affects new car buyers too, because finance and leasing values depend on predicted residual values. This is not just a BYD issue, Tesla has had years to build used market familiarity. Hyundai, Kia, MG, Polster, and others are building it. BYD is now reaching the point where marketing becomes a serious part of the brand's local maturity. For Australian EV adoption, it's a good thing. New cars grab the headlines, but the used market is where EVs become normal for more households. A strong used EV market needs supply, transparent pricing, battery health checks, dealer education, and buyer confidence. This pickles deal is one piece of that puzzle. Essential Energy is seeking a ring fencing waiver that would allow it to install, maintain and lease 300 curbside EV chargers housed within streetlight and distribution pole infrastructure across regional New South Wales. It's a very Australian charging story because it's not about big highway ultra-fast charging sites, it's about slower, practical, everyday public charging in places where the private market may not move quickly on its own. The proposal forms part of Essential Energy's plug and play trial. It would use composite streetlight and distribution poles with recessed charging ports. Essential Energy would own, install, maintain, and lease the charging infrastructure, while charge point operators would handle the retail side, things like pricing, billing, and customer service. The charges are 7kW AC units, so no, they are not fast chargers, but it's not the point. A 7kW charger is not exciting if you are halfway through a road trip and need to be moving again in 25 minutes. But if the car's parked overnight outside a house, near accommodation, in a town centre or at a long stay location, 7 kW can be useful. Depending on the vehicle, that can add roughly 40 to 50 kilometers of range per hour. Park overnight and you can add meaningful amount of energy. The trial also has a second stream that focuses on making up to 1,000 poles charge ready for third-party operators. That part is about reducing site selection and connection barriers so private charge point operators can come in a little bit more easily. The ring fencing piece is the regulatory challenge. Electricity distribution networks are regulated monopolies, and there are rules that prevent them from competing directly in contestable markets. And that's important, you don't want a network business using its monopoly position to crowd out private charging operators. But there's also a practical problem. In regional, rural and remote areas, private operators may not rush to install slower curbside charges because the return is lower, the customer density is lower, and the upfront work can be a little bit more difficult. So the question becomes how do you get charging into places where the market alone may be slow? Now that's what this waiver is testing. The Australian Energy Regulator has opened consultation on the application, with consultation running from the 3rd of June to the 14th of July, and there is a stakeholder workshop that's been scheduled for 23rd of June. That does not mean it's approved and done, it is still a proposal under consultation. There's going to be debate and there should be. We want more charges, but we also want fair competition rather and sensible regulation. If networks build too much directly, private operators may back away. If networks build nothing, regional communities may be left behind. For EV owners, especially renters, apartment dwellers, and people without off-street parking, this type of charging could be very important. Home charging is the cheapest and easiest way to run an EV, but not everyone has access to it. Curbside charging helps close the gap. The hard truth is though that Australia's EV transition cannot rely on ultra-fast highway sites. We need those, yes, absolutely, but we also need slower, cheaper, more boring charging where cars actually sit. Street pole charges, pole charges, workplace charges, apartment charges, and shopping centre AC charges. They're not glamorous, but they are part of the answer. And for regional New South Wales, this could be a useful model if the balance is right. The BYD has made a very bold claim it wants to become the world's biggest car maker within five years. Not just the biggest EV maker, the biggest car maker full stop. That's a pretty big statement. BYD chairman Wang Chun Fu told shareholders he expects the company to become number one globally in terms of scale within five years. Now that's the sort of line that gets attention, especially because BYD is already one of the fastest growing car makers in the world. But to understand how big the claim is, you really need to look at the numbers. BYD sold around 4.6 million vehicles globally in 2025. It's enormous growth from where the company was only a few years ago, and it made BYD one of the largest car makers in the world. However, Toyota sold more than twice as many vehicles in 2025. Volkswagen Group and Hyondo Motor Group are also ahead. So for BYD to become number one within five years, it needs another huge step up. It would need to grow outside China, protect or rebuild momentum in China, expand its manufacturing, manage tariffs and political pressure, and keep scaling battery and vehicle production at an extraordinary pace. Is that impossible? No. Is it easy? Definitely not. BYD has real advantages. It's very vertically integrated, it makes its own batteries, it has strong battery technology, it has a broad lineup of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, it has been aggressive on pricing, it is expanding its exports very quickly, and it increasingly treating overseas markets as central to its future, not just side projects. Now Australia is part of that story. BellYD is no longer a niche EV brand here, it is now a mainstream competitor putting pressure on the likes of Toyota, Mazda, Kia, Ford, and MG. The ADO3 helped establish the brand, the SEAL gave it a nice sedan, you've got the Dolphin, which attacked the affordable EV space, the Sea Line 6 became a major plug-in hybrid SUV, and the Shark 6 broke into Utes. You've got the C-Line 7, that's selling very strongly, and there are more models coming. The company has also been investing in shipping, dealer expansion, service support, finance fleets, and now remarketing with pickles, as I mentioned. That's what a brand does when it's no longer just testing the market. However, becoming the world's biggest car maker is a different level. BYD has to prove it can support cars across different countries for the long term. Selling the car is one thing, supplying parts, maintaining customer trust, handling warranty claims, software support, and resale confidence over 10 to 15 years is completely a different thing. Now the other thing to remember is that Toyota isn't standing still, Volkswagen isn't standing still, Hyundai and Kia are also not standing still. Legacy car makers may be slower in some areas, but they still have massive scale, enormous manufacturing experience, loyal customers and global service networks. BYD also faces political risk. Chinese car makers are under scrutiny in Europe, the United States, and other markets. Tariffs, security concerns, trade disputes and local manufacturing requirements could all affect its growth. So the sensible take is this. BYD's five-year number one ambition is possible enough to be taken seriously, but ambitious enough that it should not be treated as inevitable. For Australia, the practical takeaway is simpler. Expect more BYD models, expect more price pressure, expect more plug-in hybrids, more EVs, more commercial vehicles, and more pressure on the established brands to respond. So whether BYD becomes number one globally within five years is uncertain, but the direction is not uncertain. BYD is now one of the companies shaping the future of the Australian car market. And that is episode 63 of Plugged in Australia for Thursday, the 11th of June 2026. And this is most definitely my longest episode thus far. I made the comment that I didn't want to turn the episodes into hour-long ones last episode, and here we go, we're knocking on the one hour mark. So I changed it up a little bit on this episode. I would very much appreciate your feedback. Usually anything that I've missed or any extra comments I wanted to make, I generally pause my recording and add them in to the proper script and rather than just ad-libbing it. And I did a little bit more of that ad lib as I sort of thought of it as I was reading it through and it sort of more things came to mind. And so I just added them on the go. So uh it's a little bit of a change to my usual sort of more structured news uh episodes. So I'm hoping that uh you could give me some feedback on uh your thoughts on that sort of style or whether I should just stick to the news style uh podcast there. Now we're on episode 63. We've done more than a hundred episodes now if you want to include the um quick charge ones as well. That that I won't change, that'll definitely be kept to the point. So, but as I said, any of your feedback, either leaving a comment or info at plugged inastralia.com.au. As always, thank you so much for listening, and until the next time, stay plugged in and stay charged. Chevy amount.