With thanks to our sponsors: carloop - Aus EV Data | carloop.com.au Hankook Tyres | www.hankooktire.com Melbourne to Sydney Trip Stats | January 2025 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15p42YGhxNXU06zenDVWM4aX6QAezrzxcOOwjvmiaJeE/edit?usp=sharing
It's great to hear the seats are comfortable to allow Joy to be driving for 3 hours and not feel fatigued, I have sat in the seats and wished for better bolsters however, having seat comfort for a long drive is much appreciated. I've been disappointed with upgrading to the 18 way adjustable seat in my old BMW 535 M Sport, only to not be able to find a comfortable setting on a long drive, when a previous A4 Sport package car with manually adjustable seats was supremely comfortable for long trips. I have the Xpeng G6 and Zeekr X as my top 2 favorite EVs to consider purchasing, I like how I feel in the X's seat with their bolsters but, knowing the G6 is good on long road trips, puts it back in 1st place. Thanks for the video, lots of useful info on the G6.
It’s our absolute pleasure 🙏 Make sure you check out Part 1! 2025 Xpeng G6 Long Range Australia Road Trip Pt 1: Sydney to Melbourne ua-cam.com/video/wmi1WhrZBg8/v-deo.html
@@LudicrousFeed Watched that too Tom I found that very interesting especially Joy's comments about the Xpeng G6 compared to the Tesla Model Y.Thanks again well done!!
Thanks for the video. Charging on your trip was an eye-opener for me. The Xpeng G6 is on my shortlist at the moment. Unless I can charge it on Tesla charges it goes on the bottom of my list for now.
Hi. I will just give a different perspective on changing a Xpeng G6 in Denmark. In Denmark there have been a lot of trouble for 800V cars generally changing with low speed on Tesla chargers,. The tests has shown v2 doesn't really work, v3 and v4 works fine when they are connected to a 1000 V power source, but Tesla haven't updated the power sources many places, that's why 800 V cars like Xpeng G6 and G9 have problems. But in Denmark the power grid infrastructure is very developed due to our small size, so along highways you can always find a 300 kW chargers. Here we can charges at 250 to 280 kW/h at peak charging with a 20 minutes 10-80% as Xpeng promises. Hope for you Australians that the government will built more on your power grid, so you can get proper changers with 300 kW or above soon.😀 And thanks for your good reviews of different cars. Gives good insides.
Thanks for sharing your experience from Denmark! Great to hear you have reliable agnostic chargers over there, I really hope we can catch up here in Australia because that will certainly help with the EV transition
The government should step in and organise some universal use fast chargers between the two largest population centres of Australia. With Tesla charging 77c/kWh while providing only 90kW charging for non Teslas and collecting a grant for doing so this could actually be a money spinner for the gov.
@aradventuresaustralia1400 people want supercharge stations, but they don't think where the power is to supply those supercharge stations. If you don't have enough power to supply them, the stations still share power like the ones in this video. In the future, if technology allows you to charge to full in 5 minutes, but you don't have enough power, the stations will reduce the power to each car so the charge time will be the same now.
Great video guys, thanks for letting us ride along. I've owned my G6 for just on a month now and absolutely love it. Fingers crossed Xpeng and Tesla chargers can get themselves sorted soon.
EV Road trip videos and very important for learning about EVs. One day it will not be an issue as we will have chargers everywhere. Thanks for the videos.
@@dann5515What if you’re one of the 33% of Australians who, like me, either live in apartments (very few of which have an AC outlet) or have no off-street parking ?? We ALWAYS get forgotten!! (Full disclosure, I considered an EV when my previous vehicle was up for replacement, but as an apartment dweller, I didn’t want to deal with the sh*t show that is public charging in Sydney and Australia….and I would not buy a Tesla, for many reasons 😏😏)
I just did a drive from Sydney to Brisbane in my ICE vehicle. Only needed 1 fuel stop ( the pump was working) and that took about 10 mins.. No planning or range anxiety issues. This video shows that the infrastructure is not up to scratch, and as Joy mentioned at one stage, the wait to see if the charging connection will work is stressful. I know where my driving dollars are best spent.
Sure, but every km you drive makes climate change worse, while the inverse is not the same. I don't blame you, if I had to regularly drive such a route, I'd probably still have a hybrid, but for mostly city use, with the occasional road trip, my EV experience has been easy and low-cost.
@@TonyScott896 With NSW using coal to generate 53% of its electricity, Vic 55% and Qld 66%. I don't think that driving an ICE car is any more polluting then the Electricity you are using to charge your EV. And that ignoring the building and disposal of same.
@allomony4010 unless your ICE car is magiced into being I think we can both agree that these take the same or similar to create and eventually retire, so that's meaningless. Conveniently cherry picking the worst power generating states in the mix, leaving out that fact that we are rapidly moving to decarbonise these energy sources, and that it's easily possible to charge a EV via 100% non-fossil fuel sources even if your state is lagging (like mine) doesn't strike me as you arguing in good faith.
@@TonyScott896 I'd love to agree with you but then we'd both be wrong. The fact that the largest states generate the majority of their power using coal may be an inconvenient truth, but that,s what you are using at a public charger.
Great review guys, love having Joy’s perspective especially her engagement on long distance driving and the xpilot. We had a Tesla Y RWD mainly for local driving and hoping the next continuation a G6 but we still thing what really put us off is the charging infrastructure. We just came back from Malaysia after hertz gave us a ioniq5 and what a nightmare it was, which my wife made me swear not to hire a ev. In Australia we are spoiled for choices and until non Tesla charging infrastructure improves, the outlook for ev growth will not be as great. G6 is no doubt a great car.
Pleasure! Great having Joy’s commentary as another viewpoint 🥰 Sorry to hear about your Malaysian experience … hopefully it improves there also as it should here in Aus in the next few years!
Fantastic real world insights….thanks Tom and Joy. Shows that more chargers are needed before EVs other than Tesla’s are viable for road trips. Can you get a quick shot of your bags that you fitted in the boot for the next road trip. I’m after a family friendly EV that will fit a family of 4 for 3-4 day road trips….sure I can look up the claimed litre capacity, but a visual of the actual bags cars can fit is much more relevant. Xpeng G6 looks like a great car, shame it hasn’t got a fruit.
The Deepal S07 has a similar boot size subjectively to the XPeng G6. I didn’t take a photo of the boot for this trip but if you watch from the 6min mark of my Deepal vid: ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.htmlsi=w-wpAHvlRJmktjv- you’ll get an idea of space. We didn’t carry helmets or the scooter for the Melbourne drive
Great video Tom, I always enjoy your road trips, your 100% right with the charging infrastructure from Albury thu to Goulburn, its just not there yet, I’m driving back thru that route today after holiday road trip to QLD, luckily for me the GV60 works on the Tesla network work, it’s an awful feeling hoping the chargers are working, I’m hoping the day will come soon that the Government will broker a deal to open all Tesla chargers to everyone, l have never been let down with there chargers, even tho it’s a little slower with the 800 volts, they just work.
Having done some pilot training, Joys comments on autpilot surprise me a bit, though others have said similar. But if i take control from the machine, it should be my choice to give it back, not an automated sytem (particularly with no audible tones). Impressed with how autopilot and the broader system works under CarPlay, something Tesla has avoided. Very surprised they will let you vuew sentry mode while driving given Australias much stricter laws around video screens and driver distractions. What about the browser?
I am getting mine in February, I can't wait to you do a road test to Brisbane. I have been looking at the map and most of the charges look slow. I will be driving from the Sunshine Coast at least once a year to the central coast. Hopefully the super charges get sorted soon. Thanks for the great video.
This detailed review was great. I'm looking at a long range EV that can handle driving 6+ hours. I was waiting for the BYD Sealion 7 but this one has great features 🎉
Thanks Joy and Tom for a great review. While the Xpeng looks like a very nice car I have to agree with Joy’s conclusion. As a Tesla driver who regularly drives between Melbourne and Sydney there is no way I could accept that charging experience and the wasted time. It’s a deal breaker for considering a move away from Tesla.
Pleasure! I mean there’s nothing easier than plugging in and walking away Tesla style 😎 I’d be willing to accept a contactless payment solution like overseas … that is within my tolerance levels
Coming back from Melbourne recently at Gundagai a BYD SUV was trying to use the Tesla supercharger unsuccessfully. They gave up and went to the NRMA charger which is a slow charger. Agree that currently Tesla has the advantage on charging and that is why we bought one, otherwise the xpeng looks way more comfortable than our Y.
There’s a great BP charging station about 1 min off the Hume Fwy on the outskirts of Melbourne (up to 350kW). Good for a quick charge on the way into Melbourne or on the way out heading North.
Thanks for putting these together I watched them back to back. I am interested to know if you used the ventilated seats when driving. I find it kind of frustrating that you can't get Melbourne to Sydney with only 1 recharge, I travel Melbourne to Adelaide about 5 times a year, with my current ice I make it without refuelling. Depending on direction I can get across within 7 hours. I don't think I could cope with a 2 to 3 stop of extended periods. I have used a Polestar 2 on holidays in the USA and even though we were in the land of EVs California the number of non operating charging units made it difficult to use. In the end I just ended up paying the Rental company to charge it. I am at the point of changing vehicles and was really hoping an EV was my next car. 😊
Unfortunately that is the reality of the DC charger network between Sydney and Melbourne sadly. It was quite good in the UK when I drove an EV there in June 2024 especially because contactless payment is prevalent there. I turned on the ventilated seat function at around 3-4pm when it got a bit warmer
Seems like a nice car, very simple Tesla-MY like sleek design but just a tad more flair. Very good road trip review also good to get Joys impressions. Sydney to Melbourne is definitely the most relevant trip for me, but i wouldn't mind seeing some Sydney to Brisbane/Gold Coast road trips in some of these non Tesla EVs. Could be a good excuse to take the family to the GC theme parks Tom.
Thanks! We feel the same - the three major road trips out of Sydney are Melbourne, Canberra and GC/Brisbane. We’ll try to do more long drives in 2025 during the school holidays
Great and detailed review as always mate. Appreciate the dedication to give detailed insights. Look forward to hear what info you get back from Xpeng in regards to the connection issues to charge on the Telsla supercharger platforms and how quick they rectify it with a software or hardware upgrade like you had with the Seal. Quick one for you, with the long highway travel you did at the average speed of 110k give or take. What range did you get or predicted range out of the long range model when the battery was at 100% charge. I see in your videos that you topped up the battery at certain points so you may of not been at 100% only at the start of the trip. I'm curious to see how far off the 570 WLTP is from their specs. Thanks so much and love ya work. FYI I've had an order in for the G6 LR since Oct 31st and in Perth awaiting the test drive.
Great couple of episodes. Having two people involved in a car review rarely works, but with you two its an easy and insightful watch. What was the eventual possible highway range? I'm always doing Syd to Canberra and would hope to do it without stopping, thoughts?
Thanks! That’s the advantage of being a happily married couple 🥰 I’m fairly confident you’ll make it from Sydney to Canberra in one charge as the distance from Sydney to Yass is a similar distance and elevation (280-ish km for both and elevation is around 500-550m) and we made it to Yass easily with 42% SoC having left Sydney at 100% We made the Sydney to Canberra run without charging the Deepal S07 halfway and that has a smaller battery (also NMC) with slightly worse efficiency : Real-World Road Trip Test: Deepal S07 Sydney to Canberra over 600km+ ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.html
Insane charging rate if you can get it and range mind you you guys were on dynamic mode and not on eco and that’s insane always getting to the destination above the soc first set
The day will come whereby I won’t need to charge between Sydney and Melbourne. Progress is being made: MG parent company to launch semi solid state battery EV: 1000km range ua-cam.com/video/TGH46g8RYSk/v-deo.html
Ampol need to put in a big Ampcharge charging station at Ampol Holbrook. This is a big stopping point for Sydney - Melbourne, with amenities and the submarine for the kids to play on. Good access from both directions.
@LudicrousFeed It would be. It's very popular. I've contacted them on numerous occasions. Sutton Forest is awesome but aside from that I don't get the impression Ampol are in any kind of hurry to roll out more locations. Australia probably needs more competition. That's probably the only thing that will get Ampol and BP moving, when they see someone else making lots of money.
@ I have to agree that the lack of competition is probably a sticking point to getting more and better chargers installed. If another company come in and roll out a large area with multiple speed (150 kWh and up to the fastest speed Chinese car coming) chargers, folks that can use the really high speed chargers can get in and out quickly, allowing more people to get back on the road faster. This trip reminded me of my time in '21/22 with the e-tron, driving from Arizona to California. Chargers were strategically placed but there were times when the chargers were just slow, all I could do was wait to get to 90% (added extra for a buffer) as there was some inclines, which ate into the range. The buffer was to have more range to find other chargers, up to 50kWh, if the 150kWh Electrify America units were only doing 20kWh. Today, there are more charging companies with faster and better units, in the coming months and years, it will get better for you guys in Australia as well.
Looks like an amazing car, thanks for the comprehensive review, Tom and Joy. The charging in Australia needs some regulatory action urgently - I am hoping the Chinese companies come into Australia and set up an alternative charging network to Tesla. Q: Just confirming, the sunroof was well insulated?
Our pleasure 🙏 No doubt the DC network needs to improve a lot between Sydney and Melbourne. The glass roof did a good job in 39 deg C heat … except maybe around 3-4pm but the ventilated seats helped a lot!
By the percentage of charging and the klm between charges it looks like you could do well over 500klm @110 klm/h with the aircon on ( not that you should)that’s awesome range . A Model YLR @13k more would struggle to do 400klm
OK Tom , put you guys on the spot , what is the overall Ludicrous Feed rating ie 5 stars , looks very solid apart from the charge issue. Software \ ADAS looks much more refined then BYD.
5 stars for the car if you ignore the current Supercharging issue. If you don’t discount this, then it’s 2 stars for our situation because we want to use the SCs on the east coast for the places we want to visit - this will be a different rating for different people. Once they fix the SC issue then it’s 4.5 stars
Gov should create a JV with the EV manufacturers to build state of art fast chargers. They provide the cash and regulations and BYD, Xpeng Zeekr Kia Hyundai etc provide the tech and they share the profits. At 77kWh they'd be raking it in.
Joy just needs massaging seats in the G6 and sounds like she is set for her drive across the Nullarbor. :) That first BP Pulse charger you were at sounds like it was 150kW but split 75/75 instead of a 300kW split 150/150. Here I thought I had watched Part I but seems I haven't so watching in reverse order then, thanks UA-cam for recommending me the wrong video first. :( Now to watch Part I after to find out about the Tesla Supercharger issue, how did Xpeng not realise this before they launched hopefully is just a OTA to fix it. Love that charging speed though closing in on 300kW and arrived perfect SoC as well for it.
Joy got used to the G6 very quickly! We really need to do something about the way we label the DC chargers … CPOs need to be clearer with the charging speeds and whether they are shared
The interesting thing I am noticing is the amount of friction involved in charging an electric car with all of the apps you need etc. I would prefer to see a solution similar to petrol pumps where you insert your bank card, it takes a hold and you charge and go.
When I drove a Polestar in the UK last year, all the modern charging stations were tap and go with credit card. I believe the government mandated it because it was getting ridiculous with people having 20+ different apps. We need the same solution here with a blanket rule forcing all of them to support tap and go. This is part of the maturing of the way this works to make it "just work" and we need to get there I agree.
I can vouch for the UK experience 🙏 so much easier with contactless payment: 2024 EV Road Trip UK in Hyundai Ioniq 5 Fast Charging Range Efficiency ua-cam.com/video/_AGhRIQvwN8/v-deo.html
Another great video. My question for you: if you were buying with your own money and you hadn’t bought the BYD Seal Premium yet, would you buy this instead of the Seal? Answer for with Tesla Supercharging fixed and without. :-)
For our family car … and if the Supercharging issue is fixed: then yes. For my own personal car … I still prefer Sedans or a smaller SUV/hatch tbh so I would wait to see what else is coming for a daily runabout
Thanks. Good to know. How confident are you that Xpeng will fix this issue with Tesla charging within, say, within the next month? As you know, it took a lot of hassle on my part to get BYD to fix their supercharging issue, and over seven months. For others, it’s taken longer of course.
@@LudicrousFeedWell, that’s good that they’ve acknowledged it as a problem at least. I’ve actually recommended the G6 to a friend that’s looking to buy an EV. I’m now going to tell them to hold off on the G6 until this problem is fixed. Being able to charge using Tesla superchargers is crucial. Thanks again for the videos and information.
Thanks that was very informative useful, Joy seemed to quite like the car. Fingers crossed XPeng get the issue with using the Tesla charger fixed soon (I have a G6 on order). Note on the Australian Xpeng G6 FB group some users have posted about their experience with the Tesla Superchargers - one G6 owner indicated some of the Tesla Superchargers do work with his car - e.g. the Sutton Forrest pie shop and carriageways in Sydney Tesla superchargers worked fine for him; another said that Ballarat worked fine. Someone else mentioned it may be a V3 (working) vs V4 (not) thing?
Our pleasure! I’m very surprised that the Sutton Forest and Carriageworks SCs work because they’re not showing up as usable for non-Teslas in the Tesla app. There’s no way you’d be able to handshake with them because you can’t select them. Bathurst has worked for me in an Atto 3 because they are V2 superchargers, even through currently Atto 3 cannot charge from V3/4. I suspect XPeng can probably charge from open V2 stations but I can’t be sure without physically testing them (there’s not many of them left that are open access anyway - Bathurst being one of them). You’re right it’s probably a V3/4 issue but nevertheless it needs to be fixed because the major stops between Sydney and Melbourne namely Campbelltown, Yass and Albury are all V4 stalls. I suspect the soon to be opened additional sites at Goulburn and Coolac (Gundagai) will most likely also be V4 and probably open access too
I'd be surprised if it's a V3 v V4 thing as the power systems are very similar, it's just the stalls that are different. Anyhow hope Xpeng can fix it more quickly than BYD.
Thanks for a real world review, get mine next week . But living in tassie the tesla supercharger network almost doe's not exist anyway , we only have 1 site at this point in time. Charge fox for the win.👍
How exciting! You are correct and that's why I always make the disclaimer that the issue with Tesla supercharger access only applies if they exist in your neck of the woods
It would be good if you mention cost per kw at each location. I’m surprised very few non Tesla superchargers between Albury and Goulburn. Great review, cheers from Canberra
Excellent real world review. I agree that the chicken/egg of vehicles/infrastructure is holding both back, however another message this review reinforces for me is the justification of market position for budget entry level players. Having a top charge speed of 80 - 120 kWh of the BYD or MG or Ora doesn’t seem a big sacrifice at half the price of an Xpeng G6 ($68k vs $34k-$40k) when they pull up alongside and get the same speed from the plug because of infrastructure shortfall. When eventually the chargers are there, the entry models will become car 2 of the family and then the G6’s of the world come into their own. Until then I will probably buy a budget ev. I’m sure 2025 will be my year to buy an ev, just waiting on the newer brands to debut, in particular Aion before my final decision, although I almost bought an Ora from Perth for $27k drive away and $1200 to ship it to Sydney in November. That’s a sign of the prices we can soon expect.
Good summary and yes agreed, when the infrastructure is not quite there, the faster charging speed of the 800V cars only provides marginal benefit - will be interesting to do the same trip if/when the Sydney to Melbourne is as good as in the UK/US/Europe/China
Great work Guys! As regular road trippers, who driver swap as well and run Melb-Syd in 9.5hours at speed limit, you have just rubber stamped our BEV purchase ambitions as NO WAY until further notice. I mean, how bad would charging be, to our other destinations? We really like the G6 ( checked it out in Thailand a few months back) and love that 800v, which is rendered nearly limp here in AUS. All those variables, mostly slow chargers or not working, charge sharing reduction ect ect.......... Bloody frustrating! Can't and won't road trip like that.
I won’t disagree with you … unfortunately fluffing around with substandard infrastructure (and I’m being polite with my language) together with subpar speeds and the inability to use the Tesla superchargers probably cost us at least an hour on the outbound trip. Things need to improve
To be honest.. on anything other than Xmas Holidays it's pretty simple. I've taken my much lower km Tesla (2020 SR+) Syd-Melb with four non-Tesla stops very easily. Or just buy a Tesla. Definitely a shame Xpeng didn't test this before releasing (particularly given other Chinese manufactures like BYD have had some issues)
@@John-p7i5g To each there own. Tesla just not our thing and still doesn't road trip as FREELY everywhere in AUS, as an ICE. So Tesla a double compromise for us.Thinking more and more that our second car becomes a cheaper BEV for city/ burbs/ fringes. I suspect many 2 car family's will go down this path.
Super helpful video, much appreciated, this allows me to decide whether to switch to full ev or phev, will we see a leapmotor c10 or zeekr x review/roadtrip from you in the coming months?
Thanks! Stay tuned we’ll try to do more trips where we can in 2025. Have you seen our Deepal Canberra trip? Real-World Road Trip Test: Deepal S07 Sydney to Canberra over 600km+ ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.html
Good video, most people would very worry about charging availability, time wasted for Charing car and range anxiety. only you didn’t mention any charge costs for the whole trip compare to a hybrid cars that normally uses 5 to 7 ltr per 100km.
Link to my road trip spreadsheet is in the video description and pinned comment. It includes costs, distance travelled and comparison to a fuel efficient ICE vehicle
I think something else that needs to happen with chargers is to make people aware of what their car is capable of. So many times I have seen Atto3 and even and Ora at a 350kw charger for 40+ minutes. Cars that can't take full advantage of the speed should go to a different charger during busy periods imo. One Seal owner did allow me to jump the small queue at a charger which was super nice from him, we were out after only 10 minutes with the Ioniq6, just such a great road tripper.
Yes agreed and I did also make the comment that these faster charging cars like the G6 can get off the units faster to allow others to have a turn. While we are at Sutton Forest, we were in and out while 2 other cars were still charging. In the UK, the chargers are sometimes clearly labelled FAST and SUPERFAST or something like that to make the distinction
Its a valid point. However the issue is that often there is no other charger. Ideally you would have a couple of 350's, a couple of 100's etc. It is also etiquette to only charge to 80%. However if things are busy charging to 98% may mean you don't need to charge again. Lots of chargers and all these are non-issues.
@@stephenfilmer4171 Agree yeah, i think most cars have more than enough range to get to the next stop only charging to 80%. Some of the slower charging cars almost trickled down to AC speed when they were closer to 90. At that stage surely it's more time effective for all parties if they unplug and move on. But you're right, more chargers will fix all those issues
Fair enough. The DMi powertrain is for those who want to play it safe - not a judgement. It’s important to provide for both camps until the charging network matures
@@LudicrousFeedjust watching your review when u just send me the reply . U just said “I’m happy to pay .70 cents per kw yr just to get out of here “ I have nothing against Ev but they will control u , u can’t say with a hybrid car. I still keep watching your reviews . Keep up the good work and happy new year to u and family
How did the white seats fair with the kids in the back for 20 odd hours. I ordered white but my wife wants black for ease of cleaning. Any update from Xpeng on charging debacle at the Tesla charge station?
Our kids are 12 and 15 - old enough to not have to worry about keeping the white seats clean. I’ll update if/when XPeng provide a fix re: Supercharger usage
The non Tesla chargers are so “hit and miss”, with more investment definitely needed across Australia. RAA South Aus are the best charging network so far
For now.. they are new and moderately used. NRMAs Tritium Veefills worked pretty well in 2020 as well till age and lots of use (while free) started hitting them hard.
Xpeng and Volkswagen are working together on the charging network. If Xpeng can sell more cars in Australia. I guess they will bring their fast charging network into Australia definitely.
I'm sure we can do a special deep dive episode between the two ... we may need to do an extended episode to encompass the new Model Y, Zeekr 7X etc. Might be a good episode for mid 2025
I’m not sure what you mean but the Phantom Braking experience is similar in a Tesla when you pass a larger vehicle eg big truck. You have to be prepared to accelerate a bit more in case it suddenly brakes
Imagine Tesla fast charges did work on the Xpeng G6 and the others like, than these cars would sell like hot cakes, government needs to get involve here and stop tesla from monopolising the chargers. Everyone should be able to use any charger as long as you are willing to pay for the convenience and the service they provide.
Seems like you were both happy with this car. How does it compare overall to the Tesla ? Im guessing a lot of potential buyers will be waiting for the new model Y before making their purchase decision. Thanks
Drives better than the current Model Y. Charging on a road trip … well you’ve seen the vid lol. We will be waiting to inspect the new Model Y first. I also want to see the BYD SL7 again and also the Zeekr 7X
With no adequate charging infrastructure these 800v vehicles will struggle road tripping … Did exact same Mel-Syd drive in Jan 2024 in Tesla 2021 M3 LR…. 161 wh/km. Supercharging at Albury and Yass . Total travel time (door to door) 10 hours (including 1 hr charge time). Cost $62.30. Tesla Tom 😎 vs Xpeng Tom 😥
I'm looking for the best bang for my 60K ,thats it ! ,wife said so ,is this it ? , don't want straight ICE, i travel around 50 km twice a week around a country city lol[rarely above 80km] , looking for comfort, gadgets & nice looking rig. edit oh yeah charging at home with solar
I’ve done this same trip. Had massive issues with charging. On top of the chargers being slow and unreliable (make sure you have a Telstra sim!) - it’s just so expensive. I disagree that cost is not an issue. It impacts people’s willingness to even enter the EV market with how inconvenient and expensive it is. We were getting something like 21kw/100km. Once you add some heat losses from the charger it’s even worse. Huge amount of work needs to be done to make it right.
I think initially when charging infrastructure is scarce, speed and reliability is at a premium and I’m happy to pay more to get of there faster. But as the market matures and we have more choice then we have the luxury of shopping around … like petrol currently
Dual chargers should be 250kW or 125kW x 2 as standard. Everywhere. Having to wait an hour to recharge at sub 50kW is too long. This is a good part of the reason why EV sales are stuck at 7-8%
Agreed. I was merely showing the reality of the current DC network on the busiest stretch of highway in our country namely between Sydney and Melbourne. I’d love to be able to one day show a bank of 20 DC chargers in Albury, Gundagai, Yass, Goulburn etc as that would give mainstream Australia the confidence to realistically start thinking about driving electric
@LudicrousFeed Yep that's what we're all waiting for. That and loads of medium/slow chargers as just a normal and expected thing at every urban shopping centre car park.
Don't mind 100kW speeds if they are as reliable and as plentiful as the Tesla Superchargers between Sydney and Melbourne. Evie/Chargefox/BP/Ampol putting in 1 to 2-4 stalls that sometimes work, sometimes don't ... to the average Australian driver - that is not enough to give them confidence to buy an EV for road trips
I dunno why they make it sucha difficult and messy way to charge and pay. Like they should just created a payment account id. And the charger station just scan or NPC for EV ID account from phone and off u go start charging and off with one account instead of creating so many apps.
Make it contactless payment like in the UK: 2024 EV Road Trip UK in Hyundai Ioniq 5 Fast Charging Range Efficiency ua-cam.com/video/_AGhRIQvwN8/v-deo.html
I’ve done this same trip. Had massive issues with charging. On top of the chargers being slow and unreliable (make sure you have a Telstra sim!) - it’s just so expensive. I disagree that cost is not an issue. It impacts people’s willingness to even enter the EV market with how inconvenient and expensive it is. We were getting something like 21kw/100km. Once you add some heat losses from the charger it’s even worse. Huge amount of work needs to be done to make it right. - (also think there needs to be SLAs for any charger operator)
I think initially when charging infrastructure is scarce, speed and reliability is at a premium and I’m happy to pay more to get of there faster. But as the market matures and we have more choice then we have the luxury of shopping around … like petrol currently
I just read on a newsfeed this morning that Tesla owners in US can use Tesla chargers for $30 per month. EV's coming to the market now are generally excellent for the type of transport they were designed for. Sadly Australia has such a backward infrastructure for charging.
Interesting video, not sorting or at least knowing the car wouldn't work on the Tesla chargers before releasing the car to reviewers isn't a great sign for the manufacturer/importer. I think for me both videos highlight EV's are still way less convenient than ICE for anything more than local trips. Not that they can't be done, just not as good. On the car, like all these new EV's particularly the Chinese brands, we just don't know enough about back up, reliability, parts availability and second-hand price/demand for many to take a chance on them. They look promising but we need 3-5 years to get a better idea.
Hey Tom, I saw you got to 283.6 charge speed with the Xpeng. What was it when you got to 50% soc. Very envious my M3 only handles around 170 at best. 😢
In the first video (Sydney to Melbourne) at around the 41 min mark, I was pulling close to 200kW at Barnawartha North Chargefox when the car was at 53% SoC
You would think a car reviewer knows an 800V platform in combination with Tesla Superchargers is a no go. See also Kia, Hyundai, Porsche and other non Tesla 800V cars.
As in you think 800V vehicles don’t work with open access V4 Superchargers in Australia? What about the Ioniq 6 that was getting 95kW+ in Yass? This was verified by the owner who commented in this video
@ correct, the new Ioniq platform is one of the few 800v platforms that is also compatible with 400v charging. G6 is max 75-100kw at V3 or V4 superchargers as they are not compatible. Ask anyone with an older Ioniq5 for their charging experience at Tesla SC.
Will test again if/when XPeng sort it out I’ll be honest and admit I hadn’t appreciated nuances between the 800V vehicles with their ability to charge at a specialised 400V Supercharger despite it being open access. When I eventually get the G6 working with a V4 closer to home, I’ll try to do an explainer with the vid
@@LudicrousFeed yes, that would be interesting if Xpeng or Tesla or both can solve this issue, however I fear it needs a hardware solution from Xpeng if Tesla does not move. I have a G6 on order in Europe but read already everywhere that not only the G6 but also the G9, which is available since 1,5 year over here, has the same issue. Also several other 800v platforms from other brands. From the info I gathered, it seems to be more of a Tesla issue than a non-Tesla car issue. Either way in Europe there are plenty of options available for fastcharging, so no need to make a detour to a Tesla SC. But the Tesla SC have the lowest rates by far.
@ i need to say Sydney to Melbourne is a major route and its a problem. There are many other road trips not as busy so i think i will need to wait. I looked at the G6 yesterday lovely car love the G9, but my prado needs to say with me longer. Like i said i was thinking the G6 would be great for my wife. However how long it takes makes me think are especially woman safe waiting for the car to charge. Huge issue i think
What weird stuff is Tesla putting in its SuperChargers that keep causing other manufacturers to have issues using them, while able to use multiple other charger types and brands with no problems? Whatever it is, I wish they'd stop it.
Tesla SC's check the voltage on the Proximity Pin in the charging port and wont start if the voltage is too low. BYD never changed there internal pull up resistor on the PP pin from what they used in there GBT implementation when they converted to CCS2. Tesla sees this as an error and wont even start. The Xpeng actually started so this looks like a software issue and should be fixable while the BYD fix is a hardware fix (one 2c resistor) and BYD has told Atto owners to bugger off, they don't care.
Hard to know whether it’s Tesla or XPeng software or BYD for that matter? But you’re right, there should be a standard across all manufacturers - it’s ridiculous that they’re not all agnostic
What sort of driving do you do on a daily and weekly basis? EV chargers on an interstate motorway may be completely irrelevant to you. Far more important is to be able to charge at home if you drive is mostly around town
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Melbourne to Sydney Trip Stats | January 2025
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It's great to hear the seats are comfortable to allow Joy to be driving for 3 hours and not feel fatigued, I have sat in the seats and wished for better bolsters however, having seat comfort for a long drive is much appreciated. I've been disappointed with upgrading to the 18 way adjustable seat in my old BMW 535 M Sport, only to not be able to find a comfortable setting on a long drive, when a previous A4 Sport package car with manually adjustable seats was supremely comfortable for long trips. I have the Xpeng G6 and Zeekr X as my top 2 favorite EVs to consider purchasing, I like how I feel in the X's seat with their bolsters but, knowing the G6 is good on long road trips, puts it back in 1st place. Thanks for the video, lots of useful info on the G6.
Our pleasure, thanks for watching 🙏
Great job Tom & Joy you really went through a lot with that trip can't wait for my Xpeng G6 to arrive I'm now getting really excited can't wait!!
It’s our absolute pleasure 🙏 Make sure you check out Part 1! 2025 Xpeng G6 Long Range Australia Road Trip Pt 1: Sydney to Melbourne
ua-cam.com/video/wmi1WhrZBg8/v-deo.html
@@LudicrousFeed Watched that too Tom I found that very interesting especially Joy's comments about the Xpeng G6 compared to the Tesla Model Y.Thanks again well done!!
Thanks for the video. Charging on your trip was an eye-opener for me. The Xpeng G6 is on my shortlist at the moment. Unless I can charge it on Tesla charges it goes on the bottom of my list for now.
Pleasure 🙏 Will update if/when it becomes available
@@LudicrousFeed Thank you.
Hi. I will just give a different perspective on changing a Xpeng G6 in Denmark. In Denmark there have been a lot of trouble for 800V cars generally changing with low speed on Tesla chargers,. The tests has shown v2 doesn't really work, v3 and v4 works fine when they are connected to a 1000 V power source, but Tesla haven't updated the power sources many places, that's why 800 V cars like Xpeng G6 and G9 have problems. But in Denmark the power grid infrastructure is very developed due to our small size, so along highways you can always find a 300 kW chargers. Here we can charges at 250 to 280 kW/h at peak charging with a 20 minutes 10-80% as Xpeng promises. Hope for you Australians that the government will built more on your power grid, so you can get proper changers with 300 kW or above soon.😀 And thanks for your good reviews of different cars. Gives good insides.
Thanks for sharing your experience from Denmark! Great to hear you have reliable agnostic chargers over there, I really hope we can catch up here in Australia because that will certainly help with the EV transition
Cool to hear about the Danish experience, would love to visit and rent an EV for road tripping there or in Norway!
I think Xpeng need to bring there super charger network to Australia this is probably something Tom you could bring up with Xpeng.
That would be ideal right! Zeekr need to do the same
The government should step in and organise some universal use fast chargers between the two largest population centres of Australia. With Tesla charging 77c/kWh while providing only 90kW charging for non Teslas and collecting a grant for doing so this could actually be a money spinner for the gov.
@aradventuresaustralia1400 people want supercharge stations, but they don't think where the power is to supply those supercharge stations. If you don't have enough power to supply them, the stations still share power like the ones in this video. In the future, if technology allows you to charge to full in 5 minutes, but you don't have enough power, the stations will reduce the power to each car so the charge time will be the same now.
Those were both supremely helpful videos!! Thank you so much!! 😊🙏
Our Pleasure!
Love these in car road trips.
Sydney - Melbourne is the litmus test for EV usability outside of daily urban driving.
Absolutely, great comment. SYD MEL will continue to be my benchmark for road trip testing. Followed by SYD OOL/BNE and SYD CBR
these videos are very useful. that's for uploading.
Pleasure! We had fun making them 🥳
Great video guys, thanks for letting us ride along. I've owned my G6 for just on a month now and absolutely love it. Fingers crossed Xpeng and Tesla chargers can get themselves sorted soon.
Glad you enjoyed it 🙏
EV Road trip videos and very important for learning about EVs. One day it will not be an issue as we will have chargers everywhere. Thanks for the videos.
Well if ya got garage for wallcharger. nothing to worry about. Is not like you will go on road trip every week or month.
@@dann5515What if you’re one of the 33% of Australians who, like me, either live in apartments (very few of which have an AC outlet) or have no off-street parking ??
We ALWAYS get forgotten!!
(Full disclosure, I considered an EV when my previous vehicle was up for replacement, but as an apartment dweller, I didn’t want to deal with the sh*t show that is public charging in Sydney and Australia….and I would not buy a Tesla, for many reasons 😏😏)
Superbly done Tom and Joy! I would definitely take a test drive.
Thanks! Definitely worth a test drive
Good reporting mate! Very much appreciated 🤙
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
I just did a drive from Sydney to Brisbane in my ICE vehicle. Only needed 1 fuel stop ( the pump was working) and that took about 10 mins.. No planning or range anxiety issues. This video shows that the infrastructure is not up to scratch, and as Joy mentioned at one stage, the wait to see if the charging connection will work is stressful. I know where my driving dollars are best spent.
The ICE market is mature and that’s what I hope to see in my life time with EVs and charging 😭 … time will tell!
Sure, but every km you drive makes climate change worse, while the inverse is not the same. I don't blame you, if I had to regularly drive such a route, I'd probably still have a hybrid, but for mostly city use, with the occasional road trip, my EV experience has been easy and low-cost.
@@TonyScott896 With NSW using coal to generate 53% of its electricity, Vic 55% and Qld 66%. I don't think that driving an ICE car is any more polluting then the Electricity you are using to charge your EV. And that ignoring the building and disposal of same.
@allomony4010 unless your ICE car is magiced into being I think we can both agree that these take the same or similar to create and eventually retire, so that's meaningless. Conveniently cherry picking the worst power generating states in the mix, leaving out that fact that we are rapidly moving to decarbonise these energy sources, and that it's easily possible to charge a EV via 100% non-fossil fuel sources even if your state is lagging (like mine) doesn't strike me as you arguing in good faith.
@@TonyScott896 I'd love to agree with you but then we'd both be wrong. The fact that the largest states generate the majority of their power using coal may be an inconvenient truth, but that,s what you are using at a public charger.
Great review guys, love having Joy’s perspective especially her engagement on long distance driving and the xpilot. We had a Tesla Y RWD mainly for local driving and hoping the next continuation a G6 but we still thing what really put us off is the charging infrastructure. We just came back from Malaysia after hertz gave us a ioniq5 and what a nightmare it was, which my wife made me swear not to hire a ev. In Australia we are spoiled for choices and until non Tesla charging infrastructure improves, the outlook for ev growth will not be as great. G6 is no doubt a great car.
Pleasure! Great having Joy’s commentary as another viewpoint 🥰
Sorry to hear about your Malaysian experience … hopefully it improves there also as it should here in Aus in the next few years!
Fantastic real world insights….thanks Tom and Joy. Shows that more chargers are needed before EVs other than Tesla’s are viable for road trips. Can you get a quick shot of your bags that you fitted in the boot for the next road trip. I’m after a family friendly EV that will fit a family of 4 for 3-4 day road trips….sure I can look up the claimed litre capacity, but a visual of the actual bags cars can fit is much more relevant. Xpeng G6 looks like a great car, shame it hasn’t got a fruit.
The Deepal S07 has a similar boot size subjectively to the XPeng G6. I didn’t take a photo of the boot for this trip but if you watch from the 6min mark of my Deepal vid: ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.htmlsi=w-wpAHvlRJmktjv- you’ll get an idea of space. We didn’t carry helmets or the scooter for the Melbourne drive
@@LudicrousFeed thanks Tom
Great video Tom, I always enjoy your road trips, your 100% right with the charging infrastructure from Albury thu to Goulburn, its just not there yet, I’m driving back thru that route today after holiday road trip to QLD, luckily for me the GV60 works on the Tesla network work, it’s an awful feeling hoping the chargers are working, I’m hoping the day will come soon that the Government will broker a deal to open all Tesla chargers to everyone, l have never been let down with there chargers, even tho it’s a little slower with the 800 volts, they just work.
Thanks! 90-100kW is acceptable at the Superchargers for now … at least they’re reliable and plentiful
Having done some pilot training, Joys comments on autpilot surprise me a bit, though others have said similar.
But if i take control from the machine, it should be my choice to give it back, not an automated sytem (particularly with no audible tones).
Impressed with how autopilot and the broader system works under CarPlay, something Tesla has avoided.
Very surprised they will let you vuew sentry mode while driving given Australias much stricter laws around video screens and driver distractions. What about the browser?
I didn’t try the browser actually … will do if I get another loan
I am getting mine in February, I can't wait to you do a road test to Brisbane. I have been looking at the map and most of the charges look slow. I will be driving from the Sunshine Coast at least once a year to the central coast. Hopefully the super charges get sorted soon. Thanks for the great video.
Pleasure! Will update if/when the fix becomes available
This detailed review was great. I'm looking at a long range EV that can handle driving 6+ hours. I was waiting for the BYD Sealion 7 but this one has great features 🎉
Definitely worth checking out
Thanks Joy and Tom for a great review. While the Xpeng looks like a very nice car I have to agree with Joy’s conclusion. As a Tesla driver who regularly drives between Melbourne and Sydney there is no way I could accept that charging experience and the wasted time. It’s a deal breaker for considering a move away from Tesla.
Pleasure! I mean there’s nothing easier than plugging in and walking away Tesla style 😎
I’d be willing to accept a contactless payment solution like overseas … that is within my tolerance levels
I agree 💯%.
This needs to be sorted. BP and Ampol have done the bare minimum to roll out chargers.
Notice much range loss with AC on vs off??
@@sb4photos Assuming the car AC is 2kW on average, for this car you would use approx 2.5% of the battery every hour
Coming back from Melbourne recently at Gundagai a BYD SUV was trying to use the Tesla supercharger unsuccessfully. They gave up and went to the NRMA charger which is a slow charger.
Agree that currently Tesla has the advantage on charging and that is why we bought one, otherwise the xpeng looks way more comfortable than our Y.
There’s a great BP charging station about 1 min off the Hume Fwy on the outskirts of Melbourne (up to 350kW). Good for a quick charge on the way into Melbourne or on the way out heading North.
Oh yes the 8 bays at Epping … we had that on our list in case the hotel destination charger wasn’t available that night 😅
Thanks for putting these together I watched them back to back. I am interested to know if you used the ventilated seats when driving. I find it kind of frustrating that you can't get Melbourne to Sydney with only 1 recharge, I travel Melbourne to Adelaide about 5 times a year, with my current ice I make it without refuelling. Depending on direction I can get across within 7 hours. I don't think I could cope with a 2 to 3 stop of extended periods.
I have used a Polestar 2 on holidays in the USA and even though we were in the land of EVs California the number of non operating charging units made it difficult to use. In the end I just ended up paying the Rental company to charge it. I am at the point of changing vehicles and was really hoping an EV was my next car. 😊
Unfortunately that is the reality of the DC charger network between Sydney and Melbourne sadly. It was quite good in the UK when I drove an EV there in June 2024 especially because contactless payment is prevalent there. I turned on the ventilated seat function at around 3-4pm when it got a bit warmer
Seems like a nice car, very simple Tesla-MY like sleek design but just a tad more flair. Very good road trip review also good to get Joys impressions.
Sydney to Melbourne is definitely the most relevant trip for me, but i wouldn't mind seeing some Sydney to Brisbane/Gold Coast road trips in some of these non Tesla EVs. Could be a good excuse to take the family to the GC theme parks Tom.
Thanks! We feel the same - the three major road trips out of Sydney are Melbourne, Canberra and GC/Brisbane. We’ll try to do more long drives in 2025 during the school holidays
Great and detailed review as always mate. Appreciate the dedication to give detailed insights. Look forward to hear what info you get back from Xpeng in regards to the connection issues to charge on the Telsla supercharger platforms and how quick they rectify it with a software or hardware upgrade like you had with the Seal. Quick one for you, with the long highway travel you did at the average speed of 110k give or take. What range did you get or predicted range out of the long range model when the battery was at 100% charge. I see in your videos that you topped up the battery at certain points so you may of not been at 100% only at the start of the trip. I'm curious to see how far off the 570 WLTP is from their specs. Thanks so much and love ya work. FYI I've had an order in for the G6 LR since Oct 31st and in Perth awaiting the test drive.
Great couple of episodes. Having two people involved in a car review rarely works, but with you two its an easy and insightful watch. What was the eventual possible highway range? I'm always doing Syd to Canberra and would hope to do it without stopping, thoughts?
Thanks! That’s the advantage of being a happily married couple 🥰 I’m fairly confident you’ll make it from Sydney to Canberra in one charge as the distance from Sydney to Yass is a similar distance and elevation (280-ish km for both and elevation is around 500-550m) and we made it to Yass easily with 42% SoC having left Sydney at 100%
We made the Sydney to Canberra run without charging the Deepal S07 halfway and that has a smaller battery (also NMC) with slightly worse efficiency : Real-World Road Trip Test: Deepal S07 Sydney to Canberra over 600km+
ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.html
Insane charging rate if you can get it and range mind you you guys were on dynamic mode and not on eco and that’s insane always getting to the destination above the soc first set
Yeah the Nav and trip planner / estimator is great
That is why I am waiting for the Solid state battery which will be the game changer.
The day will come whereby I won’t need to charge between Sydney and Melbourne. Progress is being made: MG parent company to launch semi solid state battery EV: 1000km range
ua-cam.com/video/TGH46g8RYSk/v-deo.html
Ampol need to put in a big Ampcharge charging station at Ampol Holbrook.
This is a big stopping point for Sydney - Melbourne, with amenities and the submarine for the kids to play on.
Good access from both directions.
That would be awesome - a huge bank of them would be so handy
@LudicrousFeed It would be. It's very popular. I've contacted them on numerous occasions. Sutton Forest is awesome but aside from that I don't get the impression Ampol are in any kind of hurry to roll out more locations.
Australia probably needs more competition. That's probably the only thing that will get Ampol and BP moving, when they see someone else making lots of money.
@ I have to agree that the lack of competition is probably a sticking point to getting more and better chargers installed. If another company come in and roll out a large area with multiple speed (150 kWh and up to the fastest speed Chinese car coming) chargers, folks that can use the really high speed chargers can get in and out quickly, allowing more people to get back on the road faster.
This trip reminded me of my time in '21/22 with the e-tron, driving from Arizona to California. Chargers were strategically placed but there were times when the chargers were just slow, all I could do was wait to get to 90% (added extra for a buffer) as there was some inclines, which ate into the range. The buffer was to have more range to find other chargers, up to 50kWh, if the 150kWh Electrify America units were only doing 20kWh. Today, there are more charging companies with faster and better units, in the coming months and years, it will get better for you guys in Australia as well.
Looks like an amazing car, thanks for the comprehensive review, Tom and Joy. The charging in Australia needs some regulatory action urgently - I am hoping the Chinese companies come into Australia and set up an alternative charging network to Tesla. Q: Just confirming, the sunroof was well insulated?
Our pleasure 🙏 No doubt the DC network needs to improve a lot between Sydney and Melbourne. The glass roof did a good job in 39 deg C heat … except maybe around 3-4pm but the ventilated seats helped a lot!
@@LudicrousFeed Thanks! Any reason why these super fast 800V cars are so tight on the AC charging - I want 22 kwh!! 11kwh, meh.
The Smarts can charge at 22kW: Smart #3 Premium Australia Review and Walkthrough of Pricing & Specs
ua-cam.com/video/O6RYKIDnqqs/v-deo.html
By the percentage of charging and the klm between charges it looks like you could do well over 500klm @110 klm/h with the aircon on ( not that you should)that’s awesome range . A Model YLR @13k more would struggle to do 400klm
Yes phenomenal performance
Seen in some reviews that the onboard nav actually favors 800V chargers.
Makes sense
OK Tom , put you guys on the spot , what is the overall Ludicrous Feed rating ie 5 stars , looks very solid apart from the charge issue. Software \ ADAS looks much more refined then BYD.
5 stars for the car if you ignore the current Supercharging issue. If you don’t discount this, then it’s 2 stars for our situation because we want to use the SCs on the east coast for the places we want to visit - this will be a different rating for different people.
Once they fix the SC issue then it’s 4.5 stars
Gov should create a JV with the EV manufacturers to build state of art fast chargers. They provide the cash and regulations and BYD, Xpeng Zeekr Kia Hyundai etc provide the tech and they share the profits. At 77kWh they'd be raking it in.
That’s quite sensible
Good practical review.
Keen on their performance variants when they come in. Should be a bit cheaper than Tesla.
Hopefully it comes
If you can adjust the steering feel you'd think they could add a super sport mode for drivers like Joy who like the stiffer Tesla feel by OTA update.
Surely right
Maybe check your Plugshare filters, you missed the 350kw Evie at Tarcutta. There's another 150kw Evie at Wodonga (Carl's Jr).
During our trip:
Tarcutta: 1 unit broken, queue for the other one
Evie Wodonga: Broken
Joy just needs massaging seats in the G6 and sounds like she is set for her drive across the Nullarbor. :) That first BP Pulse charger you were at sounds like it was 150kW but split 75/75 instead of a 300kW split 150/150. Here I thought I had watched Part I but seems I haven't so watching in reverse order then, thanks UA-cam for recommending me the wrong video first. :( Now to watch Part I after to find out about the Tesla Supercharger issue, how did Xpeng not realise this before they launched hopefully is just a OTA to fix it. Love that charging speed though closing in on 300kW and arrived perfect SoC as well for it.
Joy got used to the G6 very quickly! We really need to do something about the way we label the DC chargers … CPOs need to be clearer with the charging speeds and whether they are shared
The interesting thing I am noticing is the amount of friction involved in charging an electric car with all of the apps you need etc. I would prefer to see a solution similar to petrol pumps where you insert your bank card, it takes a hold and you charge and go.
When I drove a Polestar in the UK last year, all the modern charging stations were tap and go with credit card. I believe the government mandated it because it was getting ridiculous with people having 20+ different apps. We need the same solution here with a blanket rule forcing all of them to support tap and go. This is part of the maturing of the way this works to make it "just work" and we need to get there I agree.
I can vouch for the UK experience 🙏 so much easier with contactless payment: 2024 EV Road Trip UK in Hyundai Ioniq 5 Fast Charging Range Efficiency
ua-cam.com/video/_AGhRIQvwN8/v-deo.html
Another great video.
My question for you: if you were buying with your own money and you hadn’t bought the BYD Seal Premium yet, would you buy this instead of the Seal?
Answer for with Tesla Supercharging fixed and without. :-)
For our family car … and if the Supercharging issue is fixed: then yes. For my own personal car … I still prefer Sedans or a smaller SUV/hatch tbh so I would wait to see what else is coming for a daily runabout
Thanks. Good to know.
How confident are you that Xpeng will fix this issue with Tesla charging within, say, within the next month? As you know, it took a lot of hassle on my part to get BYD to fix their supercharging issue, and over seven months. For others, it’s taken longer of course.
The inclination from XPeng is there … they want to get it fixed. I can’t give you a precise timeframe
@@LudicrousFeedWell, that’s good that they’ve acknowledged it as a problem at least.
I’ve actually recommended the G6 to a friend that’s looking to buy an EV. I’m now going to tell them to hold off on the G6 until this problem is fixed. Being able to charge using Tesla superchargers is crucial.
Thanks again for the videos and information.
good question there chris
Thanks that was very informative useful, Joy seemed to quite like the car. Fingers crossed XPeng get the issue with using the Tesla charger fixed soon (I have a G6 on order).
Note on the Australian Xpeng G6 FB group some users have posted about their experience with the Tesla Superchargers - one G6 owner indicated some of the Tesla Superchargers do work with his car - e.g. the Sutton Forrest pie shop and carriageways in Sydney Tesla superchargers worked fine for him; another said that Ballarat worked fine. Someone else mentioned it may be a V3 (working) vs V4 (not) thing?
Our pleasure! I’m very surprised that the Sutton Forest and Carriageworks SCs work because they’re not showing up as usable for non-Teslas in the Tesla app. There’s no way you’d be able to handshake with them because you can’t select them.
Bathurst has worked for me in an Atto 3 because they are V2 superchargers, even through currently Atto 3 cannot charge from V3/4. I suspect XPeng can probably charge from open V2 stations but I can’t be sure without physically testing them (there’s not many of them left that are open access anyway - Bathurst being one of them). You’re right it’s probably a V3/4 issue but nevertheless it needs to be fixed because the major stops between Sydney and Melbourne namely Campbelltown, Yass and Albury are all V4 stalls. I suspect the soon to be opened additional sites at Goulburn and Coolac (Gundagai) will most likely also be V4 and probably open access too
I'd be surprised if it's a V3 v V4 thing as the power systems are very similar, it's just the stalls that are different.
Anyhow hope Xpeng can fix it more quickly than BYD.
Thanks for a real world review, get mine next week . But living in tassie the tesla supercharger network almost doe's not exist anyway , we only have 1 site at this point in time. Charge fox for the win.👍
How exciting! You are correct and that's why I always make the disclaimer that the issue with Tesla supercharger access only applies if they exist in your neck of the woods
It would be good if you mention cost per kw at each location.
I’m surprised very few non Tesla superchargers between Albury and Goulburn.
Great review, cheers from Canberra
Thanks! Check the video description and pinned comment for my road trip spreadsheet - I always update it after each trip
Excellent real world review. I agree that the chicken/egg of vehicles/infrastructure is holding both back, however another message this review reinforces for me is the justification of market position for budget entry level players.
Having a top charge speed of 80 - 120 kWh of the BYD or MG or Ora doesn’t seem a big sacrifice at half the price of an Xpeng G6 ($68k vs $34k-$40k) when they pull up alongside and get the same speed from the plug because of infrastructure shortfall.
When eventually the chargers are there, the entry models will become car 2 of the family and then the G6’s of the world come into their own. Until then I will probably buy a budget ev.
I’m sure 2025 will be my year to buy an ev, just waiting on the newer brands to debut, in particular Aion before my final decision, although I almost bought an Ora from Perth for $27k drive away and $1200 to ship it to Sydney in November. That’s a sign of the prices we can soon expect.
Good summary and yes agreed, when the infrastructure is not quite there, the faster charging speed of the 800V cars only provides marginal benefit - will be interesting to do the same trip if/when the Sydney to Melbourne is as good as in the UK/US/Europe/China
Great work Guys! As regular road trippers, who driver swap as well and run Melb-Syd in 9.5hours at speed limit, you have just rubber stamped our BEV purchase ambitions as NO WAY until further notice. I mean, how bad would charging be, to our other destinations? We really like the G6 ( checked it out in Thailand a few months back) and love that 800v, which is rendered nearly limp here in AUS. All those variables, mostly slow chargers or not working, charge sharing reduction ect ect.......... Bloody frustrating! Can't and won't road trip like that.
I won’t disagree with you … unfortunately fluffing around with substandard infrastructure (and I’m being polite with my language) together with subpar speeds and the inability to use the Tesla superchargers probably cost us at least an hour on the outbound trip. Things need to improve
To be honest.. on anything other than Xmas Holidays it's pretty simple.
I've taken my much lower km Tesla (2020 SR+) Syd-Melb with four non-Tesla stops very easily.
Or just buy a Tesla.
Definitely a shame Xpeng didn't test this before releasing (particularly given other Chinese manufactures like BYD have had some issues)
Buy a Tesla.
@@John-p7i5g To each there own. Tesla just not our thing and still doesn't road trip as FREELY everywhere in AUS, as an ICE. So Tesla a double compromise for us.Thinking more and more that our second car becomes a cheaper BEV for city/ burbs/ fringes. I suspect many 2 car family's will go down this path.
@mickzed6393 Yep I think so too, until charging infrastructure radically improves.
Thank you got the review is this just a software problem or is it like byd needs a hardware fix?
I'm hopeful that it's only a software fix 🙏
Super helpful video, much appreciated, this allows me to decide whether to switch to full ev or phev, will we see a leapmotor c10 or zeekr x review/roadtrip from you in the coming months?
Thanks! Stay tuned we’ll try to do more trips where we can in 2025. Have you seen our Deepal Canberra trip? Real-World Road Trip Test: Deepal S07 Sydney to Canberra over 600km+
ua-cam.com/video/MxYv8ViZJrA/v-deo.html
Great couple of videos Tom! Did you do Melbourne and back in just 2 days??
How does the software and smart cruise compare to the Seal?
Yup! Back to back driving days on Sat/Sun 4-5 Jan 2025. The software and XPILOT is streets ahead of BYD
@@LudicrousFeedimpressive trip
Has XPeng said they are working on fixing the Tesla Supercharger issue?
I’ve been in communication with XPeng and they’ve assured me the fix is coming … stay tuned for an update
Good video, most people would very worry about charging availability, time wasted for Charing car and range anxiety. only you didn’t mention any charge costs for the whole trip compare to a hybrid cars that normally uses 5 to 7 ltr per 100km.
Link to my road trip spreadsheet is in the video description and pinned comment. It includes costs, distance travelled and comparison to a fuel efficient ICE vehicle
@ my bad sorry Tom n Joy ,
Does G6 support Evie plug'n'charge? Ora 03 doesn't for example.
Would be a good one to test if / when I get my next loan
I think something else that needs to happen with chargers is to make people aware of what their car is capable of. So many times I have seen Atto3 and even and Ora at a 350kw charger for 40+ minutes. Cars that can't take full advantage of the speed should go to a different charger during busy periods imo. One Seal owner did allow me to jump the small queue at a charger which was super nice from him, we were out after only 10 minutes with the Ioniq6, just such a great road tripper.
Yes agreed and I did also make the comment that these faster charging cars like the G6 can get off the units faster to allow others to have a turn. While we are at Sutton Forest, we were in and out while 2 other cars were still charging. In the UK, the chargers are sometimes clearly labelled FAST and SUPERFAST or something like that to make the distinction
Its a valid point. However the issue is that often there is no other charger. Ideally you would have a couple of 350's, a couple of 100's etc. It is also etiquette to only charge to 80%. However if things are busy charging to 98% may mean you don't need to charge again. Lots of chargers and all these are non-issues.
@@stephenfilmer4171 Agree yeah, i think most cars have more than enough range to get to the next stop only charging to 80%. Some of the slower charging cars almost trickled down to AC speed when they were closer to 90. At that stage surely it's more time effective for all parties if they unplug and move on. But you're right, more chargers will fix all those issues
BYD hybrid can travel over 1200 km and u can stop to fuel up if u want
Fair enough. The DMi powertrain is for those who want to play it safe - not a judgement. It’s important to provide for both camps until the charging network matures
@@LudicrousFeedjust watching your review when u just send me the reply . U just said
“I’m happy to pay .70 cents per kw yr just to get out of here “ I have nothing against Ev but they will control u , u can’t say with a hybrid car. I still keep watching your reviews . Keep up the good work and happy new year to u and family
Thanks! I think we are all beholden to the fuel companies already anyway 😅
Nice review, can I ask about your watch?
Sure you can ask ⌚️
Plz tell. Watching your Tesla PW2 video.
2024 Omega Seamaster 300m ❤️
@@Emptyheads. should Tom buy himself a Patek Phillips wristwatch in 2025/2026? Or any other wristwatch brand/models suggestions @EmptyHeads. ?
@@Sensei_it_iswhy not, he makes plenty.
How did the white seats fair with the kids in the back for 20 odd hours. I ordered white but my wife wants black for ease of cleaning. Any update from Xpeng on charging debacle at the Tesla charge station?
Our kids are 12 and 15 - old enough to not have to worry about keeping the white seats clean. I’ll update if/when XPeng provide a fix re: Supercharger usage
Thanks for the video is it free charging at shopping centres?
Thanks! It depends - some are free, some aren’t
Depends.
The non Tesla chargers are so “hit and miss”, with more investment definitely needed across Australia. RAA South Aus are the best charging network so far
Yes the RAA network looks good and I’ve heard they’re quite reliable
For now.. they are new and moderately used.
NRMAs Tritium Veefills worked pretty well in 2020 as well till age and lots of use (while free) started hitting them hard.
Xpeng and Volkswagen are working together on the charging network. If Xpeng can sell more cars in Australia. I guess they will bring their fast charging network into Australia definitely.
Anything would be better than the current situation 😩
@@LudicrousFeed I totally agree
Can you make comparison xpeng g6 to Deepal s07
I'm sure we can do a special deep dive episode between the two ... we may need to do an extended episode to encompass the new Model Y, Zeekr 7X etc. Might be a good episode for mid 2025
@@LudicrousFeed Zeekr 7X looks real nice but the RWD entry-level is expected to be AU$71,000 msrp, hhhmmm..
Does everyone experience same when you had Tesla auto pilot on. And when you stepped break hard on and it actually gave a bit of push accelerate?
I’m not sure what you mean but the Phantom Braking experience is similar in a Tesla when you pass a larger vehicle eg big truck. You have to be prepared to accelerate a bit more in case it suddenly brakes
The best thing about teslas superchargers when u have a tesla car is that it works straight away no hassles fast charging
That is the truth. Plug and walk away
Not all people like the Tesla for various reasons, there needs to be fast charging for everyone.
Imagine Tesla fast charges did work on the Xpeng G6 and the others like, than these cars would sell like hot cakes, government needs to get involve here and stop tesla from monopolising the chargers. Everyone should be able to use any charger as long as you are willing to pay for the convenience and the service they provide.
Brand agnosticism for all chargers - I'm for that
Just out of interest, how much faster would the trip Melbourne to Sydney have been in the Model Y using the Tesla superchargers?
Honestly - 30mins x2 stops = we may have been able to do the trip in 10hrs
Seems like you were both happy with this car. How does it compare overall to the Tesla ? Im guessing a lot of potential buyers will be waiting for the new model Y before making their purchase decision. Thanks
Drives better than the current Model Y. Charging on a road trip … well you’ve seen the vid lol. We will be waiting to inspect the new Model Y first. I also want to see the BYD SL7 again and also the Zeekr 7X
There needs to be more other options besides Tesla chargers that are ultra fast
One hundred percent
With no adequate charging infrastructure these 800v vehicles will struggle road tripping …
Did exact same Mel-Syd drive in Jan 2024 in Tesla 2021 M3 LR…. 161 wh/km. Supercharging at Albury and Yass . Total travel time (door to door) 10 hours (including 1 hr charge time). Cost $62.30.
Tesla Tom 😎 vs Xpeng Tom 😥
Not gonna lie, Sydney to Melbourne is so much easier in a Tesla!
I'm looking for the best bang for my 60K ,thats it ! ,wife said so ,is this it ? , don't want straight ICE, i travel around 50 km twice a week around a country city lol[rarely above 80km] , looking for comfort, gadgets & nice looking rig. edit oh yeah charging at home with solar
Put this on your shortlist, it’s a very good car
@@LudicrousFeed thanks Tom
I’ve done this same trip. Had massive issues with charging. On top of the chargers being slow and unreliable (make sure you have a Telstra sim!) - it’s just so expensive. I disagree that cost is not an issue. It impacts people’s willingness to even enter the EV market with how inconvenient and expensive it is. We were getting something like 21kw/100km. Once you add some heat losses from the charger it’s even worse.
Huge amount of work needs to be done to make it right.
I think initially when charging infrastructure is scarce, speed and reliability is at a premium and I’m happy to pay more to get of there faster. But as the market matures and we have more choice then we have the luxury of shopping around … like petrol currently
Dual chargers should be 250kW or 125kW x 2 as standard. Everywhere.
Having to wait an hour to recharge at sub 50kW is too long. This is a good part of the reason why EV sales are stuck at 7-8%
Agreed. I was merely showing the reality of the current DC network on the busiest stretch of highway in our country namely between Sydney and Melbourne. I’d love to be able to one day show a bank of 20 DC chargers in Albury, Gundagai, Yass, Goulburn etc as that would give mainstream Australia the confidence to realistically start thinking about driving electric
@LudicrousFeed Yep that's what we're all waiting for. That and loads of medium/slow chargers as just a normal and expected thing at every urban shopping centre car park.
Even with Supercharger working this car will max out at 100kw on Tesla being 800V? You really need some Evee or Chargefox 350kW units for XPeng.
Don't mind 100kW speeds if they are as reliable and as plentiful as the Tesla Superchargers between Sydney and Melbourne. Evie/Chargefox/BP/Ampol putting in 1 to 2-4 stalls that sometimes work, sometimes don't ... to the average Australian driver - that is not enough to give them confidence to buy an EV for road trips
I dunno why they make it sucha difficult and messy way to charge and pay. Like they should just created a payment account id. And the charger station just scan or NPC for EV ID account from phone and off u go start charging and off with one account instead of creating so many apps.
Make it contactless payment like in the UK: 2024 EV Road Trip UK in Hyundai Ioniq 5 Fast Charging Range Efficiency
ua-cam.com/video/_AGhRIQvwN8/v-deo.html
I’ve done this same trip. Had massive issues with charging. On top of the chargers being slow and unreliable (make sure you have a Telstra sim!) - it’s just so expensive. I disagree that cost is not an issue. It impacts people’s willingness to even enter the EV market with how inconvenient and expensive it is. We were getting something like 21kw/100km. Once you add some heat losses from the charger it’s even worse.
Huge amount of work needs to be done to make it right.
- (also think there needs to be SLAs for any charger operator)
Yep. Out of curiosity what car was giving you 21kw/100km?
I think initially when charging infrastructure is scarce, speed and reliability is at a premium and I’m happy to pay more to get of there faster. But as the market matures and we have more choice then we have the luxury of shopping around … like petrol currently
61kW at 87% SOC is very good.
Agreed
I just read on a newsfeed this morning that Tesla owners in US can use Tesla chargers for $30 per month.
EV's coming to the market now are generally excellent for the type of transport they were designed for. Sadly Australia has such a backward infrastructure for charging.
Public DC charging needs to improve especially along major routes like Sydney to Melbourne
So true. also the reliability of the chargers themselves.
Never seen How much to charge on your road trips ,why ?
Check out the video description and pinned comment: there’s a link to my road trip stats
Interesting video, not sorting or at least knowing the car wouldn't work on the Tesla chargers before releasing the car to reviewers isn't a great sign for the manufacturer/importer.
I think for me both videos highlight EV's are still way less convenient than ICE for anything more than local trips. Not that they can't be done, just not as good.
On the car, like all these new EV's particularly the Chinese brands, we just don't know enough about back up, reliability, parts availability and second-hand price/demand for many to take a chance on them. They look promising but we need 3-5 years to get a better idea.
Fair enough, it’ll take some time for the new brands to gain the trust of the Australian car buying public let alone brand awareness!
Hey Tom, I saw you got to 283.6 charge speed with the Xpeng. What was it when you got to 50% soc. Very envious my M3 only handles around 170 at best. 😢
In the first video (Sydney to Melbourne) at around the 41 min mark, I was pulling close to 200kW at Barnawartha North Chargefox when the car was at 53% SoC
There's more to charging than peak power. The charging curve ( and battery buffer) play a big role too.
You would think a car reviewer knows an 800V platform in combination with Tesla Superchargers is a no go. See also Kia, Hyundai, Porsche and other non Tesla 800V cars.
As in you think 800V vehicles don’t work with open access V4 Superchargers in Australia? What about the Ioniq 6 that was getting 95kW+ in Yass? This was verified by the owner who commented in this video
@ correct, the new Ioniq platform is one of the few 800v platforms that is also compatible with 400v charging. G6 is max 75-100kw at V3 or V4 superchargers as they are not compatible. Ask anyone with an older Ioniq5 for their charging experience at Tesla SC.
Will test again if/when XPeng sort it out
I’ll be honest and admit I hadn’t appreciated nuances between the 800V vehicles with their ability to charge at a specialised 400V Supercharger despite it being open access.
When I eventually get the G6 working with a V4 closer to home, I’ll try to do an explainer with the vid
@@LudicrousFeed yes, that would be interesting if Xpeng or Tesla or both can solve this issue, however I fear it needs a hardware solution from Xpeng if Tesla does not move. I have a G6 on order in Europe but read already everywhere that not only the G6 but also the G9, which is available since 1,5 year over here, has the same issue. Also several other 800v platforms from other brands. From the info I gathered, it seems to be more of a Tesla issue than a non-Tesla car issue. Either way in Europe there are plenty of options available for fastcharging, so no need to make a detour to a Tesla SC. But the Tesla SC have the lowest rates by far.
I was thinking about getting a EV but the charging seems to be crazy. Zac more people get EVs and share it will be even worse. Thats awful
DC charging between Sydney and Melbourne needs to improve
@ i need to say Sydney to Melbourne is a major route and its a problem. There are many other road trips not as busy so i think i will need to wait. I looked at the G6 yesterday lovely car love the G9, but my prado needs to say with me longer. Like i said i was thinking the G6 would be great for my wife. However how long it takes makes me think are especially woman safe waiting for the car to charge. Huge issue i think
Safety is a huge issue re: highway charging with subpar amenities and minimal security. Things need to improve
What weird stuff is Tesla putting in its SuperChargers that keep causing other manufacturers to have issues using them, while able to use multiple other charger types and brands with no problems? Whatever it is, I wish they'd stop it.
Tesla SC's check the voltage on the Proximity Pin in the charging port and wont start if the voltage is too low. BYD never changed there internal pull up resistor on the PP pin from what they used in there GBT implementation when they converted to CCS2. Tesla sees this as an error and wont even start. The Xpeng actually started so this looks like a software issue and should be fixable while the BYD fix is a hardware fix (one 2c resistor) and BYD has told Atto owners to bugger off, they don't care.
Government should FORCE cross interoperability with all EV chargers. Tesla just charges non Tesla cars double per kw for the costs of deployment.
Hard to know whether it’s Tesla or XPeng software or BYD for that matter? But you’re right, there should be a standard across all manufacturers - it’s ridiculous that they’re not all agnostic
Rock up and recharge and have to share charge. Is this a joke? Laughable. We truly are going backwards, aren't we?
Yep power sharing is painful
Half baked charging system stinks
The DC network between Sydney and Melbourne needs to be dragged into the first world stat
Tesla better
Definitely easier to charge along Sydney to Melbourne lol
I'm sorry but I can be in and out with my ice kona in 10 minutes at worse . I know it's old fashioned but......
@@garybennett7835 how often do you do 900klm a day road trips ?
But you’re curious about EVs right? 😉
I was thinking about getting a EV but the charging seems to be crazy. Zac more people get EVs and share it will be even worse. Thats awfull
DC charging needs to improve between Sydney and Melbourne
What sort of driving do you do on a daily and weekly basis? EV chargers on an interstate motorway may be completely irrelevant to you. Far more important is to be able to charge at home if you drive is mostly around town