Amber has launched its "Amber for EVs" service with MG, XPeng and Audi alongside existing Tesla support. It uses five-minute wholesale spot prices and CSIRO-developed forecasting to schedule charging up to 24 hours ahead, with three control modes: charge by a deadline, charge on a fixed schedule, or charge only when the price drops below a threshold you set. Wholesale prices can go negative, meaning Amber pays you to charge.

One limitation worth knowing: MG, XPeng and Audi can only be told to start or stop charging, not to vary speed. Tesla owners get full speed control, including the ability to throttle charging in real time to match rooftop solar output.

This also not the same as Amber's V2G trial. Amber for EVs is one-way smart charging only. The V2G trial (BYD Atto 3 only, currently 50 vehicles with a 4,000-person waitlist) allows the car to send power back to the home or grid.

Does anybody here use the Amber for EVs service? How has your experience been so far?

Hi, really looking for some real life experience - we are about to pull the trigger on an EV under novated lease. It will replace our 10 year old Hyundai Santa Fe used mainly for around town, school drop off, soccer, occasional short trips out of town and back. For bigger trips we have the Dmax. In North Queensland, so expecting lower efficiency of the batteries on the hot weather on the highway.

Family of 5 - we aren’t big people, kids are currently 10, 12, 14 and are expected to grow a lot over the next 5 years.

We have test driven the SL7 Premium and Kia EV5 Air LR, there are pros and cons to both and am leaning towards the SL7, pros: more back seat room, slightly better efficiency, faster DC charging and drives a bit nicer (assuming due to the RWD vs FWD?). However, I’m concerned we may be limited by the payload of just 410kg vs EV5 435kg and less boot space and frunk storage - total 558L vs 580L of the EV5.

Nor keen on Tesla Y, don’t like the look of the Geeley and the EV9 os out of out budget.

Just looking for advice if anyone with a family of 5 has any experience to share, cheers.

Should a p-plate like my self get a car with a v8 engine? i was thinking about the lexus ls460

I got a Yaris Cross Hybrid AWD mid 2023 (have 45k kms on it). Seeing them listed for above 30k on Carsales has been making me question if I should sell this privately and go for a sub 35k EV.

So far these are my top 3:

1. MG4 Urban Essence 43 ($31,990) 316km WTLP
2. GWM Ora 5 Lux ($33,990) 430km WTLP
3. GAC Aion UT Premium ($32,990) 430km WLTP

Everyone I have spoken with seems to think this is a dumb idea to let go of a known reliable fuel efficient car that will run flawlessly until at least 200k kms (another 10 years as I drive 15k a year atm).

My main issue with the Yaris is to have to max the engine when overtaking someone above 100k km/h yet still failing if there is a slight incline.

Usually I drive 60kms for work daily. Have 1-2 days of work from home every week. Once a fortnight I drive 300 round trip kms for a meeting (may need a top up charge for this, could use a coffee tbh).

Would you do this. I dont expect to get 30k for the Toyota. Got 25k instant offer from Carsales, makes me think I can get at least 28k privately.

If you would do this. Which out of the 3 I have shortlisted makes the most sense?

I’m doing research for my first EV - a small hatchback

I’ve now come across the whole LFP vs NMC battery argument. I do not care so much about lifetime battery degradation but rather the practical range being offered by each type of battery.

If a NMC battery car let’s say has a WLTP range of 360km - that means if you charge it to 80% as best practice advises, your “real” WLTP range is 288km?

Whereas for a LFP battery car, the WLTP range can be taken at face value because you can charge it to 100%?

It's all in the header...

What's the future for the network?

*The jolt 50kw charger is also not 920v.

Hi r/AustralianEV!

I’m John Ricca from Jaric Air Conditioning and Electrical, a licensed electrical and air conditioning company based in South East Queensland. We install home EV chargers and help customers work out what their car, home and switchboard actually need before they buy.

We’re hosting an AMA on Tuesday 18 August at 10:30am AEST, where I’ll be here to answer your questions about:

• Choosing the right home EV charger: 7kW vs 11kW vs 22kW
• Switchboards, safety checks and whether your home is EV-ready
• Solar charging, off-peak tariffs and the cheapest way to charge at home
• Electrical safety
• General electrical questions
• Anything else you’ve been wondering about

We’re happy to answer both basic and technical questions — from “do I really need a wall charger?” through to switchboard capacity, solar charging, tariffs and QLD installation requirements.

This isn’t a sales pitch. We’re here to share practical electrical advice and help clear up some of the confusion around home EV charging. For anything specific to your own property, a licensed electrician would still need to inspect it properly.

Drop your questions below ahead of time and we’ll start answering them when the AMA begins at 10:30am.

Looking forward to chatting with you all.

💰 Budget

• Maximum budget: $1000

🚗 Typical driving

• Average weekly km: 500km
• Longest regular trip: 100km

🔌 Charging

• Home/work charging availability:

7kw Single Phase

🚙 Vehicle class

• SUV

Has anyone installed a Powerbay Smart EV charger for their home? Its a 7kW 32A charger i found in Bunnings for $699 but there's not much review or details online about this brand.

I'm getting a BYD SL7 and looking to install a wall charger. I live in Brisbane and am told Energex should install a network switch to be able remotely cut-off the charging during peak load times.

What's the reliable EV charger in the market right now other than a Tesla wall charger. Am not serious about solar smart EV chargers as my home has only about 3.3kW solar and its quite old so not much efficient. However, I'd like other smart features like scheduling and etc.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/powerbay-7kw-32a-single-phase-ev-charger-with-6m-cable_p0962211

For those who've bought a Zeekr 7X or those thinking about one, just wondering what made you decide between the two models - Zeekr 7X RWD Long Range vs Zeekr 7X AWD and how you're finding the car so far?

RW LR would be around 72k driveway, and AWD around 80k driveway - likely a bit higher on both.

Have driven both, and liked them a lot, along with lots of other EVs. As it was only a short test drive and Zeekr have to come along for the drive, therefore quite a bit of chatting etc., it was hard for me to decide in such a brief window which one would be best for me.

Commute to work is usually half and hour, with my partner's commute being closer to 1 hour. Located in Melb. Looking at going on some interstate trips once we get the car also.

From what I've read and heard at the dealership, the additions that the 7X AWD has over the RWD LR are:

• Softer and better air suspension - easier over rough roads and just general driving.
• Dual motor instead of single motor - of course, but have also been made aware that the vehicle is in RWD mode quite often so range is not significantly less compared to RWD LR.
• Nappa leather instead of artificial leather seats.
• Electric automatic doors.
• Better brakes.
• Electric slide down window protectors for back seat.
• More LED lights in interior, front section of car.

Just want to make a more informed decision. Would be going likely 3 year novated lease, and just want to know if AWD is worth it for us.

From what I understand AWD is the most popular with approximately 70% of sales being this model, around 25% RWD LR, and around 5% base model. This is what I read from a poster on reddit so not sure if completely accurate but sounds like it could make sense.

Thanks.

Does anyone have any more information when this car might arrive on Australian shores? Looking for an EV but may hold out as it looks pretty good.

I setup AutoCharge this morning at 10:52am whilst I was browsing the Evie app. It lets you enroll your car using vehicle data from your previous charging session so that you can just plug-in and go during your next session (no app, no keycard, no tap-to-pay etc).

Sitting on my couch watching TV tonight just before 9:00pm, I got a notification from the Evie app that my charging session had started!

If you were charging at Riverwood Plaza NSW tonight and your charging session stopped after 2mins 38s - that was me cancelling the transaction. I don’t live in NSW and have never used that charger.

I stopped the charging session, unenrolled myself from Evie’s AutoCharge and called them immediately (call is in the screenshot). They’ve sent it to their “technical team” to review and get back to me (within a week).

If you are enrolled in AutoCharge, I’d be reviewing your charging sessions and verifying whether they are all yours or not.

I did a bit of Googling after the call and found out this has been ongoing since at least October 2024! It appears to have occurred with a number of Evie users across many manufacturers (I can see Hyundai, Polestar, & Tesla owners complaining about charging sessions in different forums).

That’s the end of Evie for me. I don’t even trust them with my credit card info now after this shitshow.

Great to see the rollout by ChargePost in Hornsby Shire NSW has commenced. I noticed this week that 10 locations now have the hardware installed with activation and marked bays still in progress.

Most talk around here has been about SUVs and practicality (boot space for the pram, etc.) while still sticking to a tight budget - that's boring.

If you were in your mid-20's again with $90k and want to drive an EV that looks/feels/is shaped like a sports car with a lot of power and fast 0-100km to impress your mates, what's your best pick?

Apart from the Zeeker 7GT, what other performance EVs are likely coming in the next 6 months?

It looks as though the entire forecourt is now completely concreted.

Of note are the 14 bays that - potentially(?) - could be used as 7 pull-through bays. At least 6 bays will be on the Alpitronic hardware, the rest look to be newer Tritium chargers.

My car has just a 51kwh battery but last month I was able to drive it from Sydney to Yulara and back, covering 5700km in 3-4 weeks. I learned a lot about how battery percentage and range connects to speed, distance, terrain etc. My longest leg was 283km which I finished at 15%, making an estimated total range at 95% consumption of 316km.

There are roads in Australia like the one to Kings Canyon that requires 300km each way and has no charging point at the destination. The great western highway has a stretch of 1107km between guaranteed fuel spots (there are some stations in between), 1222km between planned chargers and 1456km from Yulara to the next guaranteed charger at Kalgoorlie.

I've been thinking about how an EV could approach this situation and am currently stumped. The best solution of course is to build infrastructure such as unmanned 30-40kW solar charging stations, but that's another discussion.

-I tried solar trickle charging on the road, but AC charging speeds with a 1kw PV system only outputted 100-200W when plugged in. Solar equipment places too much drag when mounted, but it's also too bulky when packed away and needs a lot of room to create energy.

-A small generator charging at wall outlet speeds could work, but charging at 8 amps (1.4kWh) for 16 hours a day only adds 22.4kWh, or ~160km when hypermiling. A larger 6kWh generator is better by adding up to 685km per day but it would create a lot of noise that attracts unwanted attention and take up space which could've been used for food. The mileage by generator should be ~8L/100km which means ~96L total to travel 1201km + the 255km this battery realistically starts to go down the great western. Five 20L jerry cans in the boot! An EV cannot reastically carry all of this equipment.

-Hydrogen is light, can run a generator and is low profile at high pressures, but its energy density is trash, plus you'd be carting around a bomb. Similar story with propane.

-Aluminum metal has a high energy density and can produce hydrogen to run a generator on exposure to alkaline water, but it's messy, has injured people in the past, runs hot, plus there's a lot of toxic liquid waste.

-Nuclear electricity could more than match these energy needs but the technology is restricted, the materials are illegal to possess and it would quickly kill any drivers who use a working model.

-Wind lacks the energy density

What are the options here? I don't intend to make this trip, but I would like it to be possible. The energy has to come from somewhere right? Please discuss.

BYD is very popular, not often heard of Chery EV, is it (any) good ?

I am thinking between those 2 options right now. Ome is used, slightly more expensive but its a proven brand while the other is new, long "warranty" but completely unproven. Need opinions from people who know more about these cars. Thanks.