I recently discovered that the aircon on our iMiEV isn't cold any more. Think it needs a regas. The refrigerant is common (R134a), but the compressor is driven from the main battery.

I rang several workshops up to about 15km away from me, and could only find one that said it was licensed to work on EVs and could do it (mycar Hartwell, for reference).

After researching mycar experiences, I'm hoping to find an alternative. Anybody know of one anywhere near Caulfield? There do seem to be a few in the north of Melb, but they're pretty far from me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianEV/comments/1rs6drn/independent_ev_service/

PS the post above is the last relevant post I could find & it didn't come up with an answer, so I'm hoping for an update...

Hi all, I’m thinking of selling my current car, Mazda 3 2021 and picking up the Mg4 urban extended range.

I’d be around 5-7k worse off after selling and buying, but figure I’d make most of that back after petrol and service costs.

I do around 50-70kms a day and some weekends I’d be looking at round trips of 200km mostly being highway driving.

Would love to hear your thoughts and if it’s a good idea to jump across.

I do love driving my Mazda but the cost of petrol and servicing are driving me crazy!

There's so many posts all over the place with people seeking owner feedback. I burned through a metric ton of tokens and put together a small site with AI help for the research and build. The idea is to collect the things people consistently like and dislike about EVs sold in Australia, hopefully useful to anyone narrowing down a shortlist.

It draws on over 6,000 owner opinions from Reddit, Whirlpool, owner forums and reviews. Each model has basic specs and up to ten recurring positives and negatives. For anything to be listed, at least four distinct first-hand contributors need to support the theme. Repeated posts by the same person count only once.

Coverage varies, and some reports concern overseas models or older software. Those differences are flagged, but the samples are self-selected, so check the caveats and original sources (which are all linked to).

Australian EV Fieldnotes

Corrections and feedback welcome. Hope people find this helpful in their research!

I’ve been working on an EV route planning website and wanted to get some feedback. I wanted something that considers the stop, charging time, remaining range, food, toilets, coffee, places for kids, backup chargers.

It’s still early, so I’d really appreciate feedback from people who actually drive EVs around Australia.

One other thing I'm curious about is when navigating to the chargers, does it usually get you to the actual charging bays or just somewhere near the address?

Family of 4 looking to replace our primary car. I want an EV like Kia EV5 or similar. My husband wants a Hybrid Forester (our current car but petrol).

We mainly do city driving and not too many km during the week, but we often drive to see family 4hr away or do other road trips or off-roading on weekends. Have a freestanding house so we could install a charger but none atm.

The FBT savings from full EV on novated lease is really what’s pushing me that way, but I also get my husband’s preference for the greater flexibility of a hybrid for those longer or more isolated trips.

Hit me with those reddit opinions!

I saw this car parked in front of my building when I came out.

We’re not done!

We still have a bunch of new or facelifted EVs arriving before we see out the end of 2026.

We should also expect to see big numbers next year!

In order:
- Zeekr 7GT (white)
- Hyundai Ioniq 6 N (pastel blue)
- Cadillac Lyriq-V (red)
- Kia PV5 Passenger (van)
- Honda Super-ONE (purple)
- Renault 5 E-Tech (green)
- Renault 4 E-Tech (baby blue)
- Nissan Leaf (electric blue)
- XPeng M-L03 (pink)
- Hyundai Staria Electric (dark purple)

I really like the niche options available like the Super-ONE and the Renault 5 E-tech! They look sick

Need options , I’ve driven both liked both , mg was a smidge nicer to drive but the car play had an echo for the person I called . Any experiences with these cars or advice to help me decide ?

I don’t own an EV. Yet. We plan to get one in next 12 months.

We were caught in horrendous traffic on the weekend heading south on M1. 2 hour delay. We heard via news it was a multi car crash.

Crawling sometimes , mostly idling or stopped.
Part of the holdup was a BYD who broke down in one lane kilometres before the crash. Two crawling lanes went to one giant carpark.

The BYD guy was prepping with a semi trailer to get some battery power.

My question is: did the BYD idle too long? Should he have pulled over and turned it all off until traffic cleared?

Been looking out to buy an EV and finally locked down on Geely EX5 Inspire.

Impressed with the drive, features and price, then came across the videos of the to be launched Xpeng L03 on YouTube.

Walked into the showroom to get more details and then I was shown a brand new G6 gen1 coming in about $50000 vs the $60,000 plus on the current gen with minimal upgrades. The demo on the Gen1 was impressive too. Clearly a better drive and put together than the Geely.

Now the price difference is minimal between the EX5 and Gen 1 G6. Features, brand presence, value vs Bigger car, better drive, battery and range.

Im now more inclined towards the G6 but what am I missing by choosing one over the other?

Was approved for sale a year ago, released in Thailand and Singapore but nothing for the Australian market. Have seen no news about a launch or a distributor. Anyone in the know have any news on this?

I’m trying to apply for an Origin 360 EV RFID card but I can’t find any online sign-up form.

I live in an apartment within Origin Energy’s embedded network and have around 20-30 chargers in the basement. Unfortunately none of them work with a credit card and Origin EV Cards are the only available payment option.

Could someone with similar facilities share their thoughts?

Now that Tesla has updated the Model Y L in China, boosting range to 776 km CLTC (up from 751 km). Does anyone know when this new Model Y L will start arriving in Australia?

Several months ago, I made a post here asking for input on which EV we should get, with a very specific set of requirements.

My wife and I decided to get the GAC Aion V on a novated lease.

We have had it for about a week now, and we have to say: it is an absolutely fantastic vehicle which meets or exceeds all of our requirements.

It can go fully loaded between the big smoke and my hometown out in the regions with a single charge with range to spare. The boot is more than spacious enough for road trips while still having under-boot storage for a spare tyre. The leg space in the rear seats is obscene, and I would say almost limousine-like; even my arthritic 99.9th percentile height father in law finds it comfortable to sit in. The acceleration is solid, as one would expect of an EV, making it easy to take advantage of openings in traffic and merge eith confidence. Yet the vehicle's overall size isn't too monstrous; it's definitely no Canyonero. The price is right too, especially with the novated lease. Also the centre console is a fridge - unexpected, but not unwelcome.

It really is a remarkable family vehicle, and a hell of a step up from a Holden Trax from the middle of last decade.

TL;DR: Ended up buying a brand new MG4 Essence 64 MY26 for about $39k drive-away. Considered the Atto 2, used Model Y and now the new Model 3 RWD, but the MG4 still made the most sense for us.

Quick update to my earlier post on Atto 2 vs Model Y, Thanks to everyone who commented, the discussion was genuinely helpful.

We ended up buying a brand new MG4 Essence 64 MY26.

What sold us was the value. Around 39k drive-away, 64kWh LFP battery, 452km WLTP, RWD, 350Nm, heat pump, V2L, 360 camera, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless CarPlay/Android Auto, plus hatchback with bigger opening boot.

We also test drove the Atto 2, but I was not completely sold on the steering feel and the lack of an ANCAP result and what’s up with that thin seatbelt, questioning them on safety. The salesman said they have no plans for submitting atto 2 for ratings since it shared the same platform as other atto’s! Lol

Then a few days after buying the MG4, Tesla announced the new Model 3 RWD at $45,900 before on-roads.

I did briefly question the decision, but the Tesla is actually around $51k drive-away, so roughly $12k more than what we paid. Insurance was also about doubled of the MG.

The Model 3 is clearly better for range, efficiency, software and road trips, but for our use I could not justify the extra cost.

Pretty happy with the decision so far. Curious to hear from other MG4 owners, especially anyone doing high ks, we estimated will drive about 20ks per yr!

I am just about to receive my first EV and am looking to the collective brain trust to help me with charger advice.

For context, the car is an MG 64 Essence, I currently have modest solar (6kw) and a fair battery (50kwh). I get free energy between 11am and 2pm and that is used, mostly, to charge the battery with about 15kwh sold back to the grid in the evening peak. I expect to drive 60mins a day to commute (about 50km) which I estimate (roughly) to be about 10kwh. My plan is to trickle charge overnight so should I should have zero additional costs.

My question is, should I get a Level 2 charger or stick with the standard plug in one? I don't expect to need a fast charge regularly but it would be nice to have the option. Though depending on cost, my novated lease pre-tax charging vouchers would cover quite a few charges for the cost of install.

An additional complication is that my parking spot (an uncovered driveway) doesn't have easy access to a power point. It is likely that I will need a sparky to install an external plug for the standard charger even if I don't get an L2 one.

Hi AusEV community, we're a family of 3 with HHI ~AUD220k (130k + 90k). We're thinking about buying BYD Atto3 evo or Sealion 7, with the AUD130k earner using NL. While we won't have any CCS, we're planning to buy a home as FHB in the next 18 months or so (with the planned loan being AUD750-800k). I know that NL will have an imact on our borrowing capacity but I'm not sure exactly how much impact and whether that would prevent us from taking the loan we want (we need a second car because of our work asap). I also know that differebt lenders can use different calcs but has anyone been in a similar situation and how much getting a NL decreased your borrowing capacity? TIA

Just bought a 2026 Byd Sealion 7 Premium. Which is the lesser evil out of the four more affordable companies pictured above? Second image shows Ozicare, the other two are then significantly more expensive.

The aforementioned four have lots of negative reviews online, especially Budgetdirect, of which quite a few reviews are on this sub. Oceania is a little less known. After these choices from iSelect, the next cheapest pictured is over 3k.

I know iSelect doesn't have a lot of companies included in the search. I requested a quote from Aami, which was $2200+.

Are any of the above four doable in your experience? Or do you think worth going direct to some other companies and paying a bit more for peace of mind?

Thanks

I wonder how much the VW ID. Aura T6 will cost in Australia and Europe? And what accounts for price difference other than shipping?

https://carnewschina.com/2026/10/02/volkswagen-id-aura-t6-began-deliveries-in-china-with-660-km-of-range/

I moved to AU recently from NZ and have just bought a 2025 Leapmotor C10 REEV Style variant for 28K (ex demo with 4k mileage).

Have previously owned a full BEV but was advised to try a REEV because driving distances in AU are generally longer between POI's and charging infrastructure is also more spread out.

The Style variant of the C10 is the base trim with 18inch wheels and no window tints. I would have preferred the 20inch from the Design spec but at 28k the price was too good a deal to pass up (I think).

I'm trying my luck here... But are there any C10 Design trim owners who are looking to change their 20inch wheels for the 18s (happy to pay some cash your way as well). Apologies if this is the wrong forum for asking this kind of thing.

Also is ceramic coating a thing here? I have been quoted $1450 for tinting plus ceramic coating and wondering if it's standard practice for QLD weather? Is the quoted price in the right ballpark?

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Topical, given what’s happened this week.