September 18, 2024 • 39 mins
This is a special episode of the show - Gordie interviews Luke Todd, the executive chairman of EV Direct - the Australian company behind BYD in Australia.
Gordie asks all the...questions - they would be hard questions, but Paul wasn't there!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Okay, so hang on before we begin, I'm going to
make sure I'm getting the title right. And managing director
and executive chairman of EV Direct Luke Todd's in the house.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
If you want to simplify it, just go executive chairman.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
She looks good on the LinkedIn account. It looks good,
it looks real good.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've got so many different companies and different structures that
it's hard to get one title.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, I wanted you to talk to me like I'm
five years old, because Paul is the brains behind there,
and we're still waiting for him to show up. I
don't think he's going.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
To show up.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
That's how professional he treats this thing. But I wanted
to get I guess, a bit of insight to what
you guys do, and then we'll sort of climb from
there because you guys are effectively the distributor of BYD. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, So the story behind how BYD cars came to
Australia was us being heavily involved. So I've been involved
with BID for more than ten years. The electric buses
that you see floating around Sydney, CBD and other places
was a project myself and BID worked on originally more
than ten years ago, and then we morphed into electric
vehicles passenger vehicles, and what started the relationship and bringing
(01:10):
right hand drive cars to the country was an investment
that our company made into BYD to convince them that
the right hand drive market was a viable market. Because
more than ninety percent of cars around the world a
left hand drive, so BYD sort of evolving into the
behemoth that they are now, they wanted to focus on
the left hand drive market, but we had a strong relationship,
(01:32):
so we convinced them, hey, let's look at the right
hand drive market as well. We contributed quite a lot
of money and that's why we became the exclusive distributor
for BYD because it was a partnership and that's how
we built the first right hand drive cars with BYD,
which is something I'm really proud of to be able
to work with the company that's so large and so
(01:54):
now becoming so dominant in the automotive industry, to be
there in the early days and convince them that right
hand drive cars were viable. And now we've seen huge
sales in Australia, Thailand, telling a huge amount of electric
vehicles and the right hand drive market is really taking
off for BYD, so that's how it all started.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, it's an incredible one, and it's one of the
reasons why I think I really wanted to get you
in because BYD when they launched here, it's a company
that could have gone two ways. And I mean this
in all respect, because it feels like it could have
been yet another Chinese brand that is new and scary
to people, and people don't really understand it. To me,
(02:35):
it feels like a car company that has automatically come
in the market and deserves to have a place next
to the likes of Masda Toyota, like established car companies.
Because the product the by D is putting out is
I think it's incredible and the figures that show and
I wanted to get a bit of a backstory onto
what ev Direct does and a little bit more about
BYD because there's a bit of an avalanche really with
(02:57):
Chinese brands coming right, there's like what ten entering the
market soon? Yeah, how hard is it? I'm curious how
hard is it to deal with a foreign EV company
from China?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I'm pretty fortunate. I've been working with Chinese companies
for more than twenty years, whether it be buses or
whatever I did prior to what I'm doing now. So
I've had a lot of experience working with different companies
in China, some very difficult to work with, some amazing
to work with, and BYD fortunately is one of those
companies that have been really easy to work with over
(03:33):
the years. They're very passionate, driven by a really strong
founder and chairman who's doing wonderful things and he's literally
changing the automotive industry right around the world. So there's
nothing's ever perfect. There's always challenges, but I've been really
fortunate because I think my experience for one thing, but
(03:55):
the ability just to have a good, healthy relationship with
BID at all levels, whether it ri chairmen or people
that are on the factory factory floor, it's a good relationship,
it's healthy, and that's been made it quite easy for us.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
What are some of the challenges and sort of requirements
you would face with something like this.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Look, we've had a lot of challenges along the way
that have all been solvable, but one of the key
challenges is the amount of regulation that is in Australia.
So it's a good thing, but to bring a vehicle.
Import a vehicle into Australia is actually one of the
hardest countries in the world because the standards are so high,
(04:37):
whether it be ADR compliance and cap rating. As I said,
it's a really good thing because the benchmark is really high,
but to get an ADR compliant five stary nd cap
vehicle into Australia is extremely difficult. So if I was
to talk about some of the major challenges that we've
had is ensuring that right through the production process and
(04:58):
then bring in the vehicle on to market that everything
has been compliant with Australian standards, as said, the highest
probably in the world, and the results of vent wonderful.
We've now got three vehicles with five starr ing cap
ratings or within the last two years and as it
probably where and cap ratings sort of roll over every
six years, so you've got to keep current with the
(05:20):
up to date safety standards so that means our vehicles
are really really safe. And so to answer your question,
that's probably been the toughest challenge getting the behemoth of
company that it is BYD, with the hundreds of literally
hundreds of thousands of engineers working for BYD, getting them
together to fully understand what's required for Australia.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Why BYD for you guys, like, why did you scope
them out? Do you think so?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
My history was building the first electric bus for Australia,
and the only company that I could find anywhere in
the world that could do that in partnership with the
company that I owned at the time was BYD, So
really flexible company, but really powerful and capable company. So
the relationship start off with buses. And then what really
(06:07):
sparked everything was in roughly twenty eighteen, Wolfgang Egger, the
head designer now for BYD, left outing and came across
to BYD and brought a whole heap of really talented
European designers with him, and that was the moment that
we realized that there's something special going on with BYD.
I spent a bit of time a Woofgang when he
(06:28):
first joined, and I could just see the switch inside
BYD that historically been a battery manufacturer, buses, trucks, and
then to have this really high quality designer, automotive designer
joined the company, you could feel the air of change
and that was the moment that we sort of started
talking about how do we get right hand drives for Australia.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He's an interesting guy and I saw him on a
recent reel that you guys shared. I mean, I can
imagine that he would be this sort of type that
would immediately change the ethos within a company. He really
does treat design like a language. That the way he
talks about it with such fluency and passion is incredible.
And actually I don't know if it's the real that
(07:11):
I saw. I think it had possibly a concept that
you guys that byd could be. Do you know what
I'm talking about? Have you seen it?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
There's something on whilst you're finding that. One of the
things that most impressed me with when Wolfgen came, he
designed what's called the E Seed, which is a one
of a one and that was his signature vehicle when
he first joined. And I presume he had some apprehensions
leaving out in the powerhouse that it is around the world,
(07:39):
coming to at the time a car company that was
making cars that I know, we're near the quality and
level that they are now. So he designed the E
Seed and that's sort of his signature. You talk about
the fluency and his craft work, that was his masterpiece
as far as saying, okay, I'm here, this is what
we're going to build from here on in, and that
(08:00):
one of ones sits in headquarters in Shenzen in China.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Okay, so here it is here.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's it's nice to have somebody asked me anything about
but like everyone just asks about the un at the moment.
So this is good.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh yeah, yeahs on the questionnaire. But like you look
at something like this, you can see it, you can
touch it, and you can feel it.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I mean just his accent. He's a talented guy that
this video is actually about four years old.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, I've got a way behind you. Don't just shout it.
So I was like, oh, this must have been here, but.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's still relevant for today.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So how we talks Chinese culture into our design, this
makes it unique.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah that's he said.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, contribution, I mean that's stunning.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
That's when you see that in the flesh. That vehicle
is just a standout. It's and what you talk about
the I think the passion and it really I think
he's an artist's you know, he's a he's obviously really
talented in engineering and building cars, but what he speaks
(09:09):
about there is the passion about bringing the Chinese culture,
which is a thousand plus years old into automotive industry.
Now that that's powerful. And when you combine the two,
the history as well as the high tech that's coming
out of out of predominantly Southern China, Shen's End region,
and then you start to overlap designers from Europe that
(09:32):
are of the top standard. That's why we've got great
cars within the Bord range.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Done this down for me right, and I genuinely mean
this because by the time we're finished with this podcast
and when it gets released, I guarantee you I'm going
to get a lot of emails from old people, primarily
because Paul's a bit of a scene with the MILFs,
but yeah, we'll get We'll get a lot of old
people like bloody Chinese cars you should be supporting to
(09:58):
Australian made orange and the Fooge. What is the negativity
do you think around Chinese important cars? And I guess
reliability in the past has been something, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Think the negativity is exactly as I have said. There's a
lot of people inside that are car enthusiasts and holden forward.
There's such a rivalry and a history of Australian made vehicles.
It then evolved of many years you saw the Japanese
start to make really good quality cars Korea and now
(10:32):
it's China's turn. So I think the way I answer it,
in a short way of answering it is, if you
want the best quality EV or a new energy vehicle
at the moment, you go to where they're making the
best quality vehicles. Ten twenty years ago, Germany was making
the best quality diesel and petrol vehicles because they had
the best quality engineers, and automotive vehicles at the time
(10:55):
were highly engineered, probably over engineered. But now if you're
looking for evs or new energy vehicles, the best quality
vehicles are coming out of China, and we're quite passionate
about that, and there's a lot of passionate people that
speak very highly of our vehicles. So I think when
you have sort of create that bit of a clash
that there's a lot of people that have historic ties
(11:16):
to hold and forward or whatever it may be in Australia,
but we haven't built cars here for ages. So it's
all about getting the best quality vehicles now to Australia
at the most affordable price and that's how we've been
so successful with inside ev Direct in partnership with BYD SO.
I can't answer fully why the negativity, but when you
(11:36):
look at the vehicles, when you fully understand the quality,
the safety availability as well, we have stock available in
most of our models, there really is no better place
to be sourcing vehicles from than Southern China at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I kind of also feel like it's such an important
move for this country that you can effectively poort a
family and look times it's half that you can put
a family into a hybrid card now the Sea Line
six for fifty between fifty and fifty five thousand a
(12:12):
hybrid car one thousand k's quality. It does make me
wonder like I don't understand why people are so negative
about something that's doing such a positive Do you know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, what we say is just test drive our vehicles
and then go and test drive some of the competitors
vehicles that are on the market at the moment, whether
they be similar price or more more expensive. One thing
that and you've touched on it. The cost of living
and the affordability is something that we've been dedicated and
focused on from day one, and that's what I'm most
(12:43):
passionate about the ability for somebody to if they're in
the market, to buy a high quality, new and needy vehicle,
whether it be a plug in hybrid like the Sea
Line six or a full electric and start saving money
from day one. And all of our customers that speak
to us tell us about how much they're saving, and
that to me is a byproduct, but it's actually become
(13:05):
pretty much our core mission now. The more people that
drive electric vehicles, it's good for the environment, but we
won't need to go into that too much because there's
been so much talk about what evs can do for
the environment, which is great, but it's now about cost
of living and the ability to save money. So from
day one, when you're driving a BYD or potentially in
(13:26):
other brands new Enedy vehicle, you're saving money, which is
great and every dollar counts.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
At the moment, where do you see new I guess
prices for evs going in Australia.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So we've probably done a really good job, probably too
good a job of bringing high quality vehicles at the
prices that we have BYD vehicles that we have in Australia.
If you compare to what the priced in Europe or
other regions, they're a lot higher. So the affordability in
Australia is actually the best in the world for BYD
(13:58):
vehicles outside of China. So that's something that we're again
proud of. So when we talk about future pricing, we're
very responsible to make sure that the pricing that we
come in is the best price we can do from
day one, so we don't end up slashing prices or discounting.
And we have a fixed price model as well, so
if you go into any store, you're going to be
(14:18):
paying the same prices, no hackling, none of that old
rubbish that used to some people love. But the majority
of customers these days want to know that they're getting
the best value for money and they don't have to
go to three or four different dealers to haggle.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, I would argue that the old dealership is could
be a dying breed. I think. I think showrooms and
websites are working really well in collaboration with each other.
Like what you guys do, you're effectively ordering off a website,
you can go check out the car and in a showroom.
I think the honeymoon period that the car industry got
(14:54):
post COVID or during COVID, with especially with secondhand cars,
but new cars as well. I think caused a lot
of cockiness in dealerships. If I'm honest, I've seen it
a lot, and I think it's still there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It is.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You're right, It's one of those things that there really
is a cockiness. Like you can walk into a showroom
and I'm talking like anyone from a prestige car European
car to an everyday consumable brand. You'll get a dealer
that will barely even want appeal his ass off the
couch to come over and chat. It's just like, you know,
(15:30):
what do you do? What are you even doing here?
What do you want? Like as soon as you talk
deals with them, they just.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well come to us in a minute. What we try
and do it with at B y D. But what
do you talk about with the current dealerships and the
honeymoon period? There has been a honeymoon period the last
two years. A large proportion of the deliveries that you
see in the vfax or whichever wherever you see it
historic orders that have been on back order, so a
(15:57):
lot of stock hasn't been available especially if we talk
about toy to Wrap four as a comparatible car to
our Sea Line six, people are still waiting. So there's
people still waiting that the put orders in a couple
of years ago, but we've got Sea Line six, which
we believe is a far better vehicle in stock available.
So when you talk about that cockiness, potentially it's because
(16:18):
there were so many orders that were already in the
bank and properly some of those salespeople who have already
received commission, So the delivery has been happening over the
last couple of years. So it's a really interesting area
to be in now because everybody's now sort of starting
to catch up on the deliveries, so it's changing and
(16:38):
the dealership. From day one, why our company's called ev
Direct is we wanted to cut out all the layers,
all the junk. When we first did our research, there
was actually seventeen layers between when a car was built
and when it got to a consumer's hands, so you
think seventeen times that somebody's taking a cut or making money,
So we wanted to cut out as much as we could. Originally,
(17:00):
when we first launched, we wanted to be fully online
digital process and keep the vehicles as low as we
could price wise. We listened to our customers and that's
why we formed the partnership with Egager's Automotive and opened
up a retail network right across Australia.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
So, sorry to interrupt, that's a new acquisition, right.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So Eager's Automotive have been our retail partner now for
about a year and a half and that allowed us
to expand our footprint. But still today, roughly forty percent
of our sales are still done on a mobile phone
or a device, So people may be going into the stores,
but the actual sale, they're not sitting down with a
salesperson and going through that painful process of sign here,
(17:45):
sign here. People are going online, putting down one thousand
dollars refundable deposit and doing the order themselves in the
comfort of their own home, which we really like. So
proof is in the putting the digital concept and cutting
out a lot of those layers, and the evolution of
the dealership is proven in what we've been able to
achieve in the last two and a half years.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Just to sort of get a bit of backstory, Eggers
is similar to you guys, right, similar to ev Direct.
Are they MOLL like a distribution dealership.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Or Apegas are the largest retail retailer of automotive vehicles
in Australia, so they represent multiple brands and they're a retailer,
so they're a fantastic partner of ours. We have some
really great partners, so Eager's Automotive, my Car and a
few others, but Eagers are our retail partners. We work
with them. So the people that you see inside of
(18:35):
our experience centers or megastore in Alexandria, they're Egers or
our joint venture that we have with Eigers, their stuff
but representing our brand, and that's allowed us to grow
as quickly as we have.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So it's like a partnership with you guys and BYD.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, so it's a joint venture endorsed by b WED.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah. We touched on earlier ten new car brands coming
to Australia. What's the feeling on that and I guess,
how do you think it's going to affect the sort
of sales in Australia.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I actually think it's a really exciting thing to see
some of the other brands that I've seen in China,
for many years come to Australia. The reality is, and
i'll just talk highly about BYD here for a second.
BYD is the dominant player anywhere that you go, whether
it be China or the expansion into European or soon
(19:26):
to be American markets. The reason being is that they
are totally vertically integrated companies, so they build everything, the batteries,
all of the components are built by b YD. A
lot of the other car companies that you're seeing don't
have that capability. So I'm excited about the competition, and
there are going to be some other vehicles that people
can compare to by DS, but we have total confidence
(19:48):
with the amount of vehicles that and different ranges range,
so different models that we're bringing to the country that
by D will be the standout. But as I said,
I'm really excited to see some of the other brands
bring bring vehicles in. What they have to do though,
is they have to make sure they've got the network right.
They've got to have not just copy and paste what
we did, because there's been many, many years of effort
(20:13):
coming to what we've now delivered.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, but also you guys are a unique standalone by
yourself I think. I think you've got to expect a
bit of that though, right the competition.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we expect it. And as I said, yeah,
there's copycatting, yeah, of course. And that's a bit of
a compliment as well, because we have new ground in
the automotive industry and very proud that we've had the
most successful new car launch of any brand ever in
Australia's history. So if a few people copy that's that's
(20:47):
a compliment.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Would you guys take on any other ev brands or
is it like I'm not sure how it works forgive
me if that's a weird question. But obviously you've got
to deal with by D, but could have essentially, could
you take on any other brands or it doesn't work
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Look, we want to stay with BID and be exclusive
with BID. Once you start to see what's happening around
the world and how strong BD is as far as
their production, their quality, and what cars are coming in
the future, BDS is our partner. We've been as I said,
I've been working on and off in different various roles
(21:26):
with BID for more than ten years, not directly for BID,
but as a partner of BID. So I'm very loyal
and we have no interest at the moment to look
at other brands, but we welcome other brands into the country.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
The card game for you, like this is, I mean,
this is the industry that you're in. Is that sort
of something you always looked at? I mean, I know
you sort of background was batteries, buses, all that sort
of stuff. Did you ever think it was like, oh,
I'm going to work in the car industry?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Like whatever?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Have you got like an early memory of where you thought?
The way you kind of grew up is where you
are now?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Never ever did I think I'd be leading the byd
whatever you want to call it in Australia. There's amazing
success story. The moment for me though, was, as I said,
when I met Wolfgang for the first time and I
sensed the air of change inside b i D. I
saw some of the early concept cars that he was
(22:22):
working on. That was a moment that I thought, this
is something that I want to want to participate in.
And I've been very fortunate, fortunate to be on that
journey with b ID since then.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
By the way, have you forgive me about like past history?
I'd like to know a little bit about that. But
were you ever did you have a work you didn't
work with Paul? Did you because Paul I thought Paul
knew you. I guess it's from just being there in
the industry, But no, I was just curious to sort
of see a little bit about your background.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Like my background is running bus companies. That's what I've
been doing the majority of my life. I sold out
of a company roughly six years ago, so I no
longer do that and fully focus on on BYD and
EV Direct. But we've done a lot in the few
years that we've been very active in the car car industry.
So yeah, it's an interesting history, and I think it's
(23:12):
a very good thing that I don't have some of
the historic bad things that happen inside the industry as well.
So I've come in with fresh pair of eyes.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Sorry, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
The old way of doing things, So going into a dealer,
standing in front of somebody trying to sell you what
they want to sell you, rather.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Than what do you want to buy?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
People dressed in suits and this is what you're going
to buy. Then you get moved onto the finance department,
you get moved onto all of the upselling. So I've
had a very narrow vision of what I want to
achieve and I think that's been part of our success story.
That I've been not part of the old industry. It's
caused me a lot of headaches because I've come up.
I have to battle quite a lot with some of
(23:55):
the old, traditional, old traditional ways. But fortunately I've been
I guess, stubborn enough to fight through that and create
a model that has resulted in high quality, affordable cars
for more Australians next twelve months.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I guess what are you hoping for and what are
you excited about it as well? I know that. Look
I can't remember the exact figure, but I know the
July figures for you were was incredible.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, twenty five thousand since we started two years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So we delivered it as of July. Right.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
We delivered our first at OH three roughly September October
twenty twenty two. So within less than two years, we've
delivered more than twenty five thousand cars. As I said before,
that's the Australia's most successful new car launch, new brand
in Australia's history. So that's we're very brad but in
July there was about seventeen seventeen hundred odd vehicles delivered,
(24:53):
which was about seventy seven percent increase for US year
on year. So when you ask you about what I'm
going excited about the next year, we want a double
double our sales year on year going forward, and we're
at about seventy odd percent. So we've still got a
little bit of work to do to get together, but
we've got the product, we've got the stock availability, and
(25:14):
we're growing and growing with more stores, more digital digital capabilities.
And then also we're launching which is a separate business
but a pet project of mine, ev Switch, which is
getting more charges out into this Draine landscape. So I've
committed to one hundred thousand low waded charger. So these
(25:36):
are seven killer what charges. They're not the high speed
ones that you see on the highway, but these are
charges that we could have down in the car park downstairs,
you can have at home, you can have it work,
you can have at sports fields. And what we've done
inside ev Switch is bringing a product that was being
around eleven hundred dollars, brought a comparatible product.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
To market for four hundred and ninety nine dollars.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
So, as I said, it's a pet project. It's not
a company that's set up to make money. The profit
margin is very very narrow. But what we want to
see is one hundred thousand new serving killer what high
quality charges into the Australian landscape, and once that happens,
you just watch what happens. And as far as how
many people will want to switch to evs because at
the moment charging we can't not talk about cars without
(26:23):
charging in the plug in hybrid that's a different story.
But if you've got an ev you need a charger
and a lot of people put them in at home
or or they've got them in at work. But so
far it's been really expensive and we want to make
it more cost effective and that's what we've done with
ev Switch. It's a fully digital store, so we've cut
(26:43):
all the costs.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Out so you go online.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We're actually launching later this week and our commitment is
one hundred thousand charges in the Australian landscape and doing
it at a very competitive price.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
We can to know your thoughts on how we've launched
again evs. As a country, we've seen like a lot
of reliability issues with charging stations charge Fox in my
view just I don't know, there's never really tech support.
They're always breaking down. I feel like Tesla have and
kudos where they've got it right. They've got it right
(27:18):
over there with their with their charging stations and with
their with the Tesla network. You sort of have to
appreciate what they're doing there with with that. But yeah,
what's your view on the current state of charging stations
across Australia.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, firstly, as you said, congratulations to Tesla. They've done
a really good job. They've they've still got Australia's biggest
network of charges and if you go to the US,
they've they've got charges.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Everywhere, so that they were smart.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
If you've got electric hor you need, you need charges
and they invested a lot of money in putting charges in.
When you talk about some of the other companies that
are operating in Australia, one of the downfalls is that
a lot of the charges that you see installed wherever
they may be, that a lot of it's grant money
coming from the government.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, well that's my point, Like they're getting government money
for this sort of stuff, effectively tax payer money. So
in that regard if they're putting out a shonky product,
surely they should be answerable answerable for that sort of thing,
do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more so. The reality is, if
you're putting in a charger, you've got to maintain it.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
It's just like us with our vehicles.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We've got to set up a service network, and we've
done that very successfully, because you can't just sell a
car and then expect not to service it. It's not
all of the charging company's fault though. The reality is
Australia is a huge country with a tiny population, so
trying to put a lot of charges that service highways
in somewhat remote locations. I recently took a trip up
(28:46):
from Sydney to the Hunter Valley in my Seal performance
and I was doing it as a bit of a
test to see what charges were available, which were working,
and which weren't working. When I was, let's say, pleasantly
surprised because the majority of charges.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Along the route I didn't need to charge.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
By the way, because it's seal comfortably gets a Sydney
hundred alien back.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Which is more than more than four hundred CA's.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's definitely more than four hundred case, so it was
comfortable for me. But the experience I found was that
majority of charges are working, but there are a lot
of charges in remote locations that just aren't working. And
there's nothing worse when you're planning your trip and you
come to a charger that's either occupied or it's not working.
(29:34):
So there's a long way to go for Australia to
get a full network, but we'll never fully get a
total network because as I said before, huge country, small population.
So that's why evy switch in my view, is so important,
because we need charges where people live, where they go
sport on the weekend or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, neighborhood charges effectively, there's quite a few around my
area and I have to say to me, that changed
a game living in lank Cove and there's kind of
exactly what you guys are doing. There's all these small
little I call them top ups because you know you
can plug it there for three hours and you know,
depending on the car, you'll probably get about thirty forty percent.
Like you know, for me, a lot of so a
(30:17):
lot just on that point. So a lot of journalists
and a lot of commentators talk about you've got to
have high speed charging, you've got to have the quickest
charging that you can have. But the reality is the
average Australian drives thirty two kilometers a day, so the
top up charging and having more of these seven killer
what charges which will fill a car in about eight
to nine hours, but having the ability to plug in
(30:40):
wherever you go, whether it be work or home or
sports field, shopping center. That is the way that you'll
see a huge uptake of evs and more people able
to save money by switching to an EV by putting
a base I call it a baseload. You've got to
have the baseload first, so get a lot of seven
killer what charges, and then the highway charges. They're really
(31:00):
necessary if you're wanting to do long, long trips. But
your average person has a driving profile and it's as
I said, thirty two kilometers a day and generally they
drive to the same location back and forth. So let's
get as many charges as we can right across the country.
I think there's probably a few things to learn about
how we use a phone too, because in that respective,
people want like quick fast charging. I guess it's similar
(31:23):
to plugging your phone in at the end of the day,
you know, you use like maybe say eighty percent of
your phone, plug it in, you know, all that sort
of stuff, and then you might want you might want
to sort of consider that every couple of days with
a car, Like if I'm lucky enough to have a
home sort of set up, plug the car in, all
good to go. I think if you're parking to do
(31:45):
the shopping, to make people for coffee, to take the
kids to sport, to do whatever it is, that makes
a lot of sense just to have easy accessible charging.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, the analogy of a mobile phone is really good
because every I think everyone's got a mobile phone these days.
Charging your phone is very similar to charging your car.
So if you've got a home set up like you've
got an fortunately I've got as well, I'll plug my
cur in over the weekend generally and charge during the
day with the solar, and I only charge once a week,
(32:16):
but if I need to, there's plenty of locations that
I know of, obviously because of the industry that I'm in,
that I can top up charging. So it's very similar
to a phone. People just get used to it, and
as long as there's enough locations that you can top
up your vehicle. It will give more customers the complete
confidence to switch across to the Utopia, which is a
(32:36):
full ev which is the best way to save the
most amount of money.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
What do you say to people who criticize I guess
battery degeneration. Like we've seen the Tesla, especially at the
second hand market for that particular brand just plummet and
they are heavily discounting their cars. It's an interesting one
because people aren't wrong when they have concerns about degeneration
(33:01):
of batteries. Sorry, but I was going to say that.
I mean, I feel like sort of in the future.
Obviously we're not there yet. As time goes on, that
sort of thing will get a lot. How do I
put this user friendly if you like? But yeah, I
was just interested to get your point on what to
get your view on degeneration of batteries.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
So fortunately I represent b D who has the highest
quality battery in the world, which is the blade battery,
not just say the most safe battery. So all those
myths about batteries catching on fire literally the bad blade battery,
I can't do that. It's highly safe, but it also
has the lowest degeneration of any battery in our comparable vehicles.
(33:45):
So the the degeneration.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I've really got to like, I've got to concentrate, esus.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Let me concentrate and say properly the degeneration of batteries.
If you look three to five years ago, yes, there
was a bit of a problem batteries degenerate, but the
technologies evolve so quickly, and with a bad battery you'll
have a there we go again. A degeneration of less
than three or four percent over a ten to fifteen
(34:13):
year period. It is really really low when you look
at the actual stats of the current vehicles that we're
putting on the market now. So that's one of the myths,
and I love myth busting. There are brands that have
batteries that do degenerate a lot quicker, but I can
be very confident in the bad quality and what I
(34:33):
know about how slowly they actually degenerate that we have.
Let's stop saying.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That bloody work, well, let's just call it battery. How
Having said that, there, I mean there are real there
are real concerns. I mean, would you expect that thing
to that issue to be even like you say, three
four percent. Would you expect that to become more user
friendly in the future. I mean, could we get to
a stage where batteries could be swapped out, swapped in
(35:01):
all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Look, that technology is around now, so if you go
to China, there's some brands that have batteries swapping. To me,
that's just a very inconvenient and clunky way of doing things.
With the battery that we have in our vehicles, you
don't need to even think about it. And when I
talk about three or four percent, I'm talking have a
ten to fifteen year period, so it's not even noticeable
(35:22):
to the person that holds on. If you do hold
onto your calf fifteen years, you're going to notice a
very small amount of degeneration. But it's technology, so everything
is always changing. Everything's slowly getting better. So yes, there
will be an evolution and batteries at some point will
probably go longer, have longer range. But it's also a
(35:45):
balance between cost and the battery itself. So there are
batteries on the market now that have a much longer
range and you can drive more than a thousand kilometers,
but the cost of those batteries high and you've got
to get the price right as well as what's affordable.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
That Seal sorry, the Seal Performance, that's your daily yes,
so excellent car, that fantastic, arguably one of my favorite
EV's ever. It's just incredible. I'm not like literally pissing
in your pocket because you're here and I know this
whole sort of thing does feel a bit like that.
But a lot of these performance evs, especially like if
(36:28):
you look at the cheaper ones that are coming out
right now, I won't name names that's below me mg xpower,
but a lot of them, I mean go great in
a straight line fast, Like if you want to talk
figure zero to one hundred in austraight line, they can
do that. I think the Seal Performance is one of
the few that just handles bloody well like it really does.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
The car itself is actually too good for the price.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Point that it's at.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It's one of our challenges that we've got this wonderful
car that is affordable. The the entry model Seal is
under fifty thousand dollars, the Performance is around sixty eight thousand.
Now that vehicle should be thirty forty fifty percent higher
than at a price point in what it is. So
we've got a really strong advantage on the price. But
(37:16):
one of the really good things, and what you talk
about performance, it's the first of the bid products that
we've brought to market that has the cell to body technology.
So what that is is the battery is actually integrated
into the chassis. So it's not like you build the
Chazzy and then stick a battery on top, which makes
it difficult to get performance right. And this is another
wonderful thing from Wolfganger and the design team that built
(37:38):
this cell to body technology. So you've got the battery
integrated into the chassis, which creates the lower center of
gravity and that allows the vehicle to get the performance
that it does. And it's a true sports car. It
drives and handles unbelievably well. And I don't want to
sound like I'm selling it up, but to drive it
every day is a pleasure. It is a wonderful vehicle,
(38:02):
and it's got a great driving range as well, like
fire and sixty kilmeters. The one I've got on a
single charge is amazing, and not to one hundred and
three point eight, not that I would do that and
lose points on my license because I'm getting low, but no.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Neither.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
It's nice to be able to pull up to a
set of lights and know that whatever cars next to
you can you can take them.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You can have some fun with. Actually, before we wrap,
I did want to I'd be interested to kind of
give love to not so much competitors, but just sort
of car brands, whether it be classic cars or something
like that. Have you ever sort of thought, geez, you'd
love to drive an old Porsche or you know there
is there anything like that.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I've been so focused on the current technology.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
He's giving me, the politicians, and I guess, I guess
I've given you. I've given you a good run.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
I've I've become a bit of a car enthusia. So
there's some v eights around that are still nice as collectors' items,
but not as not asaily drive. But yeah, I won't
name mother brands or else I might get in trouble myself,
but fair enough they was a true politician's answer. Sorry,
but that one.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
That really was. But no, it's fine, back, We'll take it, sir.
Thanks for coming in, Thanks pleasure, thanks for hanging out,
and yeah, congrats on I guess all the success of
what you guys have managed to achieve in the last
couple of years. It's yeah, it's it's abiramble and it's
it's cool to see, like just as a car enthusiast. Yeah,
(39:31):
I think the products you guys are distributing is they're
great and that's why I want to get you in
and congrats on all the success.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Thank you, Cordie. It's been absolute pleasure coming and I'm
glad that you love our cars. And for anybody that
is looking for a car, all we us is going
to strive. Just go and have a look and feel
for yourself and we don't have high pressure selling. It's
all about letting the car do the talking.
Okay, so hang on before we begin, I'm going to
make sure I'm getting the title right. And managing director
and executive chairman of EV Direct Luke Todd's in the house.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
If you want to simplify it, just go executive chairman.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
She looks good on the LinkedIn account. It looks good,
it looks real good.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've got so many different companies and different structures that
it's hard to get one title.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, I wanted you to talk to me like I'm
five years old, because Paul is the brains behind there,
and we're still waiting for him to show up. I
don't think he's going.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
To show up.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
That's how professional he treats this thing. But I wanted
to get I guess, a bit of insight to what
you guys do, and then we'll sort of climb from
there because you guys are effectively the distributor of BYD. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, So the story behind how BYD cars came to
Australia was us being heavily involved. So I've been involved
with BID for more than ten years. The electric buses
that you see floating around Sydney, CBD and other places
was a project myself and BID worked on originally more
than ten years ago, and then we morphed into electric
vehicles passenger vehicles, and what started the relationship and bringing
(01:10):
right hand drive cars to the country was an investment
that our company made into BYD to convince them that
the right hand drive market was a viable market. Because
more than ninety percent of cars around the world a
left hand drive, so BYD sort of evolving into the
behemoth that they are now, they wanted to focus on
the left hand drive market, but we had a strong relationship,
(01:32):
so we convinced them, hey, let's look at the right
hand drive market as well. We contributed quite a lot
of money and that's why we became the exclusive distributor
for BYD because it was a partnership and that's how
we built the first right hand drive cars with BYD,
which is something I'm really proud of to be able
to work with the company that's so large and so
(01:54):
now becoming so dominant in the automotive industry, to be
there in the early days and convince them that right
hand drive cars were viable. And now we've seen huge
sales in Australia, Thailand, telling a huge amount of electric
vehicles and the right hand drive market is really taking
off for BYD, so that's how it all started.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, it's an incredible one, and it's one of the
reasons why I think I really wanted to get you
in because BYD when they launched here, it's a company
that could have gone two ways. And I mean this
in all respect, because it feels like it could have
been yet another Chinese brand that is new and scary
to people, and people don't really understand it. To me,
(02:35):
it feels like a car company that has automatically come
in the market and deserves to have a place next
to the likes of Masda Toyota, like established car companies.
Because the product the by D is putting out is
I think it's incredible and the figures that show and
I wanted to get a bit of a backstory onto
what ev Direct does and a little bit more about
BYD because there's a bit of an avalanche really with
(02:57):
Chinese brands coming right, there's like what ten entering the
market soon? Yeah, how hard is it? I'm curious how
hard is it to deal with a foreign EV company
from China?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I'm pretty fortunate. I've been working with Chinese companies
for more than twenty years, whether it be buses or
whatever I did prior to what I'm doing now. So
I've had a lot of experience working with different companies
in China, some very difficult to work with, some amazing
to work with, and BYD fortunately is one of those
companies that have been really easy to work with over
(03:33):
the years. They're very passionate, driven by a really strong
founder and chairman who's doing wonderful things and he's literally
changing the automotive industry right around the world. So there's
nothing's ever perfect. There's always challenges, but I've been really
fortunate because I think my experience for one thing, but
(03:55):
the ability just to have a good, healthy relationship with
BID at all levels, whether it ri chairmen or people
that are on the factory factory floor, it's a good relationship,
it's healthy, and that's been made it quite easy for us.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
What are some of the challenges and sort of requirements
you would face with something like this.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Look, we've had a lot of challenges along the way
that have all been solvable, but one of the key
challenges is the amount of regulation that is in Australia.
So it's a good thing, but to bring a vehicle.
Import a vehicle into Australia is actually one of the
hardest countries in the world because the standards are so high,
(04:37):
whether it be ADR compliance and cap rating. As I said,
it's a really good thing because the benchmark is really high,
but to get an ADR compliant five stary nd cap
vehicle into Australia is extremely difficult. So if I was
to talk about some of the major challenges that we've
had is ensuring that right through the production process and
(04:58):
then bring in the vehicle on to market that everything
has been compliant with Australian standards, as said, the highest
probably in the world, and the results of vent wonderful.
We've now got three vehicles with five starr ing cap
ratings or within the last two years and as it
probably where and cap ratings sort of roll over every
six years, so you've got to keep current with the
(05:20):
up to date safety standards so that means our vehicles
are really really safe. And so to answer your question,
that's probably been the toughest challenge getting the behemoth of
company that it is BYD, with the hundreds of literally
hundreds of thousands of engineers working for BYD, getting them
together to fully understand what's required for Australia.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Why BYD for you guys, like, why did you scope
them out? Do you think so?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
My history was building the first electric bus for Australia,
and the only company that I could find anywhere in
the world that could do that in partnership with the
company that I owned at the time was BYD, So
really flexible company, but really powerful and capable company. So
the relationship start off with buses. And then what really
(06:07):
sparked everything was in roughly twenty eighteen, Wolfgang Egger, the
head designer now for BYD, left outing and came across
to BYD and brought a whole heap of really talented
European designers with him, and that was the moment that
we realized that there's something special going on with BYD.
I spent a bit of time a Woofgang when he
(06:28):
first joined, and I could just see the switch inside
BYD that historically been a battery manufacturer, buses, trucks, and
then to have this really high quality designer, automotive designer
joined the company, you could feel the air of change
and that was the moment that we sort of started
talking about how do we get right hand drives for Australia.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He's an interesting guy and I saw him on a
recent reel that you guys shared. I mean, I can
imagine that he would be this sort of type that
would immediately change the ethos within a company. He really
does treat design like a language. That the way he
talks about it with such fluency and passion is incredible.
And actually I don't know if it's the real that
(07:11):
I saw. I think it had possibly a concept that
you guys that byd could be. Do you know what
I'm talking about? Have you seen it?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
There's something on whilst you're finding that. One of the
things that most impressed me with when Wolfgen came, he
designed what's called the E Seed, which is a one
of a one and that was his signature vehicle when
he first joined. And I presume he had some apprehensions
leaving out in the powerhouse that it is around the world,
(07:39):
coming to at the time a car company that was
making cars that I know, we're near the quality and
level that they are now. So he designed the E
Seed and that's sort of his signature. You talk about
the fluency and his craft work, that was his masterpiece
as far as saying, okay, I'm here, this is what
we're going to build from here on in, and that
(08:00):
one of ones sits in headquarters in Shenzen in China.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Okay, so here it is here.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's it's nice to have somebody asked me anything about
but like everyone just asks about the un at the moment.
So this is good.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh yeah, yeahs on the questionnaire. But like you look
at something like this, you can see it, you can
touch it, and you can feel it.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I mean just his accent. He's a talented guy that
this video is actually about four years old.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, I've got a way behind you. Don't just shout it.
So I was like, oh, this must have been here, but.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's still relevant for today.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So how we talks Chinese culture into our design, this
makes it unique.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah that's he said.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, contribution, I mean that's stunning.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
That's when you see that in the flesh. That vehicle
is just a standout. It's and what you talk about
the I think the passion and it really I think
he's an artist's you know, he's a he's obviously really
talented in engineering and building cars, but what he speaks
(09:09):
about there is the passion about bringing the Chinese culture,
which is a thousand plus years old into automotive industry.
Now that that's powerful. And when you combine the two,
the history as well as the high tech that's coming
out of out of predominantly Southern China, Shen's End region,
and then you start to overlap designers from Europe that
(09:32):
are of the top standard. That's why we've got great
cars within the Bord range.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Done this down for me right, and I genuinely mean
this because by the time we're finished with this podcast
and when it gets released, I guarantee you I'm going
to get a lot of emails from old people, primarily
because Paul's a bit of a scene with the MILFs,
but yeah, we'll get We'll get a lot of old
people like bloody Chinese cars you should be supporting to
(09:58):
Australian made orange and the Fooge. What is the negativity
do you think around Chinese important cars? And I guess
reliability in the past has been something, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Think the negativity is exactly as I have said. There's a
lot of people inside that are car enthusiasts and holden forward.
There's such a rivalry and a history of Australian made vehicles.
It then evolved of many years you saw the Japanese
start to make really good quality cars Korea and now
(10:32):
it's China's turn. So I think the way I answer it,
in a short way of answering it is, if you
want the best quality EV or a new energy vehicle
at the moment, you go to where they're making the
best quality vehicles. Ten twenty years ago, Germany was making
the best quality diesel and petrol vehicles because they had
the best quality engineers, and automotive vehicles at the time
(10:55):
were highly engineered, probably over engineered. But now if you're
looking for evs or new energy vehicles, the best quality
vehicles are coming out of China, and we're quite passionate
about that, and there's a lot of passionate people that
speak very highly of our vehicles. So I think when
you have sort of create that bit of a clash
that there's a lot of people that have historic ties
(11:16):
to hold and forward or whatever it may be in Australia,
but we haven't built cars here for ages. So it's
all about getting the best quality vehicles now to Australia
at the most affordable price and that's how we've been
so successful with inside ev Direct in partnership with BYD SO.
I can't answer fully why the negativity, but when you
(11:36):
look at the vehicles, when you fully understand the quality,
the safety availability as well, we have stock available in
most of our models, there really is no better place
to be sourcing vehicles from than Southern China at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I kind of also feel like it's such an important
move for this country that you can effectively poort a
family and look times it's half that you can put
a family into a hybrid card now the Sea Line
six for fifty between fifty and fifty five thousand a
(12:12):
hybrid car one thousand k's quality. It does make me
wonder like I don't understand why people are so negative
about something that's doing such a positive Do you know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, what we say is just test drive our vehicles
and then go and test drive some of the competitors
vehicles that are on the market at the moment, whether
they be similar price or more more expensive. One thing
that and you've touched on it. The cost of living
and the affordability is something that we've been dedicated and
focused on from day one, and that's what I'm most
(12:43):
passionate about the ability for somebody to if they're in
the market, to buy a high quality, new and needy vehicle,
whether it be a plug in hybrid like the Sea
Line six or a full electric and start saving money
from day one. And all of our customers that speak
to us tell us about how much they're saving, and
that to me is a byproduct, but it's actually become
(13:05):
pretty much our core mission now. The more people that
drive electric vehicles, it's good for the environment, but we
won't need to go into that too much because there's
been so much talk about what evs can do for
the environment, which is great, but it's now about cost
of living and the ability to save money. So from
day one, when you're driving a BYD or potentially in
(13:26):
other brands new Enedy vehicle, you're saving money, which is
great and every dollar counts.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
At the moment, where do you see new I guess
prices for evs going in Australia.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So we've probably done a really good job, probably too
good a job of bringing high quality vehicles at the
prices that we have BYD vehicles that we have in Australia.
If you compare to what the priced in Europe or
other regions, they're a lot higher. So the affordability in
Australia is actually the best in the world for BYD
(13:58):
vehicles outside of China. So that's something that we're again
proud of. So when we talk about future pricing, we're
very responsible to make sure that the pricing that we
come in is the best price we can do from
day one, so we don't end up slashing prices or discounting.
And we have a fixed price model as well, so
if you go into any store, you're going to be
(14:18):
paying the same prices, no hackling, none of that old
rubbish that used to some people love. But the majority
of customers these days want to know that they're getting
the best value for money and they don't have to
go to three or four different dealers to haggle.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, I would argue that the old dealership is could
be a dying breed. I think. I think showrooms and
websites are working really well in collaboration with each other.
Like what you guys do, you're effectively ordering off a website,
you can go check out the car and in a showroom.
I think the honeymoon period that the car industry got
(14:54):
post COVID or during COVID, with especially with secondhand cars,
but new cars as well. I think caused a lot
of cockiness in dealerships. If I'm honest, I've seen it
a lot, and I think it's still there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It is.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You're right, It's one of those things that there really
is a cockiness. Like you can walk into a showroom
and I'm talking like anyone from a prestige car European
car to an everyday consumable brand. You'll get a dealer
that will barely even want appeal his ass off the
couch to come over and chat. It's just like, you know,
(15:30):
what do you do? What are you even doing here?
What do you want? Like as soon as you talk
deals with them, they just.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well come to us in a minute. What we try
and do it with at B y D. But what
do you talk about with the current dealerships and the
honeymoon period? There has been a honeymoon period the last
two years. A large proportion of the deliveries that you
see in the vfax or whichever wherever you see it
historic orders that have been on back order, so a
(15:57):
lot of stock hasn't been available especially if we talk
about toy to Wrap four as a comparatible car to
our Sea Line six, people are still waiting. So there's
people still waiting that the put orders in a couple
of years ago, but we've got Sea Line six, which
we believe is a far better vehicle in stock available.
So when you talk about that cockiness, potentially it's because
(16:18):
there were so many orders that were already in the
bank and properly some of those salespeople who have already
received commission, So the delivery has been happening over the
last couple of years. So it's a really interesting area
to be in now because everybody's now sort of starting
to catch up on the deliveries, so it's changing and
(16:38):
the dealership. From day one, why our company's called ev
Direct is we wanted to cut out all the layers,
all the junk. When we first did our research, there
was actually seventeen layers between when a car was built
and when it got to a consumer's hands, so you
think seventeen times that somebody's taking a cut or making money,
So we wanted to cut out as much as we could. Originally,
(17:00):
when we first launched, we wanted to be fully online
digital process and keep the vehicles as low as we
could price wise. We listened to our customers and that's
why we formed the partnership with Egager's Automotive and opened
up a retail network right across Australia.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
So, sorry to interrupt, that's a new acquisition, right.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So Eager's Automotive have been our retail partner now for
about a year and a half and that allowed us
to expand our footprint. But still today, roughly forty percent
of our sales are still done on a mobile phone
or a device, So people may be going into the stores,
but the actual sale, they're not sitting down with a
salesperson and going through that painful process of sign here,
(17:45):
sign here. People are going online, putting down one thousand
dollars refundable deposit and doing the order themselves in the
comfort of their own home, which we really like. So
proof is in the putting the digital concept and cutting
out a lot of those layers, and the evolution of
the dealership is proven in what we've been able to
achieve in the last two and a half years.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Just to sort of get a bit of backstory, Eggers
is similar to you guys, right, similar to ev Direct.
Are they MOLL like a distribution dealership.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Or Apegas are the largest retail retailer of automotive vehicles
in Australia, so they represent multiple brands and they're a retailer,
so they're a fantastic partner of ours. We have some
really great partners, so Eager's Automotive, my Car and a
few others, but Eagers are our retail partners. We work
with them. So the people that you see inside of
(18:35):
our experience centers or megastore in Alexandria, they're Egers or
our joint venture that we have with Eigers, their stuff
but representing our brand, and that's allowed us to grow
as quickly as we have.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So it's like a partnership with you guys and BYD.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, so it's a joint venture endorsed by b WED.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah. We touched on earlier ten new car brands coming
to Australia. What's the feeling on that and I guess,
how do you think it's going to affect the sort
of sales in Australia.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I actually think it's a really exciting thing to see
some of the other brands that I've seen in China,
for many years come to Australia. The reality is, and
i'll just talk highly about BYD here for a second.
BYD is the dominant player anywhere that you go, whether
it be China or the expansion into European or soon
(19:26):
to be American markets. The reason being is that they
are totally vertically integrated companies, so they build everything, the batteries,
all of the components are built by b YD. A
lot of the other car companies that you're seeing don't
have that capability. So I'm excited about the competition, and
there are going to be some other vehicles that people
can compare to by DS, but we have total confidence
(19:48):
with the amount of vehicles that and different ranges range,
so different models that we're bringing to the country that
by D will be the standout. But as I said,
I'm really excited to see some of the other brands
bring bring vehicles in. What they have to do though,
is they have to make sure they've got the network right.
They've got to have not just copy and paste what
we did, because there's been many, many years of effort
(20:13):
coming to what we've now delivered.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, but also you guys are a unique standalone by
yourself I think. I think you've got to expect a
bit of that though, right the competition.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we expect it. And as I said, yeah,
there's copycatting, yeah, of course. And that's a bit of
a compliment as well, because we have new ground in
the automotive industry and very proud that we've had the
most successful new car launch of any brand ever in
Australia's history. So if a few people copy that's that's
(20:47):
a compliment.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Would you guys take on any other ev brands or
is it like I'm not sure how it works forgive
me if that's a weird question. But obviously you've got
to deal with by D, but could have essentially, could
you take on any other brands or it doesn't work
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Look, we want to stay with BID and be exclusive
with BID. Once you start to see what's happening around
the world and how strong BD is as far as
their production, their quality, and what cars are coming in
the future, BDS is our partner. We've been as I said,
I've been working on and off in different various roles
(21:26):
with BID for more than ten years, not directly for BID,
but as a partner of BID. So I'm very loyal
and we have no interest at the moment to look
at other brands, but we welcome other brands into the country.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
The card game for you, like this is, I mean,
this is the industry that you're in. Is that sort
of something you always looked at? I mean, I know
you sort of background was batteries, buses, all that sort
of stuff. Did you ever think it was like, oh,
I'm going to work in the car industry?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Like whatever?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Have you got like an early memory of where you thought?
The way you kind of grew up is where you
are now?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Never ever did I think I'd be leading the byd
whatever you want to call it in Australia. There's amazing
success story. The moment for me though, was, as I said,
when I met Wolfgang for the first time and I
sensed the air of change inside b i D. I
saw some of the early concept cars that he was
(22:22):
working on. That was a moment that I thought, this
is something that I want to want to participate in.
And I've been very fortunate, fortunate to be on that
journey with b ID since then.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
By the way, have you forgive me about like past history?
I'd like to know a little bit about that. But
were you ever did you have a work you didn't
work with Paul? Did you because Paul I thought Paul
knew you. I guess it's from just being there in
the industry, But no, I was just curious to sort
of see a little bit about your background.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Like my background is running bus companies. That's what I've
been doing the majority of my life. I sold out
of a company roughly six years ago, so I no
longer do that and fully focus on on BYD and
EV Direct. But we've done a lot in the few
years that we've been very active in the car car industry.
So yeah, it's an interesting history, and I think it's
(23:12):
a very good thing that I don't have some of
the historic bad things that happen inside the industry as well.
So I've come in with fresh pair of eyes.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Sorry, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
The old way of doing things, So going into a dealer,
standing in front of somebody trying to sell you what
they want to sell you, rather.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Than what do you want to buy?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
People dressed in suits and this is what you're going
to buy. Then you get moved onto the finance department,
you get moved onto all of the upselling. So I've
had a very narrow vision of what I want to
achieve and I think that's been part of our success story.
That I've been not part of the old industry. It's
caused me a lot of headaches because I've come up.
I have to battle quite a lot with some of
(23:55):
the old, traditional, old traditional ways. But fortunately I've been
I guess, stubborn enough to fight through that and create
a model that has resulted in high quality, affordable cars
for more Australians next twelve months.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I guess what are you hoping for and what are
you excited about it as well? I know that. Look
I can't remember the exact figure, but I know the
July figures for you were was incredible.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, twenty five thousand since we started two years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So we delivered it as of July. Right.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
We delivered our first at OH three roughly September October
twenty twenty two. So within less than two years, we've
delivered more than twenty five thousand cars. As I said before,
that's the Australia's most successful new car launch, new brand
in Australia's history. So that's we're very brad but in
July there was about seventeen seventeen hundred odd vehicles delivered,
(24:53):
which was about seventy seven percent increase for US year
on year. So when you ask you about what I'm
going excited about the next year, we want a double
double our sales year on year going forward, and we're
at about seventy odd percent. So we've still got a
little bit of work to do to get together, but
we've got the product, we've got the stock availability, and
(25:14):
we're growing and growing with more stores, more digital digital capabilities.
And then also we're launching which is a separate business
but a pet project of mine, ev Switch, which is
getting more charges out into this Draine landscape. So I've
committed to one hundred thousand low waded charger. So these
(25:36):
are seven killer what charges. They're not the high speed
ones that you see on the highway, but these are
charges that we could have down in the car park downstairs,
you can have at home, you can have it work,
you can have at sports fields. And what we've done
inside ev Switch is bringing a product that was being
around eleven hundred dollars, brought a comparatible product.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
To market for four hundred and ninety nine dollars.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
So, as I said, it's a pet project. It's not
a company that's set up to make money. The profit
margin is very very narrow. But what we want to
see is one hundred thousand new serving killer what high
quality charges into the Australian landscape, and once that happens,
you just watch what happens. And as far as how
many people will want to switch to evs because at
the moment charging we can't not talk about cars without
(26:23):
charging in the plug in hybrid that's a different story.
But if you've got an ev you need a charger
and a lot of people put them in at home
or or they've got them in at work. But so
far it's been really expensive and we want to make
it more cost effective and that's what we've done with
ev Switch. It's a fully digital store, so we've cut
(26:43):
all the costs.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Out so you go online.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We're actually launching later this week and our commitment is
one hundred thousand charges in the Australian landscape and doing
it at a very competitive price.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
We can to know your thoughts on how we've launched
again evs. As a country, we've seen like a lot
of reliability issues with charging stations charge Fox in my
view just I don't know, there's never really tech support.
They're always breaking down. I feel like Tesla have and
kudos where they've got it right. They've got it right
(27:18):
over there with their with their charging stations and with
their with the Tesla network. You sort of have to
appreciate what they're doing there with with that. But yeah,
what's your view on the current state of charging stations
across Australia.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, firstly, as you said, congratulations to Tesla. They've done
a really good job. They've they've still got Australia's biggest
network of charges and if you go to the US,
they've they've got charges.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Everywhere, so that they were smart.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
If you've got electric hor you need, you need charges
and they invested a lot of money in putting charges in.
When you talk about some of the other companies that
are operating in Australia, one of the downfalls is that
a lot of the charges that you see installed wherever
they may be, that a lot of it's grant money
coming from the government.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, well that's my point, Like they're getting government money
for this sort of stuff, effectively tax payer money. So
in that regard if they're putting out a shonky product,
surely they should be answerable answerable for that sort of thing,
do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more so. The reality is, if
you're putting in a charger, you've got to maintain it.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
It's just like us with our vehicles.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We've got to set up a service network, and we've
done that very successfully, because you can't just sell a
car and then expect not to service it. It's not
all of the charging company's fault though. The reality is
Australia is a huge country with a tiny population, so
trying to put a lot of charges that service highways
in somewhat remote locations. I recently took a trip up
(28:46):
from Sydney to the Hunter Valley in my Seal performance
and I was doing it as a bit of a
test to see what charges were available, which were working,
and which weren't working. When I was, let's say, pleasantly
surprised because the majority of charges.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Along the route I didn't need to charge.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
By the way, because it's seal comfortably gets a Sydney
hundred alien back.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Which is more than more than four hundred CA's.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's definitely more than four hundred case, so it was
comfortable for me. But the experience I found was that
majority of charges are working, but there are a lot
of charges in remote locations that just aren't working. And
there's nothing worse when you're planning your trip and you
come to a charger that's either occupied or it's not working.
(29:34):
So there's a long way to go for Australia to
get a full network, but we'll never fully get a
total network because as I said before, huge country, small population.
So that's why evy switch in my view, is so important,
because we need charges where people live, where they go
sport on the weekend or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, neighborhood charges effectively, there's quite a few around my
area and I have to say to me, that changed
a game living in lank Cove and there's kind of
exactly what you guys are doing. There's all these small
little I call them top ups because you know you
can plug it there for three hours and you know,
depending on the car, you'll probably get about thirty forty percent.
Like you know, for me, a lot of so a
(30:17):
lot just on that point. So a lot of journalists
and a lot of commentators talk about you've got to
have high speed charging, you've got to have the quickest
charging that you can have. But the reality is the
average Australian drives thirty two kilometers a day, so the
top up charging and having more of these seven killer
what charges which will fill a car in about eight
to nine hours, but having the ability to plug in
(30:40):
wherever you go, whether it be work or home or
sports field, shopping center. That is the way that you'll
see a huge uptake of evs and more people able
to save money by switching to an EV by putting
a base I call it a baseload. You've got to
have the baseload first, so get a lot of seven
killer what charges, and then the highway charges. They're really
(31:00):
necessary if you're wanting to do long, long trips. But
your average person has a driving profile and it's as
I said, thirty two kilometers a day and generally they
drive to the same location back and forth. So let's
get as many charges as we can right across the country.
I think there's probably a few things to learn about
how we use a phone too, because in that respective,
people want like quick fast charging. I guess it's similar
(31:23):
to plugging your phone in at the end of the day,
you know, you use like maybe say eighty percent of
your phone, plug it in, you know, all that sort
of stuff, and then you might want you might want
to sort of consider that every couple of days with
a car, Like if I'm lucky enough to have a
home sort of set up, plug the car in, all
good to go. I think if you're parking to do
(31:45):
the shopping, to make people for coffee, to take the
kids to sport, to do whatever it is, that makes
a lot of sense just to have easy accessible charging.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, the analogy of a mobile phone is really good
because every I think everyone's got a mobile phone these days.
Charging your phone is very similar to charging your car.
So if you've got a home set up like you've
got an fortunately I've got as well, I'll plug my
cur in over the weekend generally and charge during the
day with the solar, and I only charge once a week,
(32:16):
but if I need to, there's plenty of locations that
I know of, obviously because of the industry that I'm in,
that I can top up charging. So it's very similar
to a phone. People just get used to it, and
as long as there's enough locations that you can top
up your vehicle. It will give more customers the complete
confidence to switch across to the Utopia, which is a
(32:36):
full ev which is the best way to save the
most amount of money.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
What do you say to people who criticize I guess
battery degeneration. Like we've seen the Tesla, especially at the
second hand market for that particular brand just plummet and
they are heavily discounting their cars. It's an interesting one
because people aren't wrong when they have concerns about degeneration
(33:01):
of batteries. Sorry, but I was going to say that.
I mean, I feel like sort of in the future.
Obviously we're not there yet. As time goes on, that
sort of thing will get a lot. How do I
put this user friendly if you like? But yeah, I
was just interested to get your point on what to
get your view on degeneration of batteries.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
So fortunately I represent b D who has the highest
quality battery in the world, which is the blade battery,
not just say the most safe battery. So all those
myths about batteries catching on fire literally the bad blade battery,
I can't do that. It's highly safe, but it also
has the lowest degeneration of any battery in our comparable vehicles.
(33:45):
So the the degeneration.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I've really got to like, I've got to concentrate, esus.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Let me concentrate and say properly the degeneration of batteries.
If you look three to five years ago, yes, there
was a bit of a problem batteries degenerate, but the
technologies evolve so quickly, and with a bad battery you'll
have a there we go again. A degeneration of less
than three or four percent over a ten to fifteen
(34:13):
year period. It is really really low when you look
at the actual stats of the current vehicles that we're
putting on the market now. So that's one of the myths,
and I love myth busting. There are brands that have
batteries that do degenerate a lot quicker, but I can
be very confident in the bad quality and what I
(34:33):
know about how slowly they actually degenerate that we have.
Let's stop saying.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That bloody work, well, let's just call it battery. How
Having said that, there, I mean there are real there
are real concerns. I mean, would you expect that thing
to that issue to be even like you say, three
four percent. Would you expect that to become more user
friendly in the future. I mean, could we get to
a stage where batteries could be swapped out, swapped in
(35:01):
all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Look, that technology is around now, so if you go
to China, there's some brands that have batteries swapping. To me,
that's just a very inconvenient and clunky way of doing things.
With the battery that we have in our vehicles, you
don't need to even think about it. And when I
talk about three or four percent, I'm talking have a
ten to fifteen year period, so it's not even noticeable
(35:22):
to the person that holds on. If you do hold
onto your calf fifteen years, you're going to notice a
very small amount of degeneration. But it's technology, so everything
is always changing. Everything's slowly getting better. So yes, there
will be an evolution and batteries at some point will
probably go longer, have longer range. But it's also a
(35:45):
balance between cost and the battery itself. So there are
batteries on the market now that have a much longer
range and you can drive more than a thousand kilometers,
but the cost of those batteries high and you've got
to get the price right as well as what's affordable.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
That Seal sorry, the Seal Performance, that's your daily yes,
so excellent car, that fantastic, arguably one of my favorite
EV's ever. It's just incredible. I'm not like literally pissing
in your pocket because you're here and I know this
whole sort of thing does feel a bit like that.
But a lot of these performance evs, especially like if
(36:28):
you look at the cheaper ones that are coming out
right now, I won't name names that's below me mg xpower,
but a lot of them, I mean go great in
a straight line fast, Like if you want to talk
figure zero to one hundred in austraight line, they can
do that. I think the Seal Performance is one of
the few that just handles bloody well like it really does.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
The car itself is actually too good for the price.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Point that it's at.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It's one of our challenges that we've got this wonderful
car that is affordable. The the entry model Seal is
under fifty thousand dollars, the Performance is around sixty eight thousand.
Now that vehicle should be thirty forty fifty percent higher
than at a price point in what it is. So
we've got a really strong advantage on the price. But
(37:16):
one of the really good things, and what you talk
about performance, it's the first of the bid products that
we've brought to market that has the cell to body technology.
So what that is is the battery is actually integrated
into the chassis. So it's not like you build the
Chazzy and then stick a battery on top, which makes
it difficult to get performance right. And this is another
wonderful thing from Wolfganger and the design team that built
(37:38):
this cell to body technology. So you've got the battery
integrated into the chassis, which creates the lower center of
gravity and that allows the vehicle to get the performance
that it does. And it's a true sports car. It
drives and handles unbelievably well. And I don't want to
sound like I'm selling it up, but to drive it
every day is a pleasure. It is a wonderful vehicle,
(38:02):
and it's got a great driving range as well, like
fire and sixty kilmeters. The one I've got on a
single charge is amazing, and not to one hundred and
three point eight, not that I would do that and
lose points on my license because I'm getting low, but no.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Neither.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
It's nice to be able to pull up to a
set of lights and know that whatever cars next to
you can you can take them.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You can have some fun with. Actually, before we wrap,
I did want to I'd be interested to kind of
give love to not so much competitors, but just sort
of car brands, whether it be classic cars or something
like that. Have you ever sort of thought, geez, you'd
love to drive an old Porsche or you know there
is there anything like that.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I've been so focused on the current technology.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
He's giving me, the politicians, and I guess, I guess
I've given you. I've given you a good run.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
I've I've become a bit of a car enthusia. So
there's some v eights around that are still nice as collectors' items,
but not as not asaily drive. But yeah, I won't
name mother brands or else I might get in trouble myself,
but fair enough they was a true politician's answer. Sorry,
but that one.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
That really was. But no, it's fine, back, We'll take it, sir.
Thanks for coming in, Thanks pleasure, thanks for hanging out,
and yeah, congrats on I guess all the success of
what you guys have managed to achieve in the last
couple of years. It's yeah, it's it's abiramble and it's
it's cool to see, like just as a car enthusiast. Yeah,
(39:31):
I think the products you guys are distributing is they're
great and that's why I want to get you in
and congrats on all the success.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Thank you, Cordie. It's been absolute pleasure coming and I'm
glad that you love our cars. And for anybody that
is looking for a car, all we us is going
to strive. Just go and have a look and feel
for yourself and we don't have high pressure selling. It's
all about letting the car do the talking.
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