Articles by Stephen Ottley

The biggest threat to the established ute order might be from a brand which currently doesn't have one.

Does Australia have enough EV charging? The answer might surprise you.

Chery Motors only returned to Australia in 2023 but its already planning a huge expansion with both the Omoda and Jaecoo brands aiming at the more premium end of the market. The Omoda 9 Virtue Super Hybrid is the first offering from that brand, but can this plug-in hybrid SUV offering enough to woo buyers away from the likes of Mazda, Volkswagen and others?

When launching a new car brand the most important element is obvious — cars.

They were supposed to herald a new era of electric vehicles. Crushing range anxiety with the ability to drive over 1000km on a single charge. They would see the end of internal combustion engines as this new technology finally fixed the biggest issue of electric vehicle (EV) uptake.

It’s a horrible feeling - you turn the key on your car and nothing happens. The most common cause of a car failing to start is a flat battery and the easiest way to get it going is, typically, to find a friend who can give you a jump start. But what happens if you have a dead battery and no other car to help you jump start or any jumper cables?

They call it the Toyota LandCruiser (two words) but to Australian eyes it looks like what we affectionately call a Prado. But it’s what’s underneath the surface, beyond the name, that makes this car so interesting.

Electric cars aren’t built for Australia and a country of its size. It is too big and electric vehicles (EVs) simply don’t have enough range to get you across this wide, brown land.Or, at least that’s what we’ve been told by the naysayers for the past decade or so. They decry the limited capacity of batteries and the lack of infrastructure as reasons why EVs will never be successful in Australia.But is that actually true? To put those criticisms to the test I decided to do the only logical thing: drive one of Australia’s most popular long-distance journeys in an EV to see if I could make it. So I drove the new Porsche Macan RWD from Melbourne to Sydney in a single day to test the reality of long-range EV driving. And these are the lessons I learnt.It’s perhaps the most common phrase associated with EVs and their detractors, range anxiety - the idea that you’ll run out of charge and be stranded. The truth is modern EV batteries have reached a state where they can offer enough range to make the drive between Melbourne and Sydney on surprisingly few stops.The official claimed range of the Macan RWD is 653km, but that’s a lab test so not representative of what you’ll get in the real world. Instead, on our drive the Macan was capable of hitting approximately 500km on a single charge.Now the haters will say that’s 153km less than claimed, but that overlooks the fact that very few internal combustion engine vehicles hit their official claimed fuel consumption figures either.It also overlooks the fact that 500km is a significant range, with the distance between Melbourne and Sydney less than 900km via the most direct route. And on the route there is a steady string of EV chargers up and down the highway. The notion that EV charging infrastructure is lacking was one of the biggest misconceptions my trip cleared up. There are chargers in freeway-side service centres and in small towns (more on that later) so you’re never really more than 200km from any charger. Sure, there’s more fuel pumps, but given the percentage of EVs making such large trips the current infrastructure seems more-than-adequate.While we’re on the top of EV range, for my particular drive between our two biggest cities I drove a Macan with a factory-developed roof box, while the camera car that joined me was stock (no roof box). There was an expectation that the roof box would impact the driving range, but it was surprising just how much impact it had.If you’ve wondered why car makers are trying to make pop-out door handles and digital side mirrors common on EVs it’s because it all makes a difference. Despite the factory-designed aerodynamic shape of the roof box it still knocked off around 20-25% driving range compared to the camera car. Obviously that’s a significant drop, but as long as you are aware of what impact adding extras to your EV is you can compensate accordingly.When I say you can ‘compensate accordingly’ I mean that, as mentioned earlier, there’s no shortage of chargers and many of them are located in some of Australia’s most beautiful, but largely forgotten, small towns.For example, we took a detour off the freeway into Beechworth, the small Victorian hamlet that’s home to famous honey and one of Australia’s most renowned bakeries. It’s the perfect place to stop and recharge the car - as well as recharge the driver and passengers.While there are plenty of service centre chargers, I was surprised by the amount of small towns, long since bypassed by the freeway, that have installed chargers. Holbrook and its submarine, the geographical halfway point in Tarcutta and even the Dog on the Tuckerbox at Gundagai all have places to stop and charge.Another regular criticism of electric cars is the time it takes to recharge the batteries. Obviously it takes longer than refuelling a petrol or diesel tank, which is a major turn-off for many. But unless you’re in a really big hurry to get to your destination, it shouldn’t be.Obviously it’s a good idea to ‘stop, revive, survive’ on any long trip and modern EVs are capable of reaching 80 per cent battery capacity in a relatively short period of time. The final 20 per cent takes longer, but even then it’s not exactly a drag.On my road trip the longest stop, which was to get as close to 100 per cent as possible, lasted about 30 minutes. Generally the 80 per cent top-ups took around 20 minutes, which turned out to be a handy amount of time to stretch the legs, use a bathroom and grab something to eat.If you are like me and prefer to enjoy a relaxed road trip, charging actually fits in rather nicely and makes the experience of long-distance EV driving surprisingly easy.Was driving an electric car between Melbourne and Sydney easy? In a word, yes. So much so that I’d have no worries doing such a trip again, the idea of range anxiety and sub-par infrastructure are no longer a concern based on my real-world experience.I still understand that for some, those in a hurry or just aggressively anti-EV, it will still sound unappealing and stressful, but I would encourage any EV owner who has avoided long journeys to take the leap and head out of town for an electric road trip.

Like running with scissors, swimming after eating and sitting too close to the television - using your mobile phone at a petrol station is just one of those things you’ve always been told not to do.But why? What is the scientific reason for it?  What are the petrol station rules and regulations in Australia? And is it really that dangerous or just an urban myth? In this article we’ll answer all those questions so you’ll know what rules to follow and why.The simple reason is the fear of a spark from the phone igniting petrol vapours and creating a fire or explosion. Static electricity, which can be generated from a phone or other sources, can create a spark too and is therefore another concern.However, these are considered incredibly unlikely by most experts. But in an age of workplace safety importance, petrol station operators are unwilling to take any risks - hence the blanket ban.Service station operators are happy for you to use your phone while in your car or in the store, but it is against the rules to use it in the forecourt around the petrol bowsers.Although, be mindful if you sit in your car at a petrol bowser checking emails or social media, you might cause a traffic jam at busy times, so be mindful of other drivers.There are other risks beyond simply starting a fire. Using a phone while filling petrol into your car is simply a distracted state to be in while undertaking a potentially hazardous task. While modern petrol pumps automatically cut off when they detect the tank is full, the risk of a fuel spill remains.There’s also the simple fact that smartphones have made us dumb pedestrians and having your head buried into your phone in an area where cars are moving in and out on a regular basis is not a safe choice. It’s understandable that service stations don’t want potential pedestrian accidents on a regular basis.The concerns over mobile phones starting fires appears to be largely a myth, with very few credible reports of a spark from a phone igniting petrol vapour. The origins of this urban legend appear to go back decades, with famous Australian scientist, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki writing a piece in 2006 revealing the cause.‘Dr Karl’ claims the initial concerns are largely centred on false claims in a hoax email, which just happened to get help from an unlikely source.“This email has been traced back to a hoax email that landed in the inbox of a Shell employee in Jamaica,” Dr Karl wrote in 2006. “He rebroadcast it, but with the Shell Company signature now on the email - and this accidental non-approved signature gave the hoax more credibility.”The TV show Mythbusters tried to recreate the effect of a mobile phone igniting vapours but couldn’t.So, it seems the concerns are largely unfounded in historical events, but service station operators have chosen to take extra precaution just in case.Mobile phone petrol station law across Australia is a grey area. Legally speaking it’s not against the law to use your phone but the majority of petrol stations have rules against it. So, if you want to use the service station, you need to follow the rules of the business, thus using a phone is practically banned across the country.Short answer - don’t. Filling up your car should only take a couple of minutes, so best to leave your phone in your pocket, bag or inside the car while you pump your petrol or diesel.

Audi dropped its R8 supercar for an unlikely new performance hero - the e-tron GT electric sports sedan. Now, the updated model has arrived in Australia and it's packing the biggest punch ever from an Audi production car. We drive the new RS e-tron GT Performance, RS e-tron GT and S e-tron GT to find out if it can take the fight to the Porsche Taycan and others.