Crowds flock to Everything Electric to see new EV models: But will they buy them?

Huge crowds gathered at the Everything Electric show in Sydney over the weekend to see new electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

From Airwheel’s rideable electric luggage to Volvo’s impressive FH electric prime mover, electric scooters, motorbikes and boats, there was something to interest everyone. 

According to a Fully Charged blog post, just over 31,000 people attended the show, significantly higher than the 17,000 people who came to Everything Electric Australia in 2024. Nearly half of the 31,000 people came on Sunday, when the photo above was taken.

Despite the huge crowds, it remains to be seen if that will translate into a rebound in EV sales in Australia, which have been subdued in the first two months of the year, partly due to the plunge in Tesla sales numbers, and the infatuation with hybrids.

Overall, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as people were keen to check out dozens of new electric vehicles on display from over 30 brands, take them for test drives and listen to the excellent talks and advice from industry experts. 

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen’s fireside chat with Robert Lewellyn from Fully Charged was popular as expected, and interesting for two points.

Even though there were no new policy announcements, he gave a good summary of Australia’s rapid progress in renewables and confirmed that the FBT exemption for PHEVs will not be extended past April 1, 2025.

Bowen also hinted that government focus would shift more towards the consumer energy side if Labor is given a second term, for example through investment that encourages uptake of home battery storage.

Thank you to all of the readers who stopped by The Driven booth to say hello and congratulate us on the Renew Economy and The Driven websites and podcasts, we had so many interesting discussions with you. Welcome to those new readers who discovered us or signed up to the newsletters over the weekend too. 

New EV models revealed

Several new EV models were unveiled in Australia at Everything Electric, including the highly anticipated Tesla Model Y refresh, Zeekr 7X and Mix, Skoda Elroq, Volkswagen ID.4 Pro and ID.5 GTX, Deepal S07, E07 and the Audi S6 e-tron.

I was looking forward to seeing the innovative Zeekr Mix in person after watching a few YouTube videos from overseas and learning about its versatile interior combined with insane charging speeds.

The seats were extremely comfortable and spacious, making the Mix an ideal road trip car, although the boot space is a bit smaller than I had hoped for.

XPeng also debuted the affordable Mona M03, which in China is priced at under $AUD 30,000 converted. Australian prices will be higher than this when XPeng brings the M03 here in late 2026 or 2027, but it will still be one of our cheapest EVs options.

The build quality and interior of the M03 felt surprisingly good for a car in this price range.

The Driven’s EV Models page will be updated shortly with details of all the new models coming soon.

Strong Tesla interest despite Elon Musk’s craziness

This was the first year Tesla had an official presence at any of the Fully Charged or Everything Electric shows and it appeared to be worthwhile for them, with one of the busiest manufacturer stands at the show. 

An army of 20 or 30 Tesla staff were available to chat with, they were constantly busy fielding questions and organising the crowds of people lining up to sit in the Cybertruck and new Model Y.

The topic of Elon Musk inevitably came up during many discussions I had over the weekend. In general, most people agreed that Elon Musk has gone completely off the rails, including a few people from the Tesla Owners Club of Australia stand which was right next to The Driven. 

Opinions on how Musk is impacting Tesla sales varied from, “I would never buy another Tesla product,” to “Tesla still makes great products so I don’t care what Elon does.” Time will ultimately tell if the level of interest observed at the show will be converted into sales of the new Model Y, or if Tesla’s decline in sales will continue.

V2G technology is coming mid-year

Australian Energy storage company RedEarth was proudly showing off their upcoming V2G charger based on ambibox technology, connected to a Ford F-150 Lightning. Throughout the show they demonstrated the unit successfully charging and discharging the ute’s battery at up to 10 kW.

A RedEarth spokesperson said the charger will be on the market in July 2025 and is compatible with a wide range of electric vehicles already on our roads.

The list shown below includes many vehicles which are not expected to officially support V2G, so the warranty situation and future compatibility is still unclear at this stage.

Firm pricing could not be coaxed out of RedEarth, apart from an indication that it will be slightly cheaper than other V2G chargers on sale previously. This puts it around the $10,000 mark, which is what the Wallbox Quasar 1 cost while it was on sale in Australia.

However, one of the RedEarth engineers admitted their V2G charger is essentially an 11 kW bidirectional inverter, very similar to inverters that power their energy storage products and cost around $2,000. Therefore prices should come down significantly once initial demand subsides and competition in the market increases.

Some manufacturers pushing hybrids over BEVs

Debate is alive at the moment on the role of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and its member car brands in the slowdown of EV growth and increase of hybrid vehicle sales. 

FCAI has been critical of the government and recently introduced NVES policy, blaming consumers for a lack of EV demand. “The easy part is to set aspirational targets but without consumers demanding EVs, the NVES will not succeed. It is time for the Government to consider the realities faced by consumers,” said FCAI CEO Tony Weber.

During more than one conversation The Driven had with different manufacturers at Everything Electric, brand representatives were happy to talk about the BEVs they had on display but were also eager to mention their upcoming range of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. 

With this kind of sentiment coming from some the industry body and legacy automotive brands, especially at a show dedicated to a fully electric future, it is no wonder that hybrid sales are increasing faster than battery electric even with many new and affordable EV models arriving in the country. 

To be clear, this was not a widespread phenomenon, with brands like Kia who are going full steam ahead with their EV transition proudly displaying only their popular EV9, EV5 and EV3 models, leaving their hybrids in the garage.

See also:

• An unexpected EV that turned heads at Everything Electric
• New 2025 Tesla Model Y debuts in Australia, as orders surpass 200,000 in China
• I went to Everything Electric: Here is what caught my eye

EDIT: Added attendee numbers from Fully Charged blog post.