Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Crosswires, the technology podcast that talks about almost everything and has amazing guests.
This week is no exception. We've got a truly amazing guest and then we've got Alex from the interface as well.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Clutty how it starts. Doesn't it already?
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Gotta keep the theme going.
[00:00:28] Speaker C: We've got the majority shareholder of Greg's with us, Alex.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Alex Lowe, the majority shareholder.
Do you get to be shareholder just by owning, by buying all their products? Is that how it works?
[00:00:41] Speaker A: I'm not going to dignify that response, James.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Fair enough.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Well, obviously you all know Alex. Alex has been on the show so many times and a genuine friend to the show and a genuine friend to me and Jay. We, we, you know, we spent far too much time together. Yeah.
But this is, this is.
This feels like full circle. This really feels kind of. I was thinking about this before we started recording, before I was getting ready this morning. Like, this feels surreal because our second guest is Jim and Jim Sterling. I'm gonna get your name right one of these days, Starling. Starling.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: Being a national treasure, I thought you'd have it on the tip of your tongue, to be honest, James.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: But do you know. Well, your people did say to get the name right. Yeah.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: This is very important.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: Ye important, Jim. Starling from. Definitely not a guru. But more importantly, in this case, Jim, you took my place.
I'm charging status. Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: And. And since then, the audience has grown by 10.
At least 10.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: At least 10. Yeah. Absolutely. No.
So, Gion, go get you to introduce yourself properly. In a minute. In a minute. And we'll get Alex to do his plugs as well. But sort of Alex to set the scene. This is coming up nearly three years ago at this point, I joined a company which we will not name.
But all I'm going to say is, if you want decent charging, avoid a company that has a relation to Aladdin's mate.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: How's.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: How's that for subtle? Does that work?
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Yeah, that's very subtle.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah, that's good, isn't it? Too subtle.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: In fact, it's impossible for anyone to work out what you could possibly mean.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: There's a point to it though, really, isn't there?
So unfortunately now, Alex and I sort of said at the time, this makes no sense. But anyway, they refused to let me. It was either continue the podcast or lose the job offer.
So I made decision. But at the time, I needed the job. It was funny because, Alex, you and I recorded like, what, three different takes of that episode that bit of that episode because things changed. Yeah, so much so, yeah. So then I guess what basically happened is Jim stepped in and you guys were able to continue the show in both audio and video form.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: And you guys are doing great. I mean, first of all, Jim, I guess let's talk a little bit about yourself. What's your background? What's your.
Who on earth are you, Jim?
[00:03:28] Speaker C: So my, my background is, has nothing to do with, or very little to do with cars.
I worked in Insurance for 25 years and did some sort of business coaching and, and then consultancy after I left full time insurance.
And I just, I call it a midlife crisis because it kind of was. I, I just couldn't continue with, on that path. I just reached my limit. I mean, my hair was falling out in lumps, which it still does, and it just wasn't good for me anymore. And two young kids at home and stuff that I just didn't see and I was pretty miserable. And I decided to do YouTube initially to sort of bring in coaching clients and that kind of stuff. And I think I produced about, I don't know, maybe 10 videos and I just bored myself to tears with these videos and no one watched them and I, they were just dry as toast and not, not a good reflection of me or the service I offered. And I thought I can't offer broad advice on something about like business because it's so dependent on the individual and their needs and their business.
Part of the thing I'd done during my time in my previous role when I sort of headed up an insurance company is I looked after the fleet of cars and that they previously purchased and lost lots of money on.
And I took over the leasing side of things with the company fleet and saw how well that worked. And I've always been obsessed with cars, but obsessed with really normal, boring cars more than supercars and hypercars. It's not that those things don't interest me, but they're so unattainable.
They get a little glance and I'll go, oh, that's nice. But I think if I won the lottery tomorrow, I can't see me buying a hypercar. You know, I'd probably buy the Audi A6E Tron event that's sitting on my drive at the moment.
I'd probably buy one of those.
So I've always had that love of normal things. And even in my insurance days, I've always tried to stick up for the consumer and do everything I possibly could to use common sense and not be one of those Insurers that says, actually on line 580, it says this and therefore.
And try and give honest people an honest service. Really.
Uh, and that sort of led. That's, I think that one video, I, I, I did one video about car leasing on the channel and people watched that and I found it really easy to do.
And that's become sort of the pillar of my channel now. Car leasing deals, but also lots of car reviews, lots of car news, and it's just very unpretentious and honest like. But honest to a fault, I would say, quite often, because that honesty doesn't always serve you well.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: It's very interesting. I think it's something you guys. So for a little bit, I hope you guys don't mind me saying, I now edit your video. Well, I edit the whole thing, but I produce your, your video podcast.
And it's one of the things I really respected was, I think it was a conversation with, oh, Caroline.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Talking about that sort of, that honesty, my integrity in YouTube. And it is something. And, and I say this to both of you because I obviously, Jim, I've gotten to know you a little bit, obviously known Alex a long time. There is a, a breed of YouTubers who I think are genuinely honest, who are very transparent about when they've gotten things.
And, and that to me, makes a good YouTuber. I, I'm not gonna criticize other who aren't as transparent, but where my personal view is, is that I don't feel I can trust the content from those creators as much as I can trust it from someone who is. Yes, they gave me this. No, I like Jeff. Jeff Geeling, who is a, you know, absolute nerd, is very clear.
No, that yes, they give him this. No, they haven't seen my video before. You have.
They haven't had any editorial control over, you know, what goes into it. And that, to me, makes a good YouTube video. And obviously, you know, seeing your videos, Jim and Alex's, I mean, you know, there are reasons that people talk about your car means I'd be. I remember talking to someone about the Renault 5 and I said, oh, wonderful YouTuber, you know, Alex, it says, oh, from the interface. Yeah, I've seen that review. Really good.
So people know. Yeah, no, yeah, there you go.
Yeah.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: Was he a heavy drinker or was it just a casual thing?
[00:08:37] Speaker B: We was under sedation at the time. Yeah, you know.
Yes. No, but so Jim, I mean, obviously, I guess. How did you guys meet? How did you guys connect to start that what has now become a genuinely. Well, Even before I started editing it. You know, generally well produced and enjoyable.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: So at the time I was doing Create a Spotlight, I basically finished doing that now, but I did about, I think 30 episodes, potentially maybe more. But I think I had a guest on that was in the automated space. I can't remember exactly who. And then Jim either emailed me or reached out on Twitter. I can't quite remember which one.
And I think you said you'd be an interesting guest, I think, which was very bold of you to say, but.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: He is very bold.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: And yeah, I think we recorded an episode in January 23rd, and then when we couldn't do Charging State together, I think I naturally just thought of Jim first because I think it was a really good episode that we did together. So, yeah, basically now Credit Spotlight was. Was a show that I did where I basically interviewed either journalists, YouTubers or anyone who makes content and asked them why they did what they did, how they do what they do, and if they got any advice for anyone else. So. But it didn't really grow that much, hence why I've stopped doing it. It didn't really do that well in terms of numbers.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: And do you know why I sent you that email?
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Go on.
[00:10:13] Speaker C: Well, I've never told you this.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Oh, I don't think we might have had the conversation. I don't know. I'm not sure I sent you that email because you. You kept having car reviewers on. And if you remember, after, when we finished that podcast, I picked up the phone and said, why are you not doing car reviews?
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: And then.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: And then I.
Because slipping back into my coaching role and that was the thing that started that, wasn't it?
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: And I gave you a few. A few press contacts and things and.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Started off like that.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:51] Speaker C: Because you constantly having car reviewers on.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: And I was like, this guy, this guy wants to do car reviews, but he doesn't know it yet.
There you go.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: And this is Alex. Alice's car reviews are great. But do you know one of the benefits I say benefits. There's a lot of benefits to being friends with Alex. Just he's a nice, genuine. And I'm not just saying he's a genuinely nice guy. One of the easiest people to get along with. But whenever. Because I don't drive. Because Jay of. Or Jay can drive. She doesn't drive. In this country, we don't have a car. But every time we meet up with Alex and his partner with Josie, he'll have A new EV that he's got on loan.
We, we get to try out evs, like sort of like as passengers. Oh, there you go. That's some content, Alex.
Like passenger reviews of cars.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: That's a very big niche that is, isn't it?
[00:11:44] Speaker C: So.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: It is, yeah.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: What's it like to travel in a car?
[00:11:46] Speaker C: It's really funny though. Like I'm seeing a friend of mine tonight and we're going out and he's like, what, what we going to be in?
And it's always the question is, I'm sure people now don't want to see me, they just want to see the.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: Car, see another car. Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: So I think I've taken you out on the Renault 5, the Genesis, I think, I can't remember which one. And then the, the, the very tired model S a few, a few months ago. So.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And then also didn't we go out in one of the BYDs as well?
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Don't think so, no, no.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: I'm trying to remember. But we've been out in quite a few different. Yeah, different cars. My favorite from a sort of like comfort point of view is at Genesis.
[00:12:25] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, that was the G80 because you stopped at mine first to pick up the car charger.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: That's right, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: Look at me with a memory all of a sudden.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Because what we didn't, what we didn't realize is Gmail and I actually live qu together. So we're both, you know, so he's basically, he's just taking on another James from Bournemouth, like, just traded one in. It's like a, you know, like part exchange deal.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: And we're, we're both imports as well, aren't we?
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yes, yes, we are indeed.
[00:12:55] Speaker C: Most people in Bournemouth.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Well, yes, unfortunately I'm gonna have to export myself later this year because my, my, my import duty is getting too high.
[00:13:05] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, it is shocking in that. Yeah, absolutely shocking.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Cost. I'm talking about cost of living, folks. It's just genuinely for those who don't know England, don't know the uk, there is a massive sort of, I'd say wealth and price gap between myself and the North.
I pay for the same, I won't say how much I pay rent, but for the same amount that I pay for a one bedroom flight.
The flight itself is nice. Alex will tell you the area is not, it's a little bit sketchy.
I can get a three bedroom terrace house up in the north of England in Scarborough.
[00:13:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: And yeah it's a no brainer so but I wanted. So folks do check over check out Charge Estates I think available through the interface. Right. And on all good platforms.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Yeah we've got a separate YouTube channel for it. I think it's at charging status on YouTube and then it's on Apple podcasts and Spotify and stuff.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: So yeah, all good and I will and actually before we talk too much about EVs and infotainment, Jim sparked an interesting pre show discussion and I kind of wanted to just mention because it's an interesting one because obviously all three of us are content creators. I'm trying to do more with video. I've still got so much video work to edit and I've got some motion graphics to produce for a guy, I don't know who he is with Motion 6 it's obviously creator studios just come out now. I. I'm not yet subscribed because I don't have an iPad that can run.
I think I mentioned this in the last episode we put out but I don't have an iPad that can run it. But Final Cut really for me just is a great video. But Jim, you were talking about you've currently got an M2 MacBook Pro which you do use when you're out and about for editing.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: And. But you're not using Final Cut. Are you using something?
[00:14:52] Speaker C: I use Filmora which is weird and wonderful and even now I use PC most of the time but when I'm out and about I don't think anything comes close to MacBook. And if at some point I were to like get a proper place to go and work rather than a spare bedroom, I would just have like the MacBook and just plug it into a dock when I get there and I'd just go full Mac at that point. I think I don't know if I'd buy another PC now. It's only because I'm a little boy and I like to play games sometimes. I've still got a PC but the Mac is fabulous. Final Cut for me is just a much slower workflow for what I do. I do very basic edits on most of my stuff and even when I do something a bit more interesting, I'm so much quicker on Filmora and I feel like it doesn't like hog as much storage space and that sort of stuff. And of course in a PC if I want to put another 2 gig in I open it up and slot one in where Apple.
Apple will kind of yeah, implode if you, you decide to change internal storage. So I know that can all be rectified, but I don't know, I'm also, you know, I'll be 50 in two years.
All these newfangled ideas.
So I'm. I'm just setting my ways, I think. So it's still PC first for me, but I could definitely see a future where Mac becomes the thing I use for work. The creative studio looks amazing. So one of my other vices is my love of music and guitars and, you know, I do a bit of home recording and stuff. And Logic Logic Pro, I mean that's used in professional studios.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: I mean it's an incredible bit of software. But they've done that brilliant Apple thing where they've removed the learning curve from it or certainly very much flattened the learning curve and when you compare that to the other like the other big ones, pro tools that's used everywhere and even Cubase is still used a bit, learning curve on those is so much higher. It's just that classic, very friendly Apple experience with Logic.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: And to an extent, I mean I've done loops sort of where I've never done proper. I'm not a musician, I cannot play an instrument.
But even for free on a Mac Garage Band.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: You know, is genuinely good product and actually for even basic editing now there's a YouTuber, Techmoan. Techmon still edits all of his videos on Imovie.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Oh, I came across his channel last night by accident.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Brilliant, isn't he?
[00:17:48] Speaker A: I love that. Something about he was repairing. He was looking at a weird portable tv.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Great guy.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: And it's interesting that that sort of step up from Imovie to final Cut, you know, they feel familiar when you go from one to the other. It's very much the same with GarageBand and Logic. Like you open Logic for the first time and it feels like GarageBand only there are a few more options to press and yes, you know, it's just.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Much more designed for, you know, your multi, multi, multi channel interfaces, you know, things like that. It's really, really good. But what Jim was saying is he wants if he's going to buy a new MacBook when I MacBook Pro wholly agree this we might sort of transition. We've got the base M5 MacBook Pro, which, you know, we've not. Alex. I mean, obviously you and I and Jay tend to get together for Apple events and cover stuff, but Apple have really been releasing stuff outside of events a lot more in the last couple of Years. Yeah.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Just like a press release.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: It's.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: I guess it costs less to. Well, not cost less to do, but it's quicker, isn't it?
[00:18:48] Speaker B: I suppose it is, but we're waiting for those MP M5 Pro and M5 Max.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: MacBook Pros for you, Jim. I'd say is a fair assumption at this point.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
And obviously everyone expected it at that event last week and it didn't come. But it looks like it's going to come out with the next.
But once they launch the release candidate of the next iOS, whatever number that is, 0.3. I know it's 0.3 for 26 will probably be when it drops because that, that code is going to give the game away otherwise. So.
And of course the world would be shocked, wouldn't they, to learn that actually Apple are going to do an M5 Pro and an M5 Max.
It does get a bit tiresome, doesn't it?
[00:19:36] Speaker B: It does a little bit, yeah.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: Make it a real kind of world exclusive. We're making a different iPhone. No.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: No. You don't say no.
On an interesting little side, before we go and talk EVs, because EVs, you know, obviously, I mean, we could talk about Apple Car and CarPlay for years, but as I said, Jim, you were talking about still needing to play games.
An episode I'm trying to line up at moment is to look at where with Windows getting worse and worse and worse and certainly with Microsoft throwing, I would say, perfectly decent hardware under a bus because it can't run Windows 11, where do. Where does Linux come in? Where does. Because I've got a Steam deck and we've admittedly at this point a little bit delayed. Valve are working on my Steam machine. How far have we come? So, little teaser, folks. We're trying to get a guest to record that.
So yeah, but let's. Let's talk evs because, you know, I mean, one thing we're going to say is we are. We are not in non traditional crosswise fashion. We're not going to do too much Elon bashing in this episode. We. We got a lot of Elon bashing out in the last episode with Gideon Mayh. So we're gonna leave Elon alone for this one and we're not gonna say we can talk about Tesla as well because actually there's something I want to talk to you guys about as we go through this because obviously there's been some news from Tesla about.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Where their market's heading. But let's talk the Sort of general, what's the word I'm looking for the surge of EVs in the last few years and open discussion. I'll let whichever one you want to start first. I mean, where do you. Do you think we're in a good place?
You know, what do you think have been some of the highlights maybe over the last few years.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: The prices have definitely come down. So I'd say probably five years ago, maybe a little bit more recent than that. The sort of the competition ground with freebies was maybe around 30 odd, maybe just under 40 grand. We're now starting to see a big flood of EVs that come in around 25 grand now. Got things like the Renault 5, the ID Polos coming this year and there's going to be some cheaper Kias and Hyundai vehicles as well with the Kia EV2. So I think at the moment the competition is around that 25 grand mark, which is interesting because that's nearly about the same price as their equivalent petrol cars, maybe a couple grand more. So it's really quite interesting and Jim can probably agree with this as well. Driving small cars versus massive cars, it's way more fun and way more interesting. Yeah, it's definitely an interesting time at the moment.
[00:22:21] Speaker C: The really interesting thing I think is how with petrol cars now, so many of them have gone from what used to be a 2 liter petrol engine or a 1.8 or something, they've now got a 1 liter or 1.33 cylinder engine with a massive turbo on it.
And just by design, those things are not going to make old bones in the way that a 2 liter engine would have because they're working really hard. The turbos will go every so often because they've got this ginormous turbo that's taking up a lot of the legwork.
And the driving experience is, although a lot of new cars are still great to drive with these three cylinder engines and everything else, it's not what it used to be. It's changed a bit and everything's become a little bit more sanitized. And you know, there were really great reasons why that's happening.
I mean, next week I've got a 4 liter straight 6 BMW coming in and I know I'm going to absolutely adore that.
But if I had the 120i from now, which is now a small engine, versus one from five, six years ago, actually on the, on the mechanical side, that one would probably be the better car, the older one, and possibly the more enjoyable thing to drive. So it's like, you've got, you've got a time when EVs are getting better and better and better and crazy good to drive.
And at the same time, petrol cars are just starting to come down on that side of things and options are being much more limited.
That's been quite a big turning point, I think. And I mean, Alex, talking about the price of the cars there, and to go back to, you know, my car leasing thing, you can get a Vauxhall Frontier at the moment for 10,000 miles a year, for 200 quid a month. And for a lot of people, 10,000 miles a year, they'll spend 200 quid a month on fuel.
And I mean, if you do have the luxury of being able to charge from home, that's probably going to cost you 20 pound a month.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:24:34] Speaker C: So some, something like that may, may, you know, maybe 30 quid a month if you can do your charging on an overnight rate from home. And you're looking at a point where your car is costing you what your fuel used to cost you, essentially. And that's crazy, you know, and people say, oh, why do people lease cars? You know, it's throwing money away. And are you. Or would you rather give it to the wonderful people of British Petroleum and drive around in your. And your £5,000 banger? Because £5,000 gets you a banger nowadays.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:25:11] Speaker C: You know, it's, it's a really interesting time. And I think, like, the way battery technology is constantly improving, the, the, the network, the public charging network is getting so much better, it's getting faster.
I personally think one of the biggest challenges we're going to have in years to come are whether all the cars charge too quickly and, oh, actually it becomes, oh, I want to plug the car in and then go and do this, like, go and get some food.
But I'm going to get a message to tell me to move the car in nine minutes. And that's annoying. And it becomes, like, annoying that you have to sit in the car for those nine minutes and then move it or return to it after nine minutes. I mean, we sometimes get that now, don't we, Alex? With some of the really fast charging cars?
I think we'll have to get to a point where you can actually restrict the rate of charge sometimes.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Well, I think it'd be more to do with more destination charging. Yeah.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, I think.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: So you charge somewhere where it suits what you're doing. So if you go to the cinema, just plug it in for a bit rather than using a DC1 and of.
[00:26:22] Speaker C: Course wireless charging solutions available now in the world. And when do they get rolled out, you know?
[00:26:28] Speaker B: Well, indeed so. And actually that's a really good tangent. Let's quickly take a little sidestep into some charging stuff because I hadn't even thought about talking about us, but YouTube both made some really good points and there's a lot of confusion around the different chargers.
Now, wireless charging, I don't think we've really got wireless charging going on in the uk, unless you guys can correct me that we've got some trials somewhere.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: I've got no idea. There's only. There's only one car which has got it that I know. It's the new Porsche KN ev and.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Most people aren't going to be driving that. You know, it's. It's. Nice vehicle, really nice vehicle, but not necessarily within everyone's price range, as you say, with the flood. I think again, that's the other thing I've noticed the increase in particularly Chinese EVs coming. Like the BYDs, the Jaku. I'm gonna. Jaikus. Jacob.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: Jacob.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Jacob.
That's the thing. I'm learning how to pronounce EV names more and more as I edit the show. I'm trying to put together all the different things. It's great. It's. I. Because I get to hear everything. I get to hear, you know, I get to learn as I'm. And it is brilliant. But in the uk, and I think kind of around the world, there's really two way charging standards. There is ac.
Now, technically speaking, AC is considered fast charging. Above seven point. No. Well, in seven to eight kilowatts is considered fast charging. Depends how you define it. Then you've got rapid charging, which is DC.
Now, I think in the UK the definition is fast is anything over 8 and rapid is anything over 40.
That's the legal definition because we got all these new charge point regulations. Now, I'm not going to go too much into it because it's incredibly boring, but one of the biggest points of confusion I've ever seen come across, obviously in my time with charging company that shall not be named because I was in customer service and then I was in sort of like the Fault the network performance team. So, you know, diagnosing faults and getting them repaired AC chargers. So as Alex mentioned, sort of destination charges, or maybe a better example, guys, workplace charging tends to be ac.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: You don't tend to do. I mean some Companies might do DC, but those are going to be anywhere from again, seven to a maximum of 22 on the charger. But the charger itself is not what's charging your battery.
That AC charger is just providing power to your vehicle's onboard inverter.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: And it's that inverter that is then charging the battery. Now that means that you could be plugged into a 22 kilowatt charger with a vehicle that can only charge at 7 or 11 kilowatts.
And that causes so much confusion. I mean, but I mean, I guess a really good example of this is plug in hybrids. Most plug in hybrids will not charge beyond about 3, 3.6 kilowatts because we've only got tiny batteries anyway. But as Alex said, you know, because I said, you know, if you're going to do something like going to a cinema or going for a fancy meal, you know, you parked up at Universe Greggs and you, you know, you're dining.
Got it. Gotta get rid of Greg's digs in you. You obviously want to be able to charge your vehicle, but you also want to be able to still do all your shopping. So in both scenarios, AC charging is probably okay, but then when you start going, you know, you're on the motorway. You know, obviously I've done a bit of motorway traveling with my family and with Jay and obviously, I think it's fair to say gridserve have the absolute market on the motorway network, but their charges are insane. And then you've got these new charging hubs, the DC charging hubs. I'm going to highlight a company that I love, what they're doing in the EV charging space. And it's Bev. I know, Alex, you've done some content with them gorgeous chargers.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Branded really well in good speeds. I mean, they're doing up to 300 kilowatt charges.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. 300, yeah.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Now let's just put something into perspective. What's your typical. What even on a good ev, full ev, what's the sort of higher end of a battery capacity on most vehicles?
[00:30:51] Speaker C: Oh, 100 kilowatt.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Okay. So if you can, if your vehicle will support 300 kilowatt charging. Because again, not every vehicle will support that speed of charging, but most, I'd say most new vehicles can support 300. Is that fair?
[00:31:05] Speaker C: No, let's not.
So if, okay, if they're.
Yeah, a lot of them are still 150, right?
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Okay, pretty much.
[00:31:14] Speaker C: I mean, there are plenty that do support it, but lots are still 150. There are still some though, sub 100 unbelievably.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Oh wow. Okay, okay. But even, even that, if we say that the maximum battery is 100 and they can charge at 100, that means at the most you're gon spend to go from 0 to 100. And typically you won't do that.
That's not a typical charging scenario. You're talking just around an hour.
[00:31:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: But obviously most of the time you could be as, as charging speed increases, you could be there maybe 10, 15 minutes and that's the difference. And that's great for me. You know, like these, you know, like recharging hubs and supermarkets.
I know a lot of the supermarkets are real like Tesco, I think with Pod Point. I mean they're Pod Point, they use Poppoint.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: And I think those are only AC charges.
[00:32:07] Speaker C: That's right, yeah, they are, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Whereas I know Morrisons through MFG are instruct installing alpatronic hyperchargers, but only in some places. Only 50.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Kilowatts. Yep.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: And there is a reason for that by the way, because a lot of people forget this. It's not just a case of having the charger capable of that. You've got to have the power grid in that space.
[00:32:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: That's capable of it.
[00:32:33] Speaker C: And you've got to have a planning department that are not like 150 year old cronies that spend most of their time outside barking at pigeons or polishing their, their mayoral chains.
Yeah, yeah. It's like, it's like I've had experience with local counselors in the past. Unbelievable.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: What insight.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:05] Speaker C: Was it they say most unsuitable people to be politicians are the ones that say I want to be a politician.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Indeed. Yes. Now it is very interesting. You know, I, I can't go into anymore but I've had to deal with councils in part of my role, so I do. Yeah, I get you.
[00:33:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Is it with this stuff, is it worth mentioning?
It's interesting because what I try and mention in my videos now is when I talk about the charging bit, I always mention it feels oddly repetitive now. I'm getting bored of myself saying it, but I mentioned what the port is. So this bit is the ac. You'll find this search services and then. Sorry, workplace and then I put the flap down and explain what the DC bit is. And it's interesting as we transition from petrol to electric, the, the, the electric stuff is more of a tech situation now. Yes. Because typically if people are dealing with their phones or, I don't know, their computers. So there's always there may be someone else that can help them with it around in their life. Whereas when you look at EVS compared to petrol, petrols is petrol cars are quite simple.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Well, I think ICE cars in general, Internal combustion engine cars in general.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: You. The only mistake you can make really is putting diesel into a petrol and vice versa.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: I have done that before, but me too, I think. Yeah.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: I'm sure everyone who's driven a car has done some but ice, I don't like using combustion engine cars. I'm not going to use it to termize given world events right now, but combustion engine cars.
Yeah. But Alex makes an exceptional point because again, this has been my experience that. So by default when you look at a charging point, usually there's a little. So usually that will expose just the type 2 connector which is AC. But what a lot of people don't realize is there's a little flap underneath that connector. As Alex is saying, you have to take that out and then that lets you plug in the big DC connectors and that's just.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: And that's just one of the, the, the things you have to get your head around. We haven't even mentioned the fact that there's two different voltage standards on EVs and some of them can only handle a certain speed because the voltage of the charger. And how are you. How is. How's average, Average Joe supposed to deal with that at the moment?
[00:35:23] Speaker C: You know, I think the easiest way for average Joe to deal with it is don't buy anything with a Chademo on it in 2026.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: And just when you get to the service station, open it up, plug it in, go and have a wee, come back, unplug it, go.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: Go on.
[00:35:41] Speaker C: Next time you need a Wii Stop, plug it in, service station and then, and then get home and charge cheaply if you can.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: That's fair and that's a great piece of advice. Oh, definitely on the Chademo. Chademo is such an interesting.
It's a Japanese standard, it's a big honking connector.
Did you guys know that in Japan Chademo can do feed to grid?
[00:36:09] Speaker C: Oh really?
[00:36:10] Speaker B: Yeah, it can.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Oh, what was it? I think Octopus were trialing something recently with that and I think it only worked with Chademo connectors.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: Oh, that's right. Actually, yeah, they had that. You had to. And the wall box was like five and a half grand.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not sure what's happened with.
[00:36:27] Speaker C: That, but no, I'm guessing there wasn't massive uptake when you had to have a Chademo wall box for five and a half grand.
[00:36:35] Speaker A: No, but interestingly, in Japan it seems like they're moving away from Chademo and using NAX instead. So nacs, the standard that Tesla use in America.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: Oh, the North American charging standard. Interesting.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: All the Teslas in Japan use that standard and now Mazda's signed up to use it in Japan. So interesting.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: What about USB C?
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Can we, can we saw a meme. I saw a meme of that.
I saw a meme where the charging socket had 50 USB C ports. Just use USB C.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Yeah, but genuinely though, that does make a good point because actually what seen in USB C is a push towards clear labeling.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: I know.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: Of the cables.
Why do we not have that for ev?
Yeah, I mean, I, I know Bev do really good work to make it very clear, like in big, big, big writing, what the charger is capable of, but that doesn't solve the problem of the connectors and what the car can take. So you almost need like a. Because CCS is our European standard. Yeah, right. It's. It's what is used across Europe and it's a big honking connect. I mean, they're heavy. Can I just say a word to.
Hopefully we haven't got any cable thieves listening, but can I just say a word about cable theft? Stop doing it. The cables are worth to you about 10 quid. Do you know how much work it is for a charging company to replace those cables? It is not easy at all. And it's expensive.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Very.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: And we were talking multitudes of multiple, multiple thousands to replace the cables. Please just stop.
Seriously, it's, it's not good. And anyway, let's, let's move on. But yeah, I think we need more transparency around charging speeds on vehicles and, you know, certainly on chargers.
But I mean, obviously, you know, it's shows like yours, guys, that are doing, you know, I think. Would it be fair to say though, you're already, you're attracting people who are already EV drivers or are you seeing a mix?
[00:38:42] Speaker C: I don't think we're attracting anyone. So that's, that's how, that's how we, we, we try to, to keep it, you know, in a compact and bijou by being as unattractive to the audience as possible.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: Well, that seems to work for me.
[00:38:59] Speaker C: You know, I think we've got probably more people that have already got evs or, or at the point where they're going to get one. And I mean, but you listen to the show, James. If we talk about EVS for 10 minutes in it. Sometimes it's a, it's a result. We usually spend more time talking about steak bakes and.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:21] Speaker C: And, you know, various other nonsense. But I think, I think probably if you're listening to an EV podcast, you've either got one or you're already on the road to. Towards it.
I think me and Alex are both keen for people just to see EVs as cars and yeah, for it not to be like this exclusive club and, and we're also very, you know, we. Alex has got petrol car. I still like petrol cars.
[00:39:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:51] Speaker C: And I think we want to just be open and honest about all this stuff rather than like be on team.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: Petrol or team electric.
[00:40:01] Speaker C: We both prefer electric cars, I think is probably fair to say now.
Absolutely. I've got two and if I got another car tomorrow, it would more than likely be electric. 98 chance it would be electric and then loads of, loads of good reasons for that. But I'm also not someone that's going to stand up and have a fight with you if you've got a perfectly good diesel that still works and never let you down and that sort of stuff.
I just wouldn't buy another diesel myself. And, and it's. And it's like right tool for the job. If you're towing a caravan every weekend, probably you do want a diesel, you know, and, and maybe, maybe your swingers parties are fantastic. But I, I, Sorry, can I just.
[00:40:49] Speaker B: Can I just interject here very quickly? But as someone who spent their childhood in touring caravans, not all touring.
[00:41:02] Speaker C: Thought I knew you, James.
I wondered why you had that pampered grass.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: I knew this was not all people who have touring caravans are swingers. Admittedly there's probably a good proportion.
[00:41:23] Speaker C: It's just the vast majority.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: Well, okay. Oh my gosh. Ironically, it's quite genuinely. So we actually used a holiday down here in Dorset in our caravan at Wareham.
Beautiful.
[00:41:36] Speaker C: No.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Let'S not explain to people what Studlands is, shall we folks? Go and google why Studland beach might be in a beach you might want to avoid.
But you make a really good point in. Because like my dad and Alex has seen both cars. So my dad has a Octavia Skoda Octavia Fev, which is a beautiful car, great to, you know, genuinely nice car. It. You know, one of the things I like about it is Obviously it's got CarPlay, which we're going to move on and talk about. I think it's got Android Auto. It does, but also Mrs. I know this is so tiny.
USBC ports in my back.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: It's got USBC ports. It's brilliant for charging them because obviously. Well, I was gonna say, obviously I'm using my back. No, I'm not.
My mum tends to fall asleep in longer journeys, so dad puts her in my bike and I sit next to him to keep him company.
But my dad also has what can genuinely be described as a banger. It's an X Fleet car, Vauxhall Insignia Diesel.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: It's done over a quarter of a million miles and it's still running.
[00:42:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I used to have one of those. It was brilliant.
[00:42:44] Speaker B: Great car. Great car.
[00:42:46] Speaker C: Yeah. And if you're just banging down the motorway all day every day and it still works and everything else, great, but people running small diesels to go to Tesco's and back and stuff, it's. It's just daft. It's the wrong tool for the job. And people were led down a path that was ultimately going to cost them a lot of money by, you know, who. Whoever. Whoever decided that these will need to happen in a big way.
But I think, yeah, the right tool for the job. But the, the point I was very badly trying to make is that it's not like an echo chamber on our show. I don't think we're very. No, we're very pro ev, but we. We're not we. One of these lots, lots of times, very pro EV stuff. I can never, ever have anything bad said about anything in any way whatsoever.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: And I think we're both realistic and like, we'll say this, this new car is great, but why the hell can it only charge at 80 kilowatts, you know, you won't always get that in some EV coverage. Everything's wonderful and rosy and we do.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: The same on our channels as well, like our respective car review channels, where I've always had the thought that if you pigeonhole yourself into a specific brand or thing, that's gonna not be good for you in the long term, probably.
So I just. We both review anything. So if you look at my channel, I've reviewed a plug in hybrid byd, quite a few evs recently. I reviewed a petrol car not that long ago.
[00:44:22] Speaker C: So it.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: I just review anything. Yeah, anything. Anything that comes to my interest. Anything that I fancy reviewing. Oh, he's gonna make a video.
[00:44:30] Speaker B: He's got a Fisher Price pedal car next week.
[00:44:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I have.
[00:44:35] Speaker C: Still needs blocks on the pedals to reach his little legs, bless him.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: I know, I know.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: Well, the Hyundai Insta reviewed a few months ago. That was, that was perfect. That was huge. So.
[00:44:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: But I mean a good, really good example of where you guys will call up the bad. I think either he was on the show, Alex was in a review talking about why on earth and I don't know what vehicle it was. You'll have to forgive me.
Car EV doesn't have a heat pump.
[00:45:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's on Kia. You have to go to the top tier of Kia and then it's still an option.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: Wow. Okay.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: And Kiera reviews so good for their ev stuff like they're, they're just doing it. They can barely put a foot wrong.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: And so I.
[00:45:21] Speaker C: Give us a bloody heat pump, please.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And same with Skoda. The video will be coming out soon. Oh, that's one.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: Skoda Elrock VRs. 49,000 pound car but they still want you to pay another 1100 pounds to buy a heat bump. And the.
Yeah, you're spending a bit more money now. But. But if someone's going to buy that car in three or four years time as a used car, getting that clarity at the used market is going to be a bit of a pain and have to navigate that and work out that it hasn't got one or has got one, whatever. Just seems weird to me in our country that the temperatures are so.
They swing around the whole time and one day it can be like minus five or whatever. So it. Yeah. And I've recently driven an EV in minus 3, 4 weather and the range wasn't that. Was that Skoda? The range wasn't very good.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: No.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: So.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Because it doesn't have that heat pump to help keep that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let. I mean, look, this is all really cool stuff and obviously we're gonna put links to obviously the charging status on both channels. But I want to talk a little about something more nerdy because infotainment systems in cars now, when me and Jim were growing up, we had, we had a tape deck and it FM and AM radio. Right. And then we got CD players. I remember my dad getting so excited in when he had a Discovery and we bought him a CD changer for a Discovery.
[00:46:44] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: Six CD changer.
Absolutely loved it. As cars have evolved though, that in car entertainment has become far more than just stick a CD in or even, you know, an aux if you were fancy. Your car stereo had an AUX port or even if you were even fancier, it had a USB port and you could plug your ipod into it.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Yeah, Ipod.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Ipod support. It was. Yeah, yeah.
[00:47:09] Speaker C: Which you usually had to get a special adapter for from the car manufacturer for about 100 quid.
[00:47:15] Speaker B: Oh, no. Yes. Yeah. Unless you did like a third market, a third party stereo thing with, you know.
[00:47:22] Speaker C: Yeah. Like Audi had these weird connectors you had to buy and. Yeah, a few companies did.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: I think Ford did as well.
I remember my, my parents had a Ford Focus for a while and Matt had, in my glove box, it had a USB port and a orcs in.
[00:47:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:43] Speaker B: So the USB was for power and the AUX was for the audio and you did, you bought a, you know, a 30 pin connector for your phone when, you know, when, when Apple were using the 30 pin connector. I mean, obviously everyone had to get lightning. But modern infotainment is for, I think, is it fair to say is far more than just a way to play music and a way to play well, to listen to the radio. What, what's changed? Because we've got the vehicle manufacturers stuff and let's talk about that bit first because then I'm going to talk about, I don't know, the best term for movie overlays, which are Android Auto and CarPlay.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: It's probably the best word.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Oh, I like that phone moving. That's a good, that's a good term.
So what about the bait? I mean, where are we? I mean, who's doing good, who's doing maybe bad in that sort of out of a box, no smartphone, no phone mirroring experience.
[00:48:38] Speaker A: So one of the, if people don't know. One of the things I do whenever I get a car into review and I try and do it on launch events, which is brave sometimes as I try and do a very long in depth guide about how to use the infotainment system.
And I don't know why I started doing it, but I started doing it from when I first started doing car reviews in 2023. I don't know what made me start doing that.
[00:48:59] Speaker C: I think I told you to.
[00:49:01] Speaker A: Did you?
[00:49:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's, I think that was my idea.
[00:49:04] Speaker A: Oh, cool. There we go.
[00:49:05] Speaker C: Because you look, you love that side of things and I said no one else is doing it and it could be your niche.
[00:49:10] Speaker A: There we go. That must have been.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Has he been paying you royalties?
[00:49:14] Speaker C: I'm clever as well as beautiful but incredibly modest as well.
[00:49:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:24] Speaker C: Why I'm so popular.
[00:49:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
Anyway, so, yeah, one of the main benefits to it is it's, it's very difficult to find out what that software looks like without having to go into a dealership.
So if I can Make a. I started out making maybe 1520 minute guides and now they're full on hour.
They take a long time to edit, long time to film and I'll cover everything because it's quite important. But I think as soon as Tesla started doing those really nice designed infotainment systems, I think in the years since other manufacturers have had to step up their game a bit and that has gone either bad for some manufacturers or quite well for others.
But in terms of your original question, I think apart from Tesla, who are doing a really good job with their infotainment system, it's really good. I've got a Tesla on the drive at the moment and it's fantastic. Everything works great. If you listen to an Apple podcast, for example, you can start on your phone and then it will carry on where you got to on your, on your car.
[00:50:21] Speaker B: That's nice.
[00:50:22] Speaker A: It just, it's, it's fab.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: It feels very Apple actually, doesn't it? The user interface.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: Oh, it's just, it's, it's next level. It's, it's so good. But apart from them, I think who is doing the best job? It's probably the Hyundai Motor Group. So that's Genesis, Hyundai and Kia.
Their software, if you don't use Apple CarPlay, it's so, well, it's so well designed, it's really easy to navigate and one thing that's really important now is it's got an absolute ton of customization.
[00:50:52] Speaker B: Oh nice.
[00:50:52] Speaker A: There's a setting for literally everything. You can customize everything to your heart's content. You can remap buttons, you can remap physical buttons, you can create shortcuts, you can customize, dunno, like what the air conditioning system does. You can.
There's so much stuff and that's why when I do a Kia one it's going to be an hour and a bit easily because there's so many things to go through and they're doing a really, really good job I think.
[00:51:15] Speaker C: I'm really excited to see the new BMW Idrive in full effect.
Obviously with the iX3 launches is coming up and that would be the first of the BMW new class vehicles that we're going to get our hands on and I think that will be, that needs to be very, very good. But they've changed the game really because the screen goes like all the way along the bottom of the windscreen. There's a very thin screen that goes all the way along there plus the main infotainment screen and I think it's A much more sort of futuristic way of looking at how you interact with the infotainment and the data that the car's giving you as the driver and passenger, potentially. So that. That looks great and I'm really interested to see that. But I would agree with Alex that out of the box, if you never put a phone near it. Tesla is miles ahead of everyone else at the moment. And then, yeah, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, their systems are very, very good. I also think I've got an Audi at the moment this week that's got all the makings of being a great system. They just need to kind of tidy up some of the menus a bit. It's a bit menu hungry.
[00:52:36] Speaker B: And is that, Is that. Because that's obviously VW group. So that goes across Skoda, Audi vw, I think. Is it seat as well as, say, a part of that group?
[00:52:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:46] Speaker B: And is Cooper part. Is Cooper part of that group?
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:52:50] Speaker B: So very common for that sort of group to share interfaces. One question I do have, it's kind of a combined question because the reason I asked this question is because I had to help both my, my dad and my sister with this is. And I think it's maybe in older cars, but if you're not using something like CarPlay or Android Auto Maps, because I'll give you a real example, my sister's Renault was an absolute pain to update the maps on and then I just gave it a do Android Auto. I'm like, just use this and use Google Maps always.
Have we gotten better at. Because, I mean, Alex, from a networking point of view, are these cars now coming with SIM cards? How's all the. How's a map update better these days? And it used to be like, you know, having to get a USB stick and shove it into your car and, you know, get the right files.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: So what I'm noticing is that pretty much every single car now has some sort of data connectivity.
Even a Kia Picanto, which is a 15 grand car that came with Kia's Connect services.
So that's got Kia's say, older infotainment system, but it still has got app support and a SIM card free for seven years when you buy the car, which is, oh, wow, insane on a little petrol car like that. So, yeah, pretty much every car, apart from maybe one or two, they just have a SIM card in them and that's all covered in terms of mapping stuff.
Most cars, you probably want to avoid using it because it might be a.
[00:54:16] Speaker B: Little bit out of date or the right.
[00:54:18] Speaker A: It may look like it's really old. However, there are, however there are one or two. So I know this is very niche, very expensive, but Lotus, their infotainment system and their mapping thing is incredible. It's really, really easy to use, it looks great and it's got loads of those of really good features on it. But the other one is, which I really do like, is the Renault system.
So with the Renault 5, they've abandoned doing their own stuff. They just got Android Automotive under the skin, which is, yes, very different to Android Auto. It's a, or a core OS and they just use Google Maps and Volvo.
[00:54:55] Speaker C: Using that now as well, aren't they? Android Automotive based?
[00:54:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:54:59] Speaker C: And again, Tesla are using Google Maps. The Audi I've got is using Google Maps now.
[00:55:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:06] Speaker C: And I think more and more companies, I mean, why would you spend the money developing your own system when you can literally just license it from Google and it's bloody brilliant. Like, there you go. Have that.
[00:55:17] Speaker A: Yeah. The main benefit of that with the Renault, for example, is that Google Maps now has the ability to know what charges are being used and how many are left right now. And with the, with the Renault, I'm sure it's the same in the Volvo. You can pick your favorite charging networks on a car, plumbing a destination and very Tesla like, it will route you through that whole experience and it's, and.
[00:55:40] Speaker C: Tell you how long to stay there and Exactly.
[00:55:42] Speaker A: Oh, wow, it's, it's genius.
[00:55:44] Speaker B: That's, that's really interesting because historically I can only speak for CPO I worked for. We would tell people to avoid looking for charges on Google Maps, instead use something like ZAP Map.
[00:55:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: Because the data was so old and it wasn't getting that crowd because ZapMap is crowdfunded. Crowdfunded. Crowdsourced. Sorry, wrong, crowdsourced. And I, I'm a big fan of SAP Map. But the fact that Google Maps is now doing my integration to know, and I think part of that is because of the whole, I think it's called ocpi, but it's basically the data coming from the cpo. CPO by say charge point operator. Yeah. Is that so? You know, this is your charging because like BV instavolt, all these, you know, all these good, good charge point operators. But yeah, it's really interesting to hear that an Android Automotive, as you said, is not just a full mirroring experience, it is a whole car os.
[00:56:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:56:48] Speaker B: Which Alex, am I correct? That's kind of what Apple are pushing for with CarPlay Ultra or is that a Different thing.
[00:56:56] Speaker A: It's a little bit different.
[00:56:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:56:57] Speaker A: Yeah, a little bit different. So Android Automotive is literally like the Mac OS or Windows.
It's the core OS of that infotainment system. Whereas CarPlay Ultra is a more extreme version of a phone mirroring system. But it will take control of certain things. But it won't replace a hell of a lot.
[00:57:13] Speaker C: Won't it?
[00:57:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:57:15] Speaker B: But it's not, it's not an OS level, it's not the car os. And fun fact for everyone, everyone's thinking, oh, Alex says Mac OS or Windows, that will be because Android by its very nature is Linux based. Your car will be running Linux. So you are. There's going to be so much cool open source stuff under all that Google stuff, which is awesome. I love that fact.
[00:57:39] Speaker A: Maybe we'll be able to side load.
[00:57:41] Speaker C: Retroarch or something into it and.
[00:57:45] Speaker B: Retro test. No, it won't be Retro 5. Here you go. Veredo 5 with Retro PI on it. I love that. Yeah, you could run a pie hole for ad blocking on your car. Yeah, I love that.
Hey Alex, you know what's next, right? A genuine joke, I think, you know we're going to see this at Unified World Conference in April.
Unified car.
[00:58:07] Speaker A: That'D be quite cool.
[00:58:10] Speaker B: So that's really good. It's great. Yeah. Because I'm. That would be my thought as well is why bake your own map system when you can license and if you've got good connectivity and we are, you're very blessed in this country that most of the country has half decent phone signal. You know, maps don't use that much data and I assume most of these vehicles, most of these, you know, Google Maps, you can say actually download this offline, you know, sometimes.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And what's interesting actually is that I mentioned Kia a bit earlier. Their PV5, their van has got Android Automotive under the skin and the main benefit of that for them is that because you can turn that thing into a, like a chassis cab. For example, the Fridge on the back, they were telling, they were telling me that instead of having a separate screen in the cab for running that Fridge, there'll just be a separate app on the screen that you can download.
[00:59:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:00] Speaker A: And oh because we'll be able to.
[00:59:01] Speaker B: Interface it with it through effectively. Like receiving your connectors would go between data connectors between. Oh, that's cool.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: Yeah, like you can have delivery on there Uber if you've got the passenger version of that van. And yeah, the sky's the limit with that thing really.
[00:59:14] Speaker C: So and also when you start thinking about camper conversions and that kind of stuff, I mean, it opens up so many different options, isn't it? If you've got something where you can just download an Android app.
[00:59:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:28] Speaker B: Well, imagine a Camperview. I mean, I know that VW don't use Android Automotive.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: No.
[00:59:34] Speaker B: But imagine if they did and we got a full camper version of the ID Buzz.
[00:59:40] Speaker A: That would be good.
[00:59:41] Speaker B: It'd be really cool. Yeah. Let's talk then about the phone mirroring side of things. And realistically, there's two, as far as I'm aware. Well, two main ones, there's Android Auto, which.
They've got Android Phone. It's. I mean, I, I set it up for my sister. Pretty good, is it? Yeah.
[00:59:56] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:59:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not bad. It's, you know, I think obviously it works well. She got Google Maps. She's got ways. I was quite impressed how well it worked on the. Because the screen in that. I forgot. Forgot what she's gonna. She's got. Is it catcher? A capture? She's got a Veno. Either way, it's an older one, but it's not like full vertical. But it's a portrait screen.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:00:22] Speaker B: Whereas I've never really seen CarPlay fit that well, unless I'm wrong. But my experience of CarPlay has always been landscape screens.
[01:00:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:33] Speaker A: CarPlay only, only supports landscape.
The funny one is the Mini. So the new generation mini's got a round screen and it, it literally like it's just a rectangle inside the square.
[01:00:43] Speaker C: Box in the middle of it.
[01:00:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[01:00:45] Speaker C: Which it does look weird. It does that screen in that Mini though. Oh my Lord.
[01:00:51] Speaker A: It's the first round circular.
[01:00:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:55] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[01:00:56] Speaker A: In a car. It's mad.
[01:00:58] Speaker C: Yeah. I think it's the world's first circular oled. But it happens to be in the car.
[01:01:04] Speaker A: That's right. I think. Yeah, I think so.
[01:01:05] Speaker C: Mad, isn't it?
[01:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:01:07] Speaker B: And I like the idea that, I mean, look, I mean Mini is such an iconic car and, And I'd like the idea of it, but doing something. Because that's a BMW Group car, if I remember correctly. I think.
[01:01:18] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean that, that new electric Mini is just glorious. I love that thing. It. Honestly, I went for the launch of that and spent a few hours with it and it, it.
Oh God, it was wonderful. I loved it. Loved it.
[01:01:37] Speaker A: There's some really good lease deals on those right now as well.
[01:01:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:40] Speaker A: So, yeah, there you go.
[01:01:41] Speaker B: And Jim can point you in the right direction through many of his Sponsors.
[01:01:44] Speaker A: Yeah, he can.
[01:01:46] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
So, yeah, I. Look, I mean I, my dad's, you know, my, my experience with CarPlay has been my dad's vehicle.
I will say I've seen and I don't. I guess it's down to accommodation of the vehicle itself and maybe the phones.
My experience has always been. But wired carplay is far superior to wireless. But I don't know if that's just the vehicle.
[01:02:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it does seem to depend.
It does depend on the vehicle. Some systems when they're wireless are a bit laggy. The frame rate drops down quite a bit.
Some I think it just depends on what they've used because CarPlay is actually not really using Bluetooth, he's using WI Fi.
[01:02:23] Speaker C: Someone seems to connect occasionally as well, won't they?
[01:02:26] Speaker A: Sometimes, yeah, yeah.
[01:02:29] Speaker B: So I guess it depends what they're using for that because obviously Alex and I know a fair bit. I guess it depends what the user would probably use.
I'd Hope mostly using 5 gigahertz.
[01:02:39] Speaker A: But it has to be 5.
[01:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah, it has to be 5. Yeah. Okay, right, that makes sense.
[01:02:43] Speaker A: If they've cheaped out on chips and connectors and connect and different things like that. It has a different experience. But yeah, some cars have a very smooth experience, but some are just a bit laggy.
[01:02:54] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[01:02:54] Speaker A: And also if you've got a phone on the wireless charger, that thing gets hot, then it really, it drops the frame rate down as well.
[01:03:00] Speaker B: So it's interesting.
[01:03:01] Speaker C: Quite a cool thing with a lot of the new Chinese cars is that they'll generally have 50 kilowatt wireless charger for your ph.
[01:03:10] Speaker B: 50 kilowatt.
[01:03:11] Speaker A: 50 watt.
[01:03:11] Speaker C: 50 watts. 50 kilowatts. That would be impressive, wouldn't it? Very impressive. I mean your phone would be melted in about the point two of a second.50 watt wireless chargers, but they have cooling built in as well, so they have a little vent that, that kind of faces up. So it keeps your cool, your phone nice and cool. Where like in my Tesla, if I leave this in there for an hour, it will probably reach.
I'm not going to charge any more temperature.
[01:03:37] Speaker B: Gotcha. Yeah. Because wireless charging is what I was saying it will, because it's inductive charging. It's gonna get hot.
[01:03:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:03:45] Speaker B: But you know, people don't realize that. And then I guess there's one question and I want, I want to try and do this in a way that's not fuddy, there's not fear, uncertainty and doubt.
And I think I'll ask a question. Is There a case to be concerned about, the software in your Chinese import vehicle, your Chinese made vehicle, in terms of, you know, your data and, you know, your security. Is there a case to be concerned about that or is that just people make it trying to stir things up?
[01:04:19] Speaker C: So I know that there are cars that would have been bought to the UK by Chinese companies already had their systems not been Huawei. So the answer is yes.
[01:04:32] Speaker B: Oh.
[01:04:33] Speaker C: So potentially.
[01:04:34] Speaker A: So there's a lot of cars in China which, Which use Huawei tech under the skin because it's quite advanced.
[01:04:39] Speaker B: But how many?
[01:04:41] Speaker C: My. My sort of retort is always. And, and those are not coming here at the moment because, you know, we don't like Huawei as a. As a people, evidently. And mod sites don't allow a lot of Chinese cars onto them.
[01:04:56] Speaker B: Oh, of course, yeah. Makes sense.
[01:04:58] Speaker C: Yeah. So there's that to bear in mind. If you work for the mod, don't buy yourself a Chinese car at the moment if you want to take it to work.
But my retort to all of this is how many products you have that are connected to the Internet are Chinese or contain Chinese components or were manufactured in China, and it's all of them, pretty much.
[01:05:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:05:23] Speaker C: And. And I.
Obviously, James, with your caravan, you probably lead a world and interest in life, but, you know, I'd lead a very boring life and I. I'm not. I know a lot of people are very, very precious about their data and I totally get that.
I'm not so much.
I mean, I don't want to get hacked and I don't. I don't want all that. But if someone's tracking where I move, I could give it to us. I mean, highlight my days. I did a school run. I might pop into Tesco Express on the way back.
And then three minutes later I'm. I'm back in this room making boring YouTube videos for, for people to not enjoy. I mean, but we obviously, everyone has very, very different.
Some people are very strongly kind of, my data's my thing and, and I get that, but it's.
It's not something that I'd worry about. But I'm possibly the worst person to ask because of what I've just said.
[01:06:25] Speaker B: But you make a very good point and I think Alex and I can.
There's a good chance that if you use your ISP provided router and aren't on the unified bandwagon like we are, there's probably a lot more, even from non Chinese manufacturers.
When does your ISP router get a firmware update to fix security bugs.
It doesn't tend to happen. So I think Jim makes a very good point and I think this is kind of. You've got to make your own choice on that convenience versus security scale.
[01:07:02] Speaker C: I'll tell you something else, right about eight years ago, I got pitched a commercial product that was going to cost a lot of money when I was still in the insurance world, and it was for someone to come in and take over our pricing of our products.
With insurance, you look for bits of data that people give you and then bits of data that exist. So postcode, you're going to look at subsidence risk, flood risk, fire risk, crime, all that kind of stuff.
And then you also look at what you call moral risk. So if, I mean, this is just a thing that's out there. If you're a bookmaker, you're more likely to have your car damaged or stolen, for example, than if you're a secretary. And that's just the way of the world. And if you're a Premier League footballer, you're more likely to have your car stolen or be vandalized or have a crash, because actually you're a young person with too much money and you might go crazy and crash your car. So all that kind of stuff. So you look at physical risk, you look at moral risk, you look at various other things, but when you get a car insurance quote, for example, they're looking at about 400 bits of data, even though you've put in 25, maybe.
Now, a company came to me, I was head of a property insurer, this is about eight years ago, and said, we want to rate all your products and you'll have better outcomes because our rating is far more advanced than traditional underwriting, how it's been done. And all we need is their mobile phone number.
And I said, right, explain that to me. So, well, if we've got their mobile phone number, we know where they go every day. Yeah, we know if they go into the pub, we know if they go into the bookies, we know if they're just going to work and back, we know how long they're out of the house every day, we know where they live because they're there overnight, we know how many nights they're overnight, how many they spend in hotels, all that kind of stuff. We know everything about them from their, their phone. We, we can even look at the things they buy online. And, and this went on and on and on.
And I said, is this. Have you got a live, working example of this?
And they said, yeah, we've got it live. We've got a test case going, blah, blah, blah. And I said, oh Webb, how many laws you're breaking?
[01:09:30] Speaker B: Oh gosh.
[01:09:31] Speaker C: At the moment, yeah.
This is the final thing. We need to, we need to get sign off on this. Like we need to get it cleared. It's like, well that.
[01:09:38] Speaker B: But you've got it live.
[01:09:40] Speaker C: That can never happen. And you're doing live tests with it now. And off they jolly well trotted.
And I've, I've reported it actually, but never heard anything again.
But they were talking to some big companies at the time and they would, they were doing a test case with a very, very large company.
[01:10:03] Speaker B: Wow, that's really.
[01:10:05] Speaker C: That was eight years ago that, that and that that was there and it existed. And I think if anyone thinks their data is truly private, they're. It's not barking mad.
[01:10:14] Speaker B: No, I've. There's a lot you can do to mitigate and we will be doing a lot more content around that and a lot more stuff. But yeah, it's dangerous. Let's, let's.
Thank you. Well, Jim, that was a really good example and just for people's awareness.
Let's talk a little bit then because obviously I don't even know if you guys have covered this yet. I think. I don't know when you're recording your next episode.
I know when it has to be out by, but I don't know when you're recording.
Tesla have.
Now this is the translation I've had and the understanding I get from, from a, from the news is that they've the S and the X X have got a. Not going to be made anymore and that they are shifting focus to the robo taxi industries.
That's accurate. Is that a fair assessment?
[01:11:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean it seems like they're planning for when people no longer drive the cars themselves. And over in the Munich show in, when was it?
[01:11:19] Speaker A: September?
[01:11:19] Speaker C: October.
[01:11:21] Speaker A: September, yeah. Yeah.
[01:11:22] Speaker C: I was talking to Xpeng there and sat through a presentation there and Xpeng are already talking about when they no longer make cars for people to drive and they're looking at robots and flying cars. And then I was in China in October with Cherry and they were talking about in 15 years when they no longer make cars with steering wheels and personal assistance robots and everyone is talking about personal assistant robots and less and less about their future being in traditional cars.
[01:11:57] Speaker B: Very interesting because as many of you know, I can't drive because of my eyesight and I think from what I understand this is What I've, you know, I've looked into what I would need, what level of autonomy I would need to be able to have a vehicle.
Not to drive one, but to have one that's my own and not under my control, but that will be my vehicle. And I would need, I believe level 5 self driving is the. The term. So fully. No human being required for intervention. And we. There are vehicles that can do that, but they are not fully licensed yet on certainly on UK road. So I don't think we're at a point yet where you could go down to your local sculptor and say, oh, have that self driving Enyak or the, you know, a new whatever. You can't get that yet.
[01:12:47] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right. In the uk. But elsewhere you can. So in. I mean they've just had CES in Las Vegas. If, if you'd have been lucky enough to go to that, you could have got a little box that turns up outside you. You tell it where you want to go on your app. Much like Uber.
Two seats facing two seats.
[01:13:07] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[01:13:08] Speaker C: A bit like one of those Heathrow pods, if you've ever seen.
[01:13:11] Speaker B: Oh, the terminal five to. Yeah, Material five pods. Middle.
[01:13:14] Speaker C: Middle doors that come out like this close up again. I think it's called a zoom or something. The one in Vegas. Sure.
[01:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so.
[01:13:21] Speaker C: I think I've got it completely wrong but.
And then off you go.
And you've also got like in, in LA now for several years they've had the Waymo taxis, your Jag I pace and the steering wheel still turning around and everything. But there's no one in the seat.
They've. They've got autonomous delivery robots and all. All kind like little shopping carts that go along the pavement and this stuff's been around in LA for years now.
[01:13:51] Speaker B: This is true.
[01:13:52] Speaker C: And drive. I mean the full self driving Teslas have been around over there for a long time and certainly in China, full self driving cars are now.
[01:14:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:14:02] Speaker C: Commonplace. Really.
[01:14:03] Speaker B: You make a point. They don't have that same restriction that we have in the UK where it's.
[01:14:08] Speaker C: It's coming. It's coming. Yeah.
I was at an event recently where there was lots of nods and winks of. We think this year's the year and I think there's a lot of testing going on around London at the moment, which is a good place to test because it's impossible to drive there, so.
[01:14:25] Speaker B: Well, yes, although I'm just going to say. And Jim will know what I'm talking about more than Alex will I hope if I, I, if I get a self driving car, it has to come with Robert Picardo's voice as a Johnny Cab. I want a Johnny Cab.
[01:14:39] Speaker C: It would be great.
Johnny Cab.
[01:14:43] Speaker B: I don't know if everyone knows that.
I don't know how much.
So Johnny Cab, the, the fake, the model of the, the person and the voice is an actor called Robert Picardo who is the holographic doctor in Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Starfleet Academy now. So it's same guy like for me.
[01:15:03] Speaker C: Just I did, I didn't know that. There you go.
[01:15:06] Speaker B: I'm a massive Star Trek nerd. So you know, I'm just, I'm just a nerd in general to be fair.
[01:15:14] Speaker C: Help me all.
[01:15:15] Speaker B: Well in different ways. Right. I mean you get, you know. Exactly. It's a really good point.
I think one of the things I would say is this has genuinely been a great discussion. I think we've hopefully dispelled a few myths. I think there is so much positivity in mv space. You talked though Jim about be able to charge cheaply at home and I just want to sort of quickly touch on that is that there are some great, I mean we, I think we've mentioned Octopus multiple times in this episode.
I cannot speak highly enough about. Again, this is very, this is a very UK centric.
Apparently someone, Jay was telling me that looking at doing octopus in the U.S. it's already there. Oh, it's already there, just not in maybe every market.
[01:15:58] Speaker A: No, Octopus are in Spain, Japan, the U.S. they're quite big. But yeah, I think it's only one state in America.
[01:16:06] Speaker C: Tentacles are reaching out everywhere.
[01:16:08] Speaker B: Nice pun, that's good. But what I'd like about Octopus is they feel genuine, they feel like they care. Oh yeah. It could just be a show but I don't think it is. I've seen interviews with their CEO Greg. Yeah, yeah, he seems like he'd remember. He went into that, did a whole piece on why the standing charges are a thing, why prices of the way. I was very transparent and I can imagine that peeved off a lot of.
[01:16:38] Speaker A: So you're talk, you're talking, talking industry shop publicly. What are you doing?
[01:16:42] Speaker C: It's difficult as well because there's, I mean there's institutional price fixing and stuff and, and I'm sure a degree of fairly high level corruption.
And when someone says anything that's slightly, especially when they. It's new school, it must ruffle a lot of feathers.
[01:17:01] Speaker B: I mean like, I mean so obviously you know, there's tariffs For EV drivers. I'm on Agile Octopus here now.
[01:17:08] Speaker A: That's what I'm.
[01:17:09] Speaker B: One of the reasons. Yeah, I love Agile Octopus. There's another reason I love Agile Octopus.
First of all, it means I can get cheaper rates during the day and I can plan things. But because it's very data driven, whatever you think about smart meters, they allow data.
And I've got the Octopus Home Mini, which is this little tiny box.
It connects to your WI fi, it connects to your smart meter and it exposes. There's a plugin you can get through Home Assistant. And I've got all of the rate details, all of everything that comes through to my home assistant. And I can now see my live usage in my home Assistant dashboard. But probably more importantly, because all of that information can be used as sensors and. And your own triggers, I can say, okay, when my power usage goes above this level or when the electricity rate goes above this level, turn these things off.
[01:18:01] Speaker A: Yep, it's fab.
[01:18:03] Speaker B: Which is really cool.
[01:18:04] Speaker C: That laptop in your caravan must cost a lot, James. I mean, they're not cheap to run.
[01:18:10] Speaker B: Most things, but not at all. Just for the record, so that no one gets a wrong impression of me, I do not own a static caravan. I do not own a hot tub. And the only swinging I do is. Is Jay trying to get me to dance. That's the only type of swinging I do. Your.
My gosh.
There are times where I'm just genuinely. There are times I'm editing these guys pod this show and I'm just. Did Jim just actually say that?
I think there's been one time I said to Alex, Alex, do I need to cut that? He's like, nah, nah, nah, just leave aid.
[01:18:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I need to. I need to control myself at times.
[01:19:02] Speaker B: Do you know what? That just made me smart. No.
Every time I think of our caravan holidays, all I can think about now is that episode of the In Betweeners with Jay's dad.
[01:19:13] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:19:16] Speaker B: Not my Jay's dad, but Jay, played by whatever is James Buckley.
[01:19:20] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:19:26] Speaker B: If for our American listeners, if you have no idea what we're talking about when we talk about caravans.
Old episodes of Top Gear.
[01:19:35] Speaker C: Yeah, Mobile trailers.
[01:19:38] Speaker B: Mobile trailers. I like that. Now, I do have one final question for you both before we. Before we get you to do all the plugs. Give him the news that Grand Tours relaunching with a bunch of YouTubers in, because. Is it Francois the train guy is gonna be. I meant the guys from. Oh, that's your House. That's it, yeah.
Given that news, have you been approached by Channel 5 to be the new host of Fifth Gear?
No, no, no, not really, no.
[01:20:07] Speaker C: Although I sometimes. I sometimes get called Fat Chris Harris in the comments, so.
[01:20:14] Speaker B: And I can't see that, to be fair.
[01:20:15] Speaker C: It's quite funny because Chris Harris is not himself, like a svelte man, so that makes he.
No, no, but haven't been approached for that and nor.
[01:20:30] Speaker B: Nor will we be. No, no, no, but no, I was gonna say, because, you know, some people could. Could say, you know, Alex. Alex LeBlanc.
Alex is. Alex is a less funny Matt LeBlanc.
[01:20:45] Speaker C: It's got those film star looks, that's for sure.
[01:20:49] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[01:20:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:20:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:20:51] Speaker A: If you squint.
[01:20:54] Speaker B: Just start every episode. How are you doing?
[01:20:56] Speaker C: And I'm. I'm often mistaken for a young Jennifer Aniston.
Regularly, actually. It's the hair, I think.
[01:21:08] Speaker B: Absolutely. You know, but I mean, Rachel's really developed. He's become much more of a finger.
Style is good. Yeah. On that revelation, Jim, do you want to tell people where we can find your content if we're brave enough?
[01:21:23] Speaker C: My YouTube channel is definitely not a guru and my website is not a guru.co.uk and then you can find me elsewhere if you try hard enough and have low standards.
[01:21:38] Speaker B: Right, okay, good. Good to know. Good to know. Alex, obviously you've been on the show so many times, but where can people find, obviously your own content? And then where can people find charging status as well?
[01:21:49] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. So you can find my website, theinterface.uk some automotive, sometimes ubiquity and technology news on there when I can find the time to write stuff. And then my weekly car reviews are over on the Interface. Cars on YouTube, that's all good fun.
So try and get at least two videos a week of a car review of some sort. And then me and Jim do the charging Status podcast on YouTube and on all the audio platforms, of which there are quite a few. So there you go.
[01:22:18] Speaker B: There are indeed. And do check out Urban Charge. Genuinely, I'm not just saying this. I am genuinely so, so thrilled that what Alex and I thought was gonna have to be a dead podcast has been able to be. Literally, it's done a David Tennant. It's regenerated with a much more attractive new host.
[01:22:38] Speaker C: It was dead and now it's buried. Yeah.
[01:22:46] Speaker B: Go and subscribe to the interface so that they actually get their numbers above free. Okay, go on, folks.
Do you know what? No, genuinely joking aside, it's really interesting because I've done podcasts many, many years ago. We used to, you know, hundreds and hundreds of downloads. Episode was just the accepted norm.
It's not anymore. And anyone, as an encouragement to anyone wanting to start a podcast, do it. If you love. If you want to talk and you think you've got something to say, there will be someone to listen. But even if it's just to enjoy sharing your thoughts, do it.
[01:23:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the thing. It could be a therapeutic thing or something you do for your own entertainment or something you try and do to, I don't know, make, make a profession from. But yeah, just crack. I always say the same thing with YouTube. Just do it. Like if no one watches, who cares if you're having fun?
[01:23:39] Speaker B: Crack on and you can start off with genuinely, if you've got a good iPhone, you know, a good Android smartphone with a good camera, start with that. You do not need to invest thousands to start with. And with the only thing I would say, final, final thought, if you are going to do content, just, just invest a tiny amount in a decent lav mic or a decent 100 mic. Yeah, I cannot rec. I mean, yes, VR, it's a little bit more. I'd say it's not unreasonable but for me the best bang for a buck right now is the ones Jay and I use the Rode Wireless micros. We're about a hundred pounds. You get two mics, Alex has seen me. You get two mics, you get a little USB C dongle or you can get a lightning one still. And the new one comes with a camera adapter as well. So you can get for 100 to 150, really high quality. I mean, this is a Rode mic. Really high quality mics. Give it a go, you. It's worth doing.
You know, I'm really glad to be in a place now where I can focus on content creation again. And we've got some really great stuff coming for Cross Wires, do check out the live stream. I mean, I'm streaming tonight. Not that it will be tonight for you when the episode comes out, but as we record this, I'm going to be playing some of the Last Caretaker tonight, which is an exceptionally good game.
And of course check out all our Twitch streams, Crosswires.netforward/live. Thank you, Alex. Thank you, Jim. We'll definitely have you guys on again, I think. We'll see.
We'll see how many complaints we get about Jim's caravan insinuations.
We will roll that outro. Thank you everyone. Take care.
[01:25:23] Speaker A: Cheers.
[01:25:26] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to this episode of Crosswires. We hope you've enjoyed our discussion and we'd love to hear your thoughts. So please drop us a Note over to podcastrosswires.net why not come and join our Discord community over@crosswires.net Discord we've got lots of text channels, we've even got voice channels, and we've got forum posts for every episode. But we post out there. If you are Mastodon, you can also follow us either by heading over to Wires Social or just follow crossed wires.social. if you'd like to check out more of our content, head on over to CrossedWires.net YouTube for all our videos, and keep an eye on our twitch channel@crossedwires.net live for our upcoming streams. If you like what we heard, please do drop a review in your podcast directory of choice.
It really does help spread the word about the show. And of course, if you can spare even the smallest amount of financial support, we'd be incredibly grateful. You can Support us at ko fi.comCrossedWires I.e. K-O-F I.comCrossedWires until next time, thanks for listening.
It.
