Letting employees charge their company-owned electric vehicles (EVs) at home is the fastest and cheapest way to switch a fleet from fossil to electric fuel, according to an early report from a government-backed trial. 

But home charging also turns out to be the pain point making fleet managers and companies nervous, because now they’re relying on the wiring of black boxes of hundreds of private residences. 

“Residential charging has proven to be the most practical, cost-effective, and scalable foundation for fleet electrification,” charging operator Jet Charge says in its first report on a $12 million Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)-funded project. 

Commercial vehicle fleets have long been seen as key to the transition to EVs, as they put affordable cars into second hand markets and as bulk vehicle users they lead in creating more charging infrastructure.

But the charging issue has proved to be a sticking point.

Jet Charge found that more than 80 per cent of fleet EVs are garaged at drivers’ homes overnight, and that’s requiring a rethink in how fleets are viewed inside organisations.

The company was funded under ARENA’s Driving the Nation program to investigate subscription charging-as-a-service (CaaS) for fleets. What it found is that handing over the ‘refuelling’ aspect to a charging provider helped navigate the safety and compliance worries around home charging. 

“It requires organisations to rethink infrastructure ownership, cost structure, and operational responsibility simultaneously,” says the first report.

“What these fleet operators told us is that the turning point was recognising the problem was not the technology but the ownership model. When the service provider [CaaS businesses such as Jetcharge] owns the [charging] hardware, is responsible for every installation, and monitors the network on an ongoing basis, the compliance obligation does not pass to the fleet operator. 

“That shift, from owning a distributed asset network to accessing it as a managed service, is consistently what our customers tell us makes the broader program viable.”

The report makes it clear letting people charge their company cars at home is a no brainer. 

Home chargers can be installed within a month, compared to three months for a workplace project, slower 7-22 kilowatt hour (kWh) home charging is easier on batteries, and even paying staff a rate of 45c-52c per kWh for charging works out cheaper than petrol or diesel. 

However, home charging also involves letting go of control over the charger network: companies can’t easily inspect nor have direct control over home chargers, nor have any insight into the writing standards inside their employees’ homes. 

“Australia’s largest insurer [IAG] notes that fire risk from lithium-ion battery charging is effectively eliminated when an undamaged EV is charged correctly using appropriate equipment, but the operative phrase is charged correctly. The risk is not the vehicle. It is the installation behind it,” the report says. 

But employer duty-of-care obligations mean portable charging solutions are “consistently” rejected by corporate fleets because they can’t control the device once it’s in a private home. 

The other issue the Jet Charge report uncovered was total cost, as companies focused only on dollars and cents, rather than sustainability as well, are finding that the price of switching to EVs is higher than expected.

“In practice, whole-of-life fleet costs extend well beyond fuel versus energy savings to include insurance premiums, parts availability and repair times, resale value management, and battery health at end of lease,” the report says.  

“Fleet operators who approach BEV transition with a break-even mindset rather than expecting immediate savings are consistently better placed to execute, as they build in the margin needed to absorb these variables and maintain a positive driver experience.”

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• The 2027 Cadillac Lyriq is slightly more expensive than the outgoing model.
• Cadillac’s first EV is getting a different charge port.
• For 2027, the Lyriq is also keeping an infotainment feature that GM eliminated from all other EVs.

The Cadillac Lyriq is keeping an important infotainment feature for the 2027 model year, as well as gaining a Tesla-style charge port, which eliminates the need for a charging adapter at Tesla Superchargers and other, non-Tesla stalls equipped with NACS connectors.

According to GMAuthority, when production of the 2027 Lyriq starts next month in Tennessee, it will become the last General Motors-made electric car in North America that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity–both wired and wireless.

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

The Lyriq debuted with both smartphone mirroring features in 2022, but GM changed its stance on the technology just a year later, when it decided to transition to an infotainment system that favors native apps instead of smartphone mirroring. Some of the reasons quoted by company officials include safety and a need to constantly shuffle between the car’s native interface and the one offered by Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Soon after, GM started cracking down on smartphone mirroring. None of the company’s newly revealed EVs come with CarPlay or Android Auto, and the models that are already in production have had the features removed when they were updated. The GMC Hummer EV lost them when the 2026 model year was introduced, and the same happened with the base Chevrolet Silverado EV.

Only the Lyriq survived, but this will likely change in the future, as General Motors is looking to ditch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all of its cars, not just EVs. Last year, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company received a lot of feedback from customers who said it was “very clunky” moving from the car’s native interface to CarPlay and back.

“It wasn’t seamless, and frankly, in some cases, it could be distracting to move back and forth if you were doing something that you could do on a phone projection type of system, versus if you needed to do something in the vehicle,” said Barra. However, the American automaker is still offering CarPlay on EVs sold overseas.

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Getting back to the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq, it will cost you $200 extra to get behind the wheel of GM’s last U.S.-spec EV with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The entry-level Luxury RWD trim starts from $61,195, including destination, while the Signature RWD goes for $70,295. Adding all-wheel drive costs $3,500.

The range-topping Lyriq-V, which gets AWD from the get-go, starts from $80,495, up $100 from last year’s model.

Photo by: Cadillac

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HYUNDAI Motor Company Australia (HMCA) has significantly reduced pricing across its Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 model ranges, slashing manufacturer list prices by $8000 as part of a broader push to boost the appeal of its battery-electric vehicle line-up.

 

The revised pricing, effective immediately, sees the Kona Electric range start from $46,000 + ORC while the larger Ioniq 5 now opens at $68,200 + ORC.

 

Pricing of the performance-focused Ioniq 5 N remains unaffected by the changes.

 

The move comes on top of Hyundai’s previously announced End of Financial Year (EOFY) offers covering a range of petrol and hybrid models, as well as finance incentives.

 

A key change to the Kona Electric range is the introduction of a new Elite grade, creating a three-tier line-up that more closely mirrors the structure of the petrol and hybrid Kona family.

 

The revised range now consists of Standard Range, Elite, and Premium variants, broadening customer choice while lowering the entry point to Hyundai’s small electric SUV.

 

Hyundai says the pricing adjustments are accompanied by minor specification revisions across both the Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 line-ups.

 

For the Ioniq 5 range, the Premium N Line variant now receives leather sports seats featuring N logos in place of the previously fitted suede upholstery.

 

The updated Ioniq 5 line-up continues to offer Hyundai’s E-GMP dedicated EV architecture, ultra-fast charging capability and vehicle-to-load functionality, while the lower pricing brings the medium-sized electric SUV closer to key rivals in the increasingly competitive EV segment.

 

The revised Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 ranges are available to order now, with dealer arrivals commencing this month.

 

HMCA chief operating officer Gavin Donaldson said the repositioned pricing strengthened the appeal of the brand’s expanding electrified vehicle portfolio.

 

“With a diverse portfolio spanning light, small, medium and large SUVs, our award-winning EV line-up has never been more appealing, offering even better value and choice to Australian buyers,” he said.

 

The pricing overhaul follows a period of intensifying competition in Australia’s EV market, where manufacturers continue to adjust pricing and specifications in response to growing consumer choice and softer demand conditions.