NT EV Podcast sparks ideas, shares stories about electric vehicles in the Top End

Try saying NT EV five times fast and you might stumble over your words, but these two Territorians don’t mince words in their podcast, where they talk all things electric vehicles.

Ricky K and Joe Chin have sparked a podcast talking all things electric vehicles in the Northern Territory. Picture: Supplied

Sparked by two electrical vehicle enthusiasts, a new podcast has been making its way around Territory airwaves.

Try saying NT EV five times fast and you might stumble over your words, but for Joe Chin and Ricky K, the NT EV Podcast has provided a platform to talk Tesla – and of course other electric vehicles.

Mr K had never owned an electric vehicle before but upon moving to Darwin from New Zealand in 2023 he ordered himself a Tesla and, in an attempt to learn a little more in the realm of EVs, began reaching out on social media to like minded people; enter Mr Chin.

Lifelong Top End resident, Mr Chin first dipped his toes into the electrical pond in 2015, and by 2018 he’d been asked to join the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.

It was quickly a plug-meet-socket friendship – they just clicked – and in November 2024, they thought ‘surely there’s others in the NT that want to learn more about EVs’, and so their podcast was born.

Joe Chin and Ricky K — sat in the back of a Tesla — have sparked a podcast talking all things electric vehicles in the Northern Territory. Picture: Sam Lowe

“We’d talked about it for a year, and then said ‘right, what’s happening here, let’s do a podcast’,” Mr K said.

“We got two mics, sat in my kitchen in my house in Stuart Park, and just started recording.

“That was the first one in late November and the most recent was New Year’s Eve, so we’ve done four podcasts and they can range from 15 to 40 minutes (long).

“We open up about anything that’s really striking the news that week, and we’ve got different sources – including the NT News – and just see if there’s been any EV articles online.

“Then we do a bit of an update from across the nation, from all states and territories, and from there we just talk about general stuff, but it’s become pretty organic, we just talk about all things EV.”

Last year marked a significant time for Australia in terms of EVs, with nearly one in 10 cars purchased being electric – the highest for the country, as reported by the Electric Vehicle Council.

About 114,000 battery or plug-in hybrid vehicles were purchased in 2024, up from about 98,000 in 2023.

Mr Chin said electric vehicles had become more mainstream, and that the pair’s podcast was a place to “educate the community” but also a way to advocate for greener vehicles and better accessibility.

“There’s places like the Arnhem Highway and like Litchfield, there’s no ambition for the NT government to do something out there for EVs, no charging stations or anything,” he said.

“We want to see if we can get someone publicly to invest in these chargers so you can visit the whole Northern Territory and really take part in that passion of seeing the Territory and having an electric vehicle.”

Already, a couple hundred people are listening to the podcast, increasing by about 150 per cent new listeners each week, Ricky K said.

The episodes so far have covered personal stories from EV fanatics, but also news, challenges and opportunities in the world of EVs.

Originally published as NT EV Podcast sparks ideas, shares stories about electric vehicles in the Top End