If it’s on four wheels, Toby Hagon has probably driven it. From the latest electric supercars to rock-hopping off-roaders (or anything in between!) he loves a road trip and works on the thinking that no road is too long or too windy.

While most of those trips have been with diesel and unleaded, he’s also an EV convert who loves the innovation and pace of change within the automotive space – and sees the enormous potential for cars powered by electrons. He’s also known for some impatience and can see the world is ultimately heading to zero CO2 emissions, so why not hurry things up and get on with it!?

But cars are not all about what powers them. There’s plenty more contributing to the appeal (or otherwise) of modern cars.

As such, Toby thoroughly appreciates a good sound system and loves the way technology is shaping cars (even if it does sometimes temporarily head in the wrong direction). And the future of cars is increasingly being driven by 1s and 0s rather than metal and rubber.

Toby has also done some big EV road trips, including taking a Porsche Taycan from Darwin to Bondi across more than 5000km, much of it the outback. In the process he became the first person to drive an electric car up the Big Red sand dune in the Simpson Desert.

He also did a couple of thousand kilometres in a Nissan Ariya through Japan, something that made him realise there are countries worse than Australia for charging electric cars.

While he watches the electric car market intently and has driven everything EV to come to Australia, he also loves heading off-road in a proper four-wheel drive – all of which are currently powered by fossil fuels. While there are currently no electric 4WDs (in Australia, at least), they’re on the way and you can guarantee Toby will be one of the first to test their mettle. He thinks one of the best bits is that electricity will make 4WDs better at doing off-roady things.

Toby has been writing and talking about cars since the 1990s across a broad range of publications, including Qantas, Money Magazine, The Australian Financial Review and The Guardian. He has co-authored two books, Holden: Our Car and Kings of the Road: 50 cars that drove Australia. He appreciates cars of the past but prefers the technology, electricity and excitement that is redefining motoring.

He is a former National Motoring Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and helped establish Drive Car of the Year, while later becoming a judge on Wheels Car of the Year. Toby also contributes to Carsales, News.com.au, RACV, The Australian, Unsealed 4×4 and various other newspapers, magazines and websites around Australia and the world.

And he’s currently dreaming up other big adventures for electric cars…