Greg: 00:00

We are at Everything Electric slash Fully Charged Show in Farnborough. Woo hoo. Woo hoo. Gentlemen, please introduce yourself in this order that I'm waving.

Gary: 00:09

That will be clockwise.

Greg: 00:10

Clockwise. Thank you very much, Gary. Hi, Gary.

Gary: 00:12

Gary Comerford, Eevi Musings podcast.

Simon: 00:15

Simon Roe, also known as the Eevi side or a film by Simon depending on where you search on YouTube.

Rob: 00:21

And Rob Shaw, also known as rsthinks on YouTube.

Greg: 00:24

And I'm Greg. This is gonna be a fun show because we could just gonna be summarizing what we've seen so far. It's Saturday. In no particular order, what have we done yesterday? I'll start with Gary.

Gary: 00:33

Interesting day yesterday. I we did the media tour. 3 of us were there on the media tour where they basically take you around and show you, oh, this is what's new, what they're announcing, and you get to see that before it gets home to the public. But the big discussion I had, there is a company called AW Renewables, Art from the Arnold White Group. They have recently launched Chem Power public ultra rapid charging at 39p a kilowatt hour, which is the best in the market.

Gary: 01:02

And, of course, I go to and the first question I ask is, how? How the hell have you managed to do this? And, basically, the answer to that is they've got their own wind turbine literally next door to where the, the charges are.

Greg: 01:16

I think that's a the correct effect, isn't it?

Gary: 01:19

A fantastic yeah. Brand new wind turbine. And I was there chatting with them for about 40 minutes. And the wind turbine itself, they only use about 5% of the power from the wind turbine to actually charge or or to to power the charges. The rest of it goes into the grid and they get paid for that.

Gary: 01:37

So because of the way they financed it, because of the fact that they're providing power to the grid and because of the way it's built, they don't have a lot of the big overheads. There are a lot of the big power company energy charges, which a lot of the other charge point operators have. And as a result, they've been able to cut down the costs dramatically.

Greg: 01:56

Did you ask them how much the, the turbine was? I

Gary: 02:00

didn't, but they've invited me up there to sort of visit the site. And I'm I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll allow me to actually go up the turbine and stand on the top. And I will ask that question. We'll see whether we get an answer.

Greg: 02:13

When you get up, they're gonna say, this is a one way staircase. I'm sorry. Yeah.

Gary: 02:17

Yeah.

Rob: 02:17

Stay there. Big slide all the way down. It'd be great. We'd start

Gary: 02:20

walking away. What's that first step on the way down? It's a big one.

Greg: 02:24

So what else have we done yesterday? We've obviously did some test drives. Do we do we wanna talk about that first or,

Gary: 02:30

I'm still recovering from the from the test drive, but

Rob: 02:33

go ahead, Rob. Yeah. Great. So the event is the first event in the UK where you can publicly test test drive the MG Syberster. So as soon obviously, we can get here a little bit earlier because we've got, like, media passes and things.

Rob: 02:45

So I was straight in the queue along with, obviously, Greg and Gary too to get booked in for that. And I have to say, it's fantastic. It's really good. If you get the opportunity to try it, then make sure you do. Because if you think about it, it's the only 2 c convertible electric car currently manufacturer, being being manufactured.

Rob: 03:05

Also, there is the Tesla, like, roads to the old one, but you need to be a millionaire to have one of those. Whereas these are I think they start at $60 and it's so much fun. Yesterday was really nice weather wise, so we had the roof down, got the wind in your hair. It's a fantastic car. Great acceleration, great features.

Rob: 03:22

It's beautiful. Like, really, really liked it, and Gary and Greg both had a go as well. So what did you guys think of it?

Gary: 03:30

I think my sort of response to it is it's now up there amongst the favorite electric vehicles that I've I've ridden in. It's not my favorite. My favorite is the Ioniq 5 n, and we'll talk about that, I'm sure, shortly because Greg has opinions. But I I did enjoy it. It's completely impractical.

Gary: 03:50

You know, there's not a lot amount of the a lot amount. There's not a large amount of storage. It's only a 2 seater, but it's so much fun. It really is.

Rob: 03:58

For a weekend away, it it it's it's got more than enough space in the back, hasn't it, for like a overnight bag type thing? Just there's there's no frunk. I don't think the front actually opens. So you it's got a very long bonnet on the front. You think that would put some storage in there as well just because of the Well, he restricted boot space.

Gary: 04:14

Here's the question. Could you survive with that as an only car?

Rob: 04:18

No. Because because there's 3 of us in the family. So

Gary: 04:21

Could anybody survive with that as an only car?

Rob: 04:24

Divorcee? I think if if you're single if if you're single, yeah, easily. I think if if you're a couple, no kids, dogs, wanting to take people with you on trips and thing, I think, yes, you probably could. I think it'd make a great second car.

Gary: 04:38

Yes.

Rob: 04:38

Yeah. Like, a a fantastic second car. But, yeah, this it's not family. No. Definitely not.

Rob: 04:44

But it is still amazing. I I would still want buy

Simon: 04:47

a sports car for a family car?

Rob: 04:49

No. No. You don't. If if you're in the market for that type of vehicle, you're not gonna like you had an Audi TT, didn't you really, at some point in the past? So that's not a family vehicle either, is it really?

Rob: 05:01

But at the time, you didn't have one. So Yeah.

Simon: 05:04

I mean Yeah. It's it's like a you buy a sports car. You buy a sports car. You don't buy a sports car to load it with luggage and

Rob: 05:11

Yeah.

Simon: 05:12

It's a go out and have fun car.

Gary: 05:15

Well, I mean, look at it this way. People who listen to my podcast will know I've drove Porsche 911s for many years. There's a lot of similarity between the Cybister and the Porsche 911 in in the the form factor and that sort of stuff. But I could fit 2 sets of golf clubs in the back seat of the 911. It's a tight squeeze

Greg: 05:32

Or a small dog.

Gary: 05:33

But I or a small dog. Chihuahua. But there is there is literally no room for anything behind you in the Yeah. There are there are no back seats. Yeah.

Simon: 05:41

It was quite a shallow. No.

Rob: 05:42

Yeah. And and it was quite a shallow boot too. So if you're doing golf clubs, it's the roof off and it's gonna be strapped under the passenger seat, isn't it?

Gary: 05:48

Yeah. And I've done that before today.

Greg: 05:50

I I think if you look from the back, basically, it's the smallest front the bonnet. Not bonnet. Boots. Boots. Thank you very much.

Rob: 05:57

Trunk for American friends.

Greg: 05:59

Yeah. Then there's a roof, takes a lot of space. Yep. And then you've got a cabin, the wind screen and stuff. Mhmm.

Greg: 06:07

The front a pillar, I think is the technical term. And then a very long bonnet. And I think the only reason they had a very long bonnet put on it is a, because it needs long wheelbase for 77 kilowatt hour battery Mhmm. To fit underneath and be handling well, and it does handle quite well.

Rob: 06:25

I'm I'm quite tall, so I was I was kinda worried that my, like, forehead would stick above the windscreen, but the seat on its lowest setting, it was fine. It was really good.

Greg: 06:34

Yeah. You have to practically lean back to sit comfortably in it. It's kinda designed for you to just settle in. And when you open the door, the the seat reclines a little bit and moves back to kinda allow you egress.

Rob: 06:45

If you if you haven't seen it, it's it's got these really cool, I don't know, dihedral doors or something. Yeah. What you call them? That that basically

Simon: 06:52

sort of

Greg: 06:52

Flip up doors. Yeah.

Rob: 06:53

Pivot up from the front, and it it looks amazing. But Gary pointed out yesterday, what would it do in, like, a multi sorry car park? How how high is it gonna detect the roof? Is it gonna Does it go? Hit the roof?

Rob: 07:04

You're gonna

Simon: 07:04

have to

Rob: 07:05

watch it? I don't know. I don't know. I didn't I didn't see them. I didn't ask.

Rob: 07:08

I should

Greg: 07:08

I mean, I wouldn't drive it in with the the doors open.

Gary: 07:11

But you

Rob: 07:11

need to get out of the car, don't you?

Greg: 07:12

Yeah. Yeah.

Rob: 07:14

So yeah. That was feature. But, yeah, I loved it. It was really cool. And you guys loved it too, didn't you?

Rob: 07:18

And we did get up to some quick speeds on

Gary: 07:22

No. We got to these

Rob: 07:22

Legally quick speeds.

Gary: 07:23

We got to legal quick speeds, but we got there quickly.

Simon: 07:25

Yes. We did.

Rob: 07:26

Yeah. I think it was, well, 3 and a half seconds to 60, wasn't it? Which which was quick, but going on to the Ioniq 5 n, we'd literally just got out of that car, like, several minutes before. And if you've driven the Ioniq 5 n or know anything about it, the acceleration on that is just insane, and it made the Sybuster feel a bit more slower even though it's 3 and a half seconds. So I I don't know what it is on the Ioniq 5 n, but Greg and Gary both had a go in that yesterday.

Rob: 07:55

I've I've had a go in that at the Harrogate show and loved it, but you guys tried that and liked it, didn't you?

Gary: 08:01

Well, the the sort of parallel that I that I draw on this, if I go back to the days when I drove the the 911s, I had 3 different ones over the years. And one of them was the 911 t, which was the one with the big whale fin on the back. And it had a 3 liter engine, the 3 liter boxer engine. And when you put your foot down on that, it was vicious. You know, it was raw power.

Gary: 08:23

I then moved on to the 964, which is the one without the whale fin. It had the bigger engine. It had more power. But when you put your foot down on that, it was just as fast, and it accelerated just as quickly, but it didn't feel to be as vicious in the way it does. And that's the difference between the the 5 n and the Sybuster.

Gary: 08:42

You've got very similar performance, but when you put your foot down on the 5 n, it's kind of you know, it's like in Spaceball where they got a plaid and everything goes you know, the blood starts to get sucked from your eyes. Some monster. Yeah. But with a Cyberster, it feels a lot more refined. Mhmm.

Gary: 08:57

And it's not quite as, you know, I'm gonna snap

Simon: 08:59

your spine

Gary: 08:59

and break your neck.

Simon: 09:00

You you look at both cars, and the Cyberster has got that kind of country sports car type look and feel.

Greg: 09:09

Mhmm.

Simon: 09:10

The N is I wanna go fast, and I wanna go there now and, like, a bit bullish. You know? It's but it's got that look. It's got to go faster bits. Yeah.

Simon: 09:18

So So Yeah. You know, you kind of I think you kinda know what you're getting in for when you get into, like, the end compared to the Cyberster.

Gary: 09:25

I mean, it's got the big red button on the steering wheel. You know? It's got the blue button, but it's also got

Greg: 09:29

the big red button.

Simon: 09:29

No one wants to do blue button. Actually.

Greg: 09:31

They they both do have the, the big red button. I don't know exactly what what had changed it on the

Gary: 09:36

Oh, wait. It went from sport to super sport in cyber sport. Yeah.

Simon: 09:39

So I I just need to put a red button stuck to the front of the Tesla's screen then. Yeah.

Gary: 09:44

There you go.

Rob: 09:44

Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. The the Cyberster is, like, more progressive in its acceleration and the the E5 m is just brutal. It's it's a thug.

Rob: 09:54

Like, it just it just wants to launch you to the horizon as quickly as it can.

Gary: 09:59

Suits Greg's driving style because

Simon: 10:00

Yes. It does. Yeah. Yeah.

Gary: 10:02

Greg treats the accelerator as a switch. Yes. It's either on or it's off.

Greg: 10:06

What's the problem?

Gary: 10:07

And that's that's the that's the 5 n method of doing it. Whereas with the Cyberster, it's kinda, well, you know, we'll we'll push this to the lever. It's just powerful, but it's not an on off

Greg: 10:17

Yeah. Thing. For the record, I don't think I treat the accelerator as a switch, but never mind.

Gary: 10:22

Well, there are 3 people on this call who've been in who've been in the same car as you. Let's have a show of hands.

Greg: 10:29

Who thinks it treats?

Rob: 10:30

We need to ask the guy who was in the cyber store with you yesterday from MG what he thought of you.

Gary: 10:34

He did he did said that.

Simon: 10:35

He's still throwing

Rob: 10:36

up. He's ill.

Greg: 10:37

I think he was giggling. Literally, because I was like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I I wanna try this and try that. And he was he was giggling all the time. And I was like, I'm sorry.

Greg: 10:45

I don't know if you're like

Gary: 10:46

That wasn't giggling. That was a nervous laugh then.

Greg: 10:49

But I had to I had to ask him multiple times. I was like, is it okay? He's like, yeah. Actually, I'm actually quite enjoying this quite a lot. And I was like, okay.

Greg: 10:55

Okay.

Rob: 10:56

So what did you guys think of the whole test drive experience? Because I tried to get a drive and a Polestar 4 yesterday morning. So I was there at literally, I think, maybe quarter to 10 when the show opened at 10 o'clock, and the Polestar fours were all booked out for that day. And this morning, on the Saturday, exactly the same thing again. So I'm in a wait list to get one today.

Rob: 11:20

Now there are avenues to prebook, and it seems to be that people are taking advantage of those. But, obviously, on the day, people who don't know about that are turning up, and and we're literally seeing them sprinting from the gate over to the stand where they wanna have a go in a test in in a in a particular car, and they're gonna be disappointed because they're booked out. Like, the the the Cyberster was booked out today, and we were we were in the queue, me and Simon at Could get well. 10 to 10, and they were saying it's already booked out. And that's not anybody who's come to the show today who's booked that who hasn't prebooked it.

Rob: 11:55

So that would be great if that could be considered for the future. I think having more vehicles available. Now the Polestar 4 and the Cyberstar are new to the market. There's probably not a lot of cars in the country, so they they probably can't do that this time. But I think next time, try and anticipate the demand, particularly for cars like that that are gonna be quite popular and and make available slots on the day.

Gary: 12:20

Simon, you've been out in the Polestar 3 this month. Did did you deliberately go for the Polestar 3 or did you go for the Polestar 4 and then decide, oh, it's not available. I'll do the 3.

Simon: 12:30

No. No. I I kind of to be honest, I didn't know what I wanted to test drive up until this morning. And I walked outside and I just loved the look of the 3. And bizarrely, like, we was talking to Polestar and they were like, we're actually 50% are saved for preorder, but they couldn't really tell us how that works, how the preorder works and stuff like that.

Simon: 12:50

So I was like, oh, how about the 3? And they went, oh, yeah. There's plenty. I was like, okay. I'll put and it was 10 o'clock, like the first slot and absolutely loved it.

Simon: 12:58

Yeah. It's up to the point where they told me the price. It was £90,000. I was like, I would really like this car, but I can't afford it.

Greg: 13:08

I'll come back to you later.

Simon: 13:09

Yeah. I I just wanna I'm remortgaging my house at the moment and that's not gonna fit, like, with the price that I'm wanting. But honestly, the car is great. We done a me and Rob done a a video around it. Watch out for the YouTube crappy special that I'll probably do on that one.

Simon: 13:26

But compared to the what I drive at the moment, the model y, it just feels premium. I said to you this to you guys last night. It was like Tesla, and don't hate me, Tesla owners, because I'm sure you're gonna come after me after this comment, but the tech underneath of Tesla is great. The battery technology and and things like that is brilliant. The car is crap.

Simon: 13:48

And, like, it's crap because it's just not a premium car. It's a 40 plus grand car that just doesn't feel premium. And you get into granted, this was a 90 grand car, but actually even if you went into the the Polestar 2, which is more comparable probably to the price. And that feels premium compared to the Tesla. So if they could get that premium in line with something like the Polestar, that car would be a winner.

Simon: 14:13

But unfortunately, like, my next car won't be a Tesla. It'll hopefully be a Polestar or something equivalent. But it's it was a it was a great test drive. We took it around, like, the normal, put it up to a bit of legal limit speed. But it just felt like a really nice premium car inside and out.

Simon: 14:29

It just looks looks the business.

Gary: 14:32

The discussion we've had about power delivery and, you know, breaking your neck versus getting a little bit, how how did the Polestar 3 rate?

Simon: 14:39

So if I can what I've got to compare it to is either an i3 or some of the other cars that I kind of test drive over the years, but maybe if you test drive it against the model y, the model y, if you want to kind of give it some well, it will. And on the Polestar 3 was was the same, but you don't have to treat it like that. That's the point. Right? It's I get to an electric car now having driven them for 4 years, and the thing that gets me excited about electric car now is how they look and some of the tech inside.

Simon: 15:07

It's not that it's an electric car anymore because electric cars go fast. Okay? Like, you put your foot down your

Greg: 15:12

It's a gear. Yeah.

Simon: 15:13

Yeah. You know? So when I get into the Polestar 3, I kinda knew what I was expecting anyway, but the delivery of it was it wasn't like gradual and things like that, but it was smooth. So, like, if you wanted to be gentle and sort of accelerate, like, from a from a starting point, you could. If wanted to put your foot down and get some torque and acceleration, you absolutely could.

Simon: 15:33

But to me, electric car is now just a given that that's part of the parcel. The rest of it is how does it feel to drive. Like, the suspension on the 3 was great. Mhmm. If you compare that to the y, the y is really hard too on roads.

Simon: 15:48

That was perfect in my opinion. My very humble non engineering opinion. But, yeah, I I loved it. I just I don't know what the the low end version of that car is and how much it costs. I would imagine around 50 or $60, I would've I would've thought.

Simon: 16:04

But for $90 for that car, I'm struggling in a 200 plus. Was it 250 to reckon mile car, 200 mile car?

Rob: 16:12

Yeah. The guy that we had wasn't a 100% knowledgeable, but but, yeah, we reckon 250.

Simon: 16:16

About 250.

Rob: 16:17

At least. So if

Simon: 16:18

we say compared to model y, which is about the same, that's 45 grand car compared to a 90 grand car. I wanna know where the other 50 plus grand goes, you know, because great, it's premium inside and it looks lovely and it drives lovely. Mhmm. Where's the rest of the cost? The cars, in my opinion, electric cars especially, are just still too high in their their cost.

Simon: 16:40

If you wanna if you want something that looks and feels premium or you go right down to the really sort of cheap end, which unfortunately you get cheap, you know, but maybe I'm just old fashioned like that.

Rob: 16:52

So I've just checked the range and official range is 3.80 5 miles for the single motor and 367 for the dual motor. So

Simon: 16:59

it's gonna be WLTP. So it's gonna be 300 or Yeah. Just under. Yeah. Still, $90 for a 300 mile car still seems excessive.

Greg: 17:07

I mean, we don't wanna put put people off. But the, the there's plenty of cars on display and promised at the show Yeah. That were under $30. Like, there's a day share, whatever. Spring.

Greg: 17:18

Spring. So the $15 car.

Gary: 17:20

I sat in that earlier on this week at another thing. And my opinion on that is it's exactly what you would expect Yeah. From a 15 grand cap. It's got everything you need. It's got real buttons.

Simon: 17:32

Don't expect anything more though.

Gary: 17:34

It's got a hand brake. Oh. A proper genuine hand brake with a crank connection. Question

Simon: 17:39

for you, Gary. Has it got a button for the glove box?

Gary: 17:42

Yes. It has.

Rob: 17:43

Are you happy that

Gary: 17:44

I'm happy.

Rob: 17:45

We've got a story for you about the Polestar 3. So how many button presses do you think it takes to open a glove box in the Polestar 3?

Gary: 17:52

I would like to think 1, but in reality, I'm gonna go with 4.

Rob: 17:57

No. It's a Polestar 3, so it's 3. You

Simon: 18:00

press you

Rob: 18:01

press the vehicle button. You press the other button, I think, and then you press the glove box button and then it pivots down. We got a nice video clip we can show you.

Simon: 18:09

That's what £90,000 gets you. Yeah.

Gary: 18:11

Why?

Rob: 18:12

No no physical plastic button on the front that'll cost 50p or something. It's all integrated in the screen.

Greg: 18:19

I I think they're just copying Tesla too much.

Simon: 18:21

Yeah. I concede to, like, your earlier comments when I got the Tesla and we started looking at Tesla's, like, when they started coming out, and it was very much everything too much is in the screen. There's not enough buttons. I concede. Yes.

Simon: 18:35

After driving it for 2 years, Jesus Christ, put some buttons on the bloody thing. And I don't need a big screen to the left of me. I need a little screen in front of me so I can see what the hell is going on. But yeah. So I bow to you, Gary.

Gary: 18:50

I appreciate that, Sam. Thank you very much.

Rob: 18:51

But as glove boxes go, it's nice and it's wide and it's damped. And, again, VW, please put decent side of the boxes in.

Simon: 19:00

This is premium content, isn't it? Glove box.

Rob: 19:03

You get the big the big opening that gives you half as much inside. So

Greg: 19:07

This has been

Simon: 19:08

Mine is great.

Greg: 19:08

Glove box. The podcast.

Simon: 19:10

Is it a velvet glove box? And then that's a fucking

Greg: 19:12

What color was it? What's what's the feel?

Gary: 19:14

When you're editing this, you're gonna have to have a little marker. Yeah. The glove box

Greg: 19:17

section. Section.

Gary: 19:18

Yeah. Let's go straight to that, shall we?

Simon: 19:20

It's it's got some premium sort of shack carpet in there.

Greg: 19:24

I mean, shout out to any glove box aficionados amongst my listeners. After the test drives and a bit of socialising, we moved on we went upstairs to attend Electric Vehicles UK announcement by Dan Caesar, prior guest of this podcast, a very lovely man, and also CEO of Fully Charged slash Everything Electric. I don't know what the, the name of the limited company is, but the, the show has been rebranded to Everything Electric. Who wants to talk about the Electric Vehicles UK is and what the promise of it is? Yeah.

Greg: 19:58

Thanks, Gary. Simon wasn't there. So we just

Rob: 20:01

Oh, let me talk. So it's it's it's to being set up to kind of combat the misinformation that is being in the, like, mainstream media at the moment where it seems every article is bashing EVs, EV technology, electric ton electric ton I can't say it. Edit this. Technology. Electric laptops.

Rob: 20:23

Electric related technology and things. So they are setting up a sort of like body, Fully charged are gonna be sort of heading this for the for the next 12 months with Dan Caesar as as like a like a CEO of this, I think. They're gonna be bankrolling some of this too with the idea that in another 12 months' time, someone else will take over, and they'll be kind of spearheading this as well. Lots of initiatives they're gonna do. Some of those caught my eye being a a YouTube creator, in as much as they're gonna be running kind of competitions for making videos to put, like, a positive spin on EVs and electric things in general, which which kinda caught my eye.

Rob: 21:04

I'm all for doing that. I'd I'd be happy to give Logist for that free as well. So that that's that's a kind of cool thing from my point of view.

Gary: 21:13

One of the other things they were looking at was, what they call the hub and spoke sort of media strategy. And the proposal that Dan put together was they're going to put together a a website, which will be not like the kind of websites that we see at the moment for electric vehicles. It will be very much a Netflix style front page where you can select what it is you want to have a look at. And then the content that is on there will not be necessarily fully charged or everything electric. It will be stuff from content creators like the 4 of us around here.

Gary: 21:45

And it, you know, when you click on that link, it will take you out to that particular website rather than them scraping the information putting on their website. So the incentive there is to create the good content so that they will look at it and go, well, that's something that we'd like to link into. They won't necessarily put everything that everybody produces. But if there's a particular, like, I was very lucky. My podcast happens to have been brought up as an example, but if, you know, they're not gonna link out to all 200 episodes, but there might be, like, I've I've done a couple of misinformation ones with with Quentin, for example.

Gary: 22:19

So they may link out to that as an example of, you know, when somebody talks about the like, the Daily Telegraph and the kind of anti EV articles that they're doing. Quentin and I have discussed that, so they may put a link out to that. And I think that's an excellent idea.

Greg: 22:35

I think I think Dan referred to this as a Netflix for, you know, pro EV or combating anti EV propaganda, basically, which is a good good idea because there's only so much they can do, you know, as a everything electrical slash fully charged. They're doing a incredible amount of content. They're putting out, you know, 100 of show of videos a year, I think. Or maybe not 100, but, like, it must be

Rob: 23:00

It must be in a 100.

Greg: 23:01

It might be in a 100. Like, the the the the it's vast amount of content. And but there's only so much they can do and they only do it in one style. Right? Very professional, short to the point.

Greg: 23:11

Sometimes, humoristic with the, with your former guests, you know, Imogen and

Gary: 23:18

Jack. Jack. Thank you.

Greg: 23:20

Yeah. And other presenters, obviously. Other presenters are available.

Gary: 23:25

Check us out.

Rob: 23:25

This this method, I think, as well allows they them to compete on an almost equal level with, say, like the likes of the Daily Mail with massive advertising budget and everything else because they can cherry pick things from, say, the Take Your EV podcast or EV Musings podcast that

Simon: 23:56

doing it, and we love doing that positive spin around there.

Greg: 23:58

Well, I mean, we're gonna produce content anyway, so we might as well Yep. Use it.

Gary: 24:02

I think it's important to highlight the fact that it's not just about the content from people like ourselves that that there were I think there were 9 different things that he talked about. I'll go quickly through them because I have to make have made notes.

Simon: 24:14

Very good. Very good.

Gary: 24:15

He talked about a rapid response group. So this is the people like the Lorna Mcateers, Colin Walker, Quentin, who can come back on a specific anti EV article and provide that immediate feedback. He talked about an EV driver response group. So effectively outsourcing the response to people like us. So putting it out on social media and saying, come in and reply.

Gary: 24:36

Give your thoughts on that. He talked about the voice of the million, which is something that Quentin Wilson is in inspired or has inspired. This is giving voice to the lived experience. So, you know, people talk about, oh, EVs can't do this. Well, no.

Gary: 24:49

Well, let's speak to people who actually live with EVs and get their

Simon: 24:52

Real world.

Greg: 24:53

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Past ad experience.

Gary: 24:55

Yep. He talked about the Digital Hub and Spoke, which which we've already discussed. He talked about open source adverts. So they're putting a comp which Rob's mentioned, they're putting a competition out to anybody, any creator to provide some sort of a a pro EV commercial and advert, and they will pick the best and and promote that and that will go out to all the shareholders.

Rob: 25:14

And and and that's based on a brief that that that they set as well. So they're gonna give the brief out. You can, make something to fulfil that brief. So you're not just having to create something off the top of your head to look on a particular article. They they're gonna be explicit with what they want.

Gary: 25:27

Yep. And it will be multiple formats. So it may not just be YouTube. You may be able to do some audio, etcetera. We've talked about influencer test drives, and the first one that they're looking there is is doing one for politicians.

Gary: 25:37

So they're they're gonna put together a Westminster influencer test drive where they'll get a lot of the politicians who are in this particular area making the decisions. And I don't know whether it's gonna be a 20 minute one or whether they're gonna give him a vehicle for a couple of days.

Rob: 25:52

Yeah. They mentioned getting someone like Rory Reid, who's really big sort of like on YouTube with the Autotrader channel. Yep. He's quite into these EVs as well, so he's part of this panel. Mhmm.

Rob: 26:01

So if you get him in a car with a politician, the politician gonna be asking the questions. He knows his stuff so he can talk about it. They mentioned Imogen doing this as well. So, again, they know their stuff, so they can they can really help.

Gary: 26:13

They also talked about having a company come in to create regional test drive events in some of the more underserved areas like an EV UK roadshow. And they put, I think, half a dozen different potential venues up there.

Greg: 26:29

And most importantly, OEM agnostic. So it's not just like Polestar putting up their their show or just Polestar and Yep. VW, but, you know, you can get any OEMs.

Rob: 26:38

So if you think back so I think we've mentioned before that the EVA experience center in Milton Keynes was a a brilliant place. This is something that they are trying to recreate. So you have all these brands in one place. No one's biased to anything, and people can go experience it without the pressures of, well, okay, are you gonna buy this car and not are I can't spend time. We don't have people who know that stuff in the dealership.

Rob: 27:00

It's it's it's gonna be a great experience.

Simon: 27:02

That was a loss in Yeah. It was. In the Kings just because, like, that influenced so many people buying an EV that you wouldn't necessarily, you know, either get the ability in a in a normal dealerships that really didn't care about getting you into an EV. They like you said, they were completely agnostic about, like Yeah. Which car you got into.

Simon: 27:22

They just wanted to tell you the facts. The more stuff like that you do around the country, the better. Absolutely.

Gary: 27:27

And the only reason I'm driving electric today is because I went to the today is because I went to the EV Yeah. Experience center, borrowed the vehicle that I was looking to to use, had it for a weekend, thought, yes, this will work. Went out and put down the deposit on the lease.

Rob: 27:37

I'm I'm the same. When I was looking at my car after my LEAF, I looked at the ID 3. I borrowed one for a week from the EV experience center. I thought this is great. I got one, and I even claimed back the cost of my hire Yeah.

Rob: 27:49

Because that's that's just something that they did. So I I think of £800, I got that back.

Greg: 27:52

Yeah. I mean, one of the reasons I have e Niro is because I got it off them for a week to review, to be honest. I didn't wanna, you know, it was there was also a great place to just check the cars out. It was fairly cheap to actually get them from them. But so we we've all been guilty of using them for that reason, and they were quite fine with that because we're promoting stuff.

Greg: 28:11

But the I remember after driving my the iniro that they gave me for a week, I literally returned to, to the gentleman. I can't remember the name of the actual guy who served me at the time. I'm sorry. But the I said to him he was the manager, I

Gary: 28:25

think, of the Lewis?

Greg: 28:26

Was it Lewis? It must have been Lewis. Yeah.

Simon: 28:27

It must have

Rob: 28:27

been Lewis.

Greg: 28:28

It must have been Lewis. And I said to him, look. However much this costs, because I knew that they were pulling them out because the dealers wanted them back. However much you want for this, happy to take it off your hands. And he's like, no.

Greg: 28:41

I couldn't do it. Don't buy the, the actual company. We're just leasing them from them, which is a just a shame on one hand. But on the other hand, I just basically went straight away and took put a deposit on the on the in euro, the next release, which was Ford model y model year 2020 trim Ford. Doesn't matter.

Greg: 29:01

And, you know, this is what I was I've been driving for the last 4 years. Right? So excellent place. I I still miss it to this day.

Rob: 29:10

Yeah. Yeah. It it it was really good. And and I I know some of the people that did exactly the same thing. I I've said, have a have a look here.

Rob: 29:17

There's no pressure. Just pay, like, I think it was 5th 50 quid or something. Yeah. Like, 50 quid for

Gary: 29:22

the Like a couple of days.

Rob: 29:23

Yeah. Yeah. And and then it also did the free 20 minute one. So the amount of people I pushed in that direction that ended up getting them as well, it it was just a great place. Right?

Gary: 29:32

And bumps in seats. Always working.

Simon: 29:34

Yeah. And

Greg: 29:34

we miss it. And they were in this shopping center, so there was a lot of traffic. Yeah. Just people going past and just asking questions, and they were able to kinda correct the misinformation on this.

Rob: 29:44

And and importantly, they would show you how to charge. You don't even get that at the dealership. Yes. So so they they were they were lucky that they would have charges literally outside like a a short 32nd walk away, and they would show you how to charge before they'd let you out with it.

Simon: 29:57

They'd also take you down to the charging hub as well where, like, instead of just the normal type 2 stuff, they take you where you would normally go to a rapid charger, and there's, like, this is Yeah. The military pay

Rob: 30:06

for it.

Simon: 30:07

This is how you plug it in. This is what it all means. Yeah. It was just so comprehensive of how they Yeah. They instructed it.

Rob: 30:14

So if they can recapture that in in this new offering they're going to do, then I think they're gonna win. It's it's it it would be fantastic if they could recapture that.

Gary: 30:24

100%. Yeah.

Rob: 30:24

Who are they? Maybe there's people that used to work there looking for another

Greg: 30:28

Oh, yeah. I mean, loads of them actually employment? Loads of them work for local garages. But the who would have thought Dunn such a smart man? But I'm just I'm obviously joking, but the Dunn is a very clever man, and he comes up with those idea these ideas, and he knows where the niche is or where the where the where there's a hole in the market, so to speak.

Greg: 30:48

Right? And none of this is done for pure money reasons. This is all kinda done, you know, just to promote EVs. I love it. I I'm I've you know, I can't wait to see these these things happening.

Gary: 31:03

Has anybody attended yet any of the megatre or gigatheatre sessions?

Rob: 31:08

No. I've been having too much fun outside.

Gary: 31:10

Snap. I do know they did one yesterday. Sam Clark from GRIDSRB was moderating it. They had Quentin Wilson. They had Lorna McAteer.

Gary: 31:17

They had Colin Walker talking about misinformation. Again, this is all linking into the stock burning stuff, to the electric vehicles UK. A

Greg: 31:27

fair charge.

Gary: 31:28

Yeah. Fair charge. Yeah. And it's it's one of those things that they do this now at every single one of the the events. And it's vital because there are so many people who come in, and we've all had these conversations.

Gary: 31:41

You know, I like this electric car because it oh, well, yeah. But, you know, there's the cobalt in there, and it's been mined by the the kids in the Democratic Repun Republic of Congo. And it's kind of, well, yes, that is happening, but that's also being used to desulfurize fuel. That's also being used for turbines in planes. That's also being used in your phone.

Gary: 32:01

It's not just cars. It's not just electric vehicles. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, if you're driving certain of the MG vehicles and certain Teslas, there's no COBOL in there at all. And this is the kind of thing that those sessions are highlighting to the people who are out there.

Rob: 32:16

And now you can also shut down the thing when people tells you, yes, you're charging your car from electric, from a coal fired power plant because there's no more coal stations. Exactly. We do not In the UK.

Greg: 32:27

In the

Rob: 32:27

UK anymore. So that argument is out the window.

Greg: 32:30

Yeah. I mean, this is one of those arguments where I I always go as a as an engineer. I'm I'm always like, yes, but it even if it's powered by I think it there have been studies done. Even if your EV is powered by coal, it's still cleaner per mile than burning fossil fuels with all the like the chain of all the things and inefficiencies of the the, you know, obviously, depends on how you drive and all that. But let's be honest, the figures you get from manufacturers about the CO 2 emissions on the petrol diesel cars are I can't remember whether it's 10 times or just 5 times more that they emit in real life on average.

Greg: 33:10

But it there's charities who do do those things, and I should probably have figures. But let's just say those figures are done in lab. And there there been one OEM that's, had to cough up quite a lot of money for, diddling with those figures. And I'm not saying that everybody else does it, but, you know,

Gary: 33:24

I think it's also worth reminding people that we are still actually mining coal in the UK. Yep. Because there are certain things where you need coal for I think is it coking for steel steel production? And I think we also export it. So we haven't got rid of coal totally, but there are now no more coal powered fire stations in the UK.

Simon: 33:45

They're not powering the national grid, basically, are they? There you go.

Greg: 33:47

I think coal power well, coal power stations haven't been used much anyway, which is why they they phased them out about 10 years ago. So they were there just in case. And then tech has moved some so much forwards nowadays and we have battery storage systems scattered around the country as well. Mhmm. They're not huge, but they're enough to kinda oomph the load if need be or smooth out the load if need be.

Greg: 34:10

So I think that site was very expensive piece of kit sitting there and just basically it was an eyesore every time you drove past it anyway.

Rob: 34:18

There are more solar farms coming online as well. So just near me in Wellingarten City, they've got approval for a a massive solar farm as well, which is just down the road from the new grids of, Stevenage Electric forecourt. So that's obviously, those are happening up and down the country. There's getting more sign off for these types of things. So, again, the grid is becoming more greener anyway.

Greg: 34:39

Cool. I mean, we have to give thumbs up to this event. Right? Oh, absolutely. Always.

Greg: 34:43

I mean, it's Saturday, but,

Rob: 34:44

you know It it still is a good event.

Greg: 34:47

Yeah.

Rob: 34:47

It's it's it's Saturday. There's lots of people here. It's still dry.

Simon: 34:50

It's a good social as well. Coming out. So meeting other people.

Greg: 34:54

Yeah. I mean, the the the industry. There is no people I think people are easily misled if they just read something online. Yeah. Or your mate tells them that, oh, my mate, oh, my mate, oh, my mate, which by the way, if your mate tells you that their mate had a problem, chances of of that being real is about 1% and chances of that being an a problem that's widespread is even less.

Greg: 35:16

It's just, you know what is the saying? The the lie goes around the world before the truth gets up of the out of the bed or something

Simon: 35:22

like that?

Gary: 35:22

Spooked on.

Greg: 35:22

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, just, you know, be be aware of that because us humans, we are very flawed. But the yeah. Go on, Gary.

Gary: 35:30

Before we sort of wrap up, I think there's there's at least 2 other aspects to this show that we've completely glossed over. And I think we should. It's not just electric vehicles. There's a lot of Indeed. Home.

Gary: 35:42

What's the word I'm looking for?

Simon: 35:43

Green solutions?

Gary: 35:44

Green solutions for home. So there are a number of

Greg: 35:46

Decarbonization of houses. The heating of the housing sector.

Gary: 35:49

There are a number of companies here like Tepio who have the battery boiler, I think. Yep. Boiler that it's not a heat pump. It's not gas powered. It's a battery and it it heats everything like a boiler.

Gary: 36:00

We've got Duracell who have a home storage.

Greg: 36:04

So we've got now 3 phase available.

Gary: 36:06

Now 3 phase available. We've got Jujosolar. We've got the Juju? Joju?

Rob: 36:10

Joju.

Gary: 36:11

Joju. Joju. Thank you. We've got the, obviously, solar offerings. My Energy here with the Zappies, with their all in one Give Energy are here.

Gary: 36:20

So there's a whole the whole aspect of home renewables and Bosch, the vegan food people. Yeah. And I know there's a couple of people around here who are going vegan. Mhmm. But, you know, Greg and I appreciate that.

Gary: 36:33

I

Greg: 36:33

I hope to actually have them on to talk about veganism in the future. So if you're if you're listening, there's Bosch people.

Gary: 36:40

That'd be a good one. Yeah.

Rob: 36:41

I think for the first time, there's a tire manufacturer here as well. So we've got Hancock here who as well who are showing their, like, EV tires as well. So so that's that's that's a new one. And and they're actually quite a high level sponsor of the event too. So so that's always good.

Rob: 36:56

I'm I'm looking around at winter tires at the moment because I'm I'm getting a new car soon, and I need to replace the tires because they're not gonna fit. So I've I've got a set. So I've been kinda speaking to them and seeing what they are and how much they are. And and

Greg: 37:08

speaking to good

Rob: 37:09

and everything so.

Greg: 37:10

Speaking to affordability, that was one of the big things that Dan obviously mentioned during our media presentation on top of the other show when we, you know, yesterday. But it's true for the last two shows, I think they won in Harrigan, previous one in Fumbra, there have been loads of announcements to get people to decarbonize their houses for less money or make it more affordable. So instead of you having taken a a take a loan, you basically can go straight to the, the the provider of certain services, whether whether it's a heat pump or solar panels or battery storage, and actually get a 0 near 0% financing from them for, you know, I think in case of my my energy, I did I hear it right? It was up to 25 years, which seems mad, but, you know and they also give you actual coverage over that period of time. So they don't want the kits to actually go bad.

Greg: 37:59

Yeah. Yeah. So they extend the warranty over that period, which I think is brilliant. It's the same thing or similar thing to, like, what Apple's doing with I can't remember what they call it. No.

Greg: 38:07

It doesn't matter. The you can get things for, you know, £20 a a month in case of in case of a phone. And that covers you as well in case something goes wrong with it. I'm sure it's more money than that to get a heat pump, but you don't have to fork out, you know, couple £1,000 upfront or get a loan for it. You or take it off your mortgage.

Greg: 38:27

You just get that from the the actual provider. And then, you know, they're covering it for 5, whatever years. Mhmm. And I think they're also some of them are willing I'm not gonna speak obviously on their behalf, but some of them are willing to then take out that kit and move it to your house in case you move in the meantime, obviously, for a fee. But I think that's a good that's a good thing.

Greg: 38:49

You can you can literally just walk to and get in this case my energy stand and say, like, I want a couple of these in my house. And, no, I don't have to pay $10 up upfront for the battery storage. You can just spread the cost. I think that's brilliant.

Simon: 39:01

It makes more sense because, you know, even me looking at solar and battery storage for my house, it's still a huge upfront cost. And the more they do things like that, the more people are gonna adopt to using it.

Greg: 39:13

Yeah. And and we we we don't have to forget we we shouldn't forget about the fact that, no, you're not gonna have 100% of energy coming from your solar, but you're gonna save a lot of money by having battery storage and something like Octopus tariff referral ring and a and a ring and a thing you doobly doo, I'll take clients. Link in the show notes. Exactly. You're gonna you're gonna potentially save a lot of money.

Greg: 39:34

You might even make some money on couple of months a year if you produce a lot of solar, depends on where your house is and all that obviously. So I think it's a it's a good thing.

Gary: 39:43

On a related topic, this is something that was announced quite a while back and it seems to have fallen under the the radar. Octopus Energy have what they call, I'll probably get the name wrong, a 0 homes offering, a 0 bills. Basically, if if you're in a house that is being built to a specific standard so that the the builder has has adhered to certain standards for insulation, etcetera, you can get a tariff from Octopus where you will not pay any energy bills for 5 years. Nice. Which is phenomenal if you've if you could take advantage of that.

Gary: 40:22

So they will cover the electricity, presumably have to all be electrified rather than than gas, but they'll, you know, I'm assuming there's gonna be heat pump in there. Solar on roofs as well. Yeah. Like that. Okay.

Simon: 40:33

Especially if that's your first house. Like, all that sort of help right on the first five years is is gonna be amazing.

Gary: 40:39

Oh, absolutely.

Greg: 40:40

Remind me what kind of business are they in?

Gary: 40:44

Giving away energy, apparently. No.

Greg: 40:46

I I would love to have Greg on from from Octopus, but to talk about these things or other people because I'd be interested in in hearing more about this. But yeah.

Rob: 40:56

I think he's here today, isn't he? Isn't isn't isn't there a singer that Gigas here to today?

Gary: 40:59

He's on a session today, I think. Yeah.

Rob: 41:01

Yeah. So he's in the

Simon: 41:03

building. Her costume. Yeah. We should

Greg: 41:04

we should bring him I should send my PAs over.

Simon: 41:08

Gary. Gary Walls. Who

Rob: 41:09

was that? Move.

Gary: 41:11

I have no time today. I'm out looking at glove compartments. Oh, dear. Glove box.

Greg: 41:16

Glove boxes. Glove boxes. No obsession. I think we we turned this 180 degrees or 3 60.

Rob: 41:21

I've just had an idea. It's it's it's a glove box. How many pairs of gloves can you get in the

Simon: 41:25

glove box? No.

Rob: 41:26

There you go. Done. Forget potatoes and oranges. Oh, bananas. Yeah.

Rob: 41:31

How many ton of stuff. How many gloves can you fit in a glove box?

Simon: 41:34

What size gloves? Charles gloves? Oh, no. No. No.

Simon: 41:37

Mittens? Don't need that detail, mate.

Gary: 41:39

The ladies leather gloves, or are they driving gloves? Exactly.

Rob: 41:42

No. You're just complicating it.

Greg: 41:43

We need

Simon: 41:44

to know.

Greg: 41:44

I think they have to be driving gloves because, you know, cats and all that. Right, gentlemen. Any final words?

Gary: 41:50

No. Thanks for inviting us on too. My pleasure. Thank you for,

Greg: 41:53

you know, being around.

Gary: 41:54

Same time we've done this. It's It's

Rob: 41:55

always fun.

Simon: 41:56

Yeah. Yeah. It's good. Very much.

Rob: 41:57

We we enjoy doing this. We hope you enjoy listening to this. It is I know it's quite random sometimes, but it it is great fun

Simon: 42:03

to put this together. That's the fun of it. It's gotta be random.

Greg: 42:05

This is this has been a fun episode of Tech EDD from Everything Electric Fumbra 2024.