The EV Café

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

Zero Emission is Super CoolZero Emission is Super Cool

Mobile catering has taken a giant leap toward zero-emission retailing as Crewe-based specialist manufacturer Whitby Morrison introduced the world’s first fully certified, purpose-built electric ice cream van

Latest podcast

Coming 12 Aug

#179 - Alun Davies | ElectrAssure#179 - Alun Davies | ElectrAssure

Scheduled for 12 Aug 2026

Alun Davies once told his team that electric vehicle charging "would never catch on" — and sent someone else to do the first installation jobs. Today he leads ElectrAssure, the electrical contractor behind nearly 2,000 charging sockets for National Grid, the chargers that greet every electric Volkswagen arriving on UK shores, and some of the first DC rapid chargers for Western Power Distribution. This week, Alun sits down with Paul and John to trace the line from qualified electrician to business leader — and it's anything but a straight one. Along the way: a theatre degree, a stint as sound engineer for the England football team's press conferences (and Girls Aloud), a summer spent on commercial roofs, and a cherry picker licence that landed him an apprenticeship in the family firm. Alun talks candidly about the roundtable moment six years ago when nerves nearly got the better of him — and how a "nuts and bolts" perspective turned out to be exactly what a room full of fleet managers needed to hear. He opens up about running a business with his wife (a former deputy head teacher, now Ops Director), why they've agreed never to switch off from work, giving up alcohol in 2022 to think more clearly, and measuring success by the energy in a room rather than the numbers on a spreadsheet. There's also a school report that shattered a 20-year self-image, a son whose GCSE English presentation was titled "Why Electric Vehicles Are Rubbish", and the revelation that this softly-spoken sparky is the lead singer of a heavy metal band, Before the Sirens. Whether you're wiring up a depot, scaling a family business, or just wondering how a self-confessed class clown ends up advising National Grid, this one's worth your fifty minutes. ## Connect with Alun and ElectrAssure ### Alun on LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/alun-davies-electrassure](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alun-davies-electrassure/) ### ElectrAssure [electrassure.co.uk](https://www.electrassure.co.uk) ### Before the Sirens [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@beforethesirensofficial) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/3JLOw2Ua3Sidpo0kXFZCE) [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/before-the-sirens/1464198406)

Next event

The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 14 August 2026The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 14 August 2026

14 Aug

2026

09:00 - 09:30 (GMT / BST)

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

Cheaper Charging Equals 50% more EVsCheaper Charging Equals 50% more EVs

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

Record EV Sales Surge in JulyRecord EV Sales Surge in July

More News

By John Curtis

// 07 Aug 2026

2028 EV Tax Rules Revealed2028 EV Tax Rules Revealed

John Curtis said "The figure I've never seen before is how much this will raise: HMRC expects eVED to raise £1.1 billion for the exchequer in the first year... The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the introduction of eVED will have a marginal 2% impact on forecast EV sales."

By John Curtis

// 31 Jul 2026

Is EV investment in the UK at risk?Is EV investment in the UK at risk?

SMMT warns EV investment is at risk without action on energy and ZEV rules.

London Ambulance service expands UK’s largest electric ambulance fleet

By John Curtis

// 31 Jul 2026

London Ambulance service expands UK’s largest electric ambulance fleet London Ambulance service expands UK’s largest electric ambulance fleet

London Ambulance Service has added 77 new electric emergency vehicles to its frontline fleet, further strengthening what is now the UK’s largest fleet of fully electric ambulance vehicles.

Three quarters of councils still have no accessible EV chargers

By John Curtis

// 31 Jul 2026

Three quarters of councils still have no accessible EV chargersThree quarters of councils still have no accessible EV chargers

New research from Vauxhall has revealed that while the number of councils providing accessible on-street EV charging has doubled in the last year, three quarters still have no chargers specifically adapted for drivers with accessibility needs or that meet recognised accessibility standards.

Podcast Episodes

#178 - Andrew Clint | myenergi#178 - Andrew Clint | myenergi

Published 05 Aug 2026

What does it take to steer a £50 million business towards its founder's vision of lasting 100 years? Andrew Clint, CEO of myenergi, joins us fresh from the company's 10th anniversary celebrations to talk about the next 90. Eighteen months into the role, Andrew explains why myenergi — best known for zappi, the first solar-aware EV charger — is refocusing on Lee Sutton's original ambition: a complete home energy management system. That means vehicle-to-grid on the horizon, the libbi home battery, Grid Pay rewarding customers for grid flexibility, and software that quietly optimises solar, battery and EV charging without the homeowner lifting a finger. His maths is compelling: a full ecosystem could save households around £1,500 a year — close to a zero-bills home. Andrew is candid about why so many charging companies have come and gone while myenergi endures: knowing exactly what you are, and what you aren't. He also digs into how AI is accelerating the business, from a new data lake on AWS to machine learning that learns a household's habits. Andrew also discusses walking away from British Airways after missing out on a job, growing a De La Rue division from £30m to £90m, and the mother whose question — "is that really the best you can do?" — still drives him today. ## Connect with Andrew: [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewclint/) ## Find out more about myenergi: [myenergi.com](https://www.myenergi.com)

#177 - Dan McLaren | BP Pulse#177 - Dan McLaren | BP Pulse

Published 29 Jul 2026

Dan McLaren left school with no qualifications, spent his early years as a greenkeeper at a private members' golf club, and now looks after half of the BP Pulse network as Network Optimisation Lead. Dan talks about growing up dyslexic in a school system that dealt with it by "putting you in a class with less people", and about the father-in-law who took him on as a project — daily five o'clock phone calls, hard questions, and a £600-a-month leg-up that let him start again from the bottom in the motor trade. It's a powerful case for why everyone should find themselves a mentor, and why Dan now makes time to be one for the younger generation coming up behind him. We also cover: - **Falling into EV by accident** — how a fixed-term contract at the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre in Milton Keynes (taken mainly because it came with a car) turned into a career, once Dan swapped a cautious rental policy for a simple philosophy: bums on seats sells EVs. - **Life as "Dan Dan the EV Man"** — taking on the myths and misinformation head-on via TikTok, why he actually quite enjoyed the naysayers, and why he stepped back from it to make a bigger difference from a commercial seat. - **Where BP Pulse goes next** — the shift to purely rapid and ultra-fast charging, why it's about the right charger in the right place rather than the most chargers in the ground, partnerships with M&S, Q-Park and Transport for London, and an honest reflection on the reputational baggage that comes with being one of the industry's earliest movers. - **Playing to your strengths** — how Dan turned dyslexia into an engine for ideas, relationships and front-of-room energy, and learned to let the analytical people do the analytical bits. Plus, Dan receives the legendary EV Café magic wand and uses his wishes on happy kids, a healthier heart, and making BP Pulse the biggest and best charge point operator in the UK. ## Connect with Dan - LinkedIn: [Dan McLaren](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-mclaren-7913019b/) - BP Pulse: [bppulse.com](https://www.bppulse.com/en-gb) - TikTok: [Dan Dan the EV Man](https://www.tiktok.com/@dandantheevman)

#176 - Will Rowe | Octopus Energy#176 - Will Rowe | Octopus Energy

Published 22 Jul 2026

What do you get when you cross the world's most innovative energy company with the world's largest battery maker? Swaptopus — a joint venture between Octopus Energy and CATL that's bringing HGV battery swapping to the UK and Europe. And the man growing it is Will Rowe, Entrepreneur in Residence at Octopus Energy, who joins us this week from a tennis club, the day after selling his house. Commitment. Will explains why battery swapping cracks the three problems that have stalled electric trucking: grid connections, charging downtime, and the mismatch between when trucks need power and when power is cheap. Swap a battery in minutes, keep the truck earning, and let the swapped-out batteries do a second job — because a network of stations full of batteries is also a virtual power plant, storing cheap renewable energy and feeding it back when the grid needs it. This isn't just a transport play; it's an energy infrastructure play. He's refreshingly blunt about the road that led here, too. Will previously founded a hydrogen business for exactly this market — and he tells us candidly why it didn't work, why losing two-thirds of your energy is no route to energy security, and what China's thousand-to-one preference for batteries over hydrogen tells us about where this is all heading. His verdict on hydrogen for transport is one you'll want to hear in full. Along the way we get into: - **Why trucks are the easy win** — 32 TWh of new annual electricity demand if the UK's trucks go electric, lowering bills for everyone, while governments obsess over data centres instead - **Autonomy changing everything** — a customer planning to go from 60 to 160 hours of weekly truck utilisation, and what cab-free, 24/7 freight means for an industry whose two biggest costs are labour and fuel - **Bringing Chinese OEMs to Europe** — and conversations underway with four of the five biggest European truck makers - **Geography-specific energy strategies** — why a swap station in solar-rich Spain looks nothing like one in windy Britain - **Growing up dyslexic with a reading age of six**, passing A-levels anyway, and why resilience — and a mum who insisted he could do anything — mattered more than school ever did - **Honest talk about failure** — why it hurts, what it teaches, and why loving the problem matters more than loving your first solution And when handed the EV Café Magic Wand, Will's wish is deliberately unglamorous and absolutely fundamental: **just make electricity cheaper.** Get that right, he argues, and the business case for electrifying everything falls into place on its own. --- **Connect with Will:** [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-rowe-55ab9816/) **Octopus Energy:** [octopus.energy](https://octopus.energy/)

#175 - Paul Jewell | CarCloud#175 - Paul Jewell | CarCloud

Published 15 Jul 2026

Most households and small businesses don't have an automotive expert on hand, just a relative who gets cornered at barbecues or "someone who used to be a mechanic" now responsible for a multi-million-pound fleet. That gap is the problem Paul Jewell built CarCloud to fix. Paul joins Paul Kirby and Sara Sloman to explain how CarCloud surfaces the MOT deadlines, lease endings and maintenance costs that usually blindside drivers, pairing each one with a solution rather than just a warning. He makes the case for the SME sector, not the big fleets, as the real engine of electric van and car growth. He also covers his work in last-mile transport: 10,000 pedal-assisted, motorcycle-grade electric bikes already on UK roads, care workers using them to fit more home visits into a day, and a new grocery sidecar that carries 40 kilos for around 14p per 50 miles. Along the way Paul traces his approach back to selling used cars in Birmingham's subprime credit era, tells the story of a remarkable homeless man who taught him chess and life lessons as a kid, wishes for baseline foods to be sold "net free" with no VAT or profit attached, and sets out CarCloud's next phase: automotive and mobility banking that returns real value to the driver. **Connect with Paul Jewell:** - LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-jewell-55476122/> - CarCloud: <https://carcloudsolutions.com>

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