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#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>

#174 - Nikolaus Mayerhofer & Alexander Millinger | Aviloo#174 - Nikolaus Mayerhofer & Alexander Millinger | Aviloo

Published 08 Jul 2026

How do you actually know what's left in a used EV battery? Nikolaus Mayerhofer and Alexander Millinger from **Aviloo** join us to draw the line between a real diagnostic and a glorified readout — and why that difference decides what a second-hand electric car or van is worth. NiKo has been building electric things since he was 12, soldering together his first e-bike back in 1987 and developing battery management systems by 19. That four decades of battery engineering — lead acid, nickel cadmium, lithium iron phosphate, NMC — is now baked into Aviloo's three-minute flash test, which pulls up to 50,000 data samples through the OBD port, sends them to the cloud, and returns an accurate, independent State of Health certificate. Eight years of collected data from thousands of vehicles (over 50 million kilometres) sits behind every result, and (from July) a UK warranty backs each certificate. We get into the things the surface won't tell you: - Why **mileage no longer equals battery health** — a study of 600 Model 3s found consumption varying by a factor of two depending purely on how they were driven and charged - How charging to 100% every night, hammering the autobahn, and preheating all quietly age a pack — and why average degradation is fine but the *variance* is the reason you test before you buy - The honest take on fast charging, solid-state hype, and why a Model S still runs a 40-year-old cell format - Battery second life: diagnostics feeding power storage in Japan, reuse from scrapped vehicles, and what happens when OEMs stop making modules - Scaling Aviloo from two friends talking on mountain bike rides to 100+ people and one million tests sold — across the UK, US, Benelux and Asia **Guests:** - Nikolaus Mayerhofer, Founder & CEO — [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolaus-mayerhofer-014b5635/) - Alexander Millinger — [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmillinger/) - Aviloo — [aviloo.com](https://aviloo.com/)

#173 - Jamie Sands | Welch Group#173 - Jamie Sands | Welch Group

Published 01 Jul 2026

**Guest:** Jamie Sands — Operator-led zero-emission freight and innovation | TwentyForty | Welch Group **Company:** Welch Group ([welchgroup.co.uk](https://welchgroup.co.uk) · [twentyforty.uk](https://twentyforty.uk)) **LinkedIn:** [linkedin.com/in/j-sands](https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-sands/) --- What does a 92-year-old, family-owned haulier with 70 trucks know about the future of freight that the multinationals don't? Quite a lot, it turns out. Jamie Sands is Head of Solutions at Welch Group — a role that, as he points out, doesn't exist in most operators — and he joins us to explain why a regional independent from the east of England is winning tenders against the big 3PLs on something other than price. We get into the commercial logic underneath the green badge: how Welch turns its fleet into a test bed for startups in exchange for preferential terms, why the "green premium" basically doesn't exist, and how being two steps ahead on scope three reporting now wins business outright. Jamie makes the case that decarbonisation is really an energy and infrastructure problem, not a vehicle one — and that the smart play for an operator is treating charging, energy arbitrage and demand response as new revenue, not just a cost to swallow. There's plenty for the technically curious too: system-level thinking across siloed networks, what L4 and L5 autonomy actually mean for hub-to-hub night runs, why he's done arguing about hydrogen, and why "technology neutrality" can quietly become an excuse to do nothing until the 2035 cliff edge arrives. Jamie also walks us through TwentyForty, the not-for-profit he's built to pull other independent operators into the research, the media and the policy conversation — including the 12 Pillars framework for getting the whole industry talking to itself. Away from the trucks, Jamie talks music, comic books, a Project Hail Mary obsession, staying genuinely calm in an industry that runs on chaos, and the loss of a close friend that pushed him to do work that actually matters. He closes with one wish that doubles as his whole mission: that operators — the people this transition is being done *to* — get a seat in the rooms where it's being decided. Plenty of marginal gains, one or two God complexes, and a reminder that the future we're all hoping for is mostly available right now, if we work together. **Connect with Jamie:** [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-sands/) **Welch Group:** [welchgroup.co.uk](https://welchgroup.co.uk) **TwentyForty:** [twentyforty.uk](https://twentyforty.uk)

#172 - Nick Hay | Holman UK#172 - Nick Hay | Holman UK

Published 24 Jun 2026

Days before stepping in as Managing Director of Holman UK, Nick Hay sits down with Paul and Sara for a conversation that ranges far wider than fleet leasing. It's a candid look at what three decades in cold chain logistics teaches you about cutting environmental impact without losing sight of commercial reality — and what it costs the person doing the leading. Nick traces a career built on incremental gains: fitting telematics across an entire 100-unit fleet back in 2005, dragging a 400-truck operation's fuel efficiency from 8.1 to over 10 MPG when people thought he was mad to try, and running Euro 5 trial vehicles from every major manufacturer side by side rather than waiting to see what everyone else did. The throughline is a willingness to test, measure, and stop what isn't working — and to do it in partnership rather than at a supplier's expense, from one of the UK's first 100% lithium-ion materials-handling fleets to joint ventures packing 40 million cases of produce a year. We get into why private ownership changes what's possible in the energy transition, how Holman's shared-risk model differs from a standard lease, and why "horses for courses" matters more than ever when logistics spans a tradesperson's van and a long-haul HGV. Nick is clear-eyed on the obstacles too: grid access, the risk of being an early adopter, reactive government policy, and the speed at which Chinese manufacturers are now moving. Then the conversation turns. Nick talks openly about growing up the self-described black sheep of an academic family, an athletics career that taught him resilience precisely because he didn't make it, and a lifelong wrestle with depression that he learned to mask at work — sometimes, he admits, at a cost to the people closest to him. It's an unusually honest exchange about what compassionate leadership actually demands: the willingness to say you don't know, to apologise when you got it wrong, and to keep believing you can be better tomorrow. His one wish? Government legislation that's properly thought through, with a long-term view instead of constant chopping and changing — the certainty the whole industry is asking for. **Guest:** Nick Hay, Managing Director, Holman UK **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hay-4b1a52137/ **Company:** https://www.holman.com/uk/

#171 - Calum James | Farizon#171 - Calum James | Farizon

Published 17 Jun 2026

Calum James, General Manager of Farizon UK, joins Paul and Sara to talk about what it actually takes to land a brand new electric van marque in one of the world's most demanding fleet markets. Calum walks through Farizon's lineage inside the Geely group - the same family tree as Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, LEVC and the Mercedes-Benz Smart joint venture - and the role of Jameel Motors, the 80-year-old distributor putting the brand on UK roads. He explains why the SV (Super Van) and the newly launched V7e are built ground-up as EVs rather than adapted from combustion platforms, and why details like a standard ventilated seat, three-pin sockets in the load bay and a payload monitoring system are aimed squarely at fleet managers worried about driver welfare, compliance and downtime. The conversation digs into: - Farizon's "fast follower” playbook and why the SV picked up MCFT's fleet after a TCO comparison that delivered £1,500–£2,000 per van per year in savings - The AA partnership that puts mobile service, maintenance and repair on a 72-hour SLA - built around owner-operators who can't afford a day off the road - What Calum and Paul Kirby saw at the Beijing Motor Show: driverless Farizon vans on public roads, robotic 500kW chargers, and the gap between legacy OEMs that dream the future and Chinese manufacturers shipping it - The V7e's sub-£200-mile range, 1.3-tonne payload and 18-minute 80% rapid charge — and why charging speed has overtaken range anxiety as the fleet conversation - ZEV mandate pressure (10% market share against a 24% target), the shifting TCO maths as Middle East fuel volatility bites, and why 95% of electric van buyers are still fleets - Calum's path from part-time chef and Swindon banking grad to 11 years at Mercedes-Benz vans, and the leaders who shaped how he runs the team now - Regenerative leadership, the anonymous fortnightly mood meter Farizon publishes uncensored to its leadership team, and why Calum walks his dog around the same lake twice a day to stay grounded **LinkedIn:** <https://www.linkedin.com/in/calum-j-b4328059/> **Website:** https://farizonauto.co.uk

#170 - Stephen Clegg | Topspeed#170 - Stephen Clegg | Topspeed

Published 10 Jun 2026

Stephen Clegg founded Topspeed Couriers in 1985 and has spent the last four years (and roughly £4.2 million) ripping diesel out of a logistics business that moves dangerous goods, radioactive material, and time-critical government samples around the UK. He sits down with Paul and John — joined briefly by Webfleet's Richard Parker before technology has other ideas — to talk about what actually happens when you stop talking about sustainability and start spending money on it. The conversation gets into the specifics most operators avoid: why carbon emissions go *up* before they come down, why a Carbon Reduction Plan is essentially accountancy with different units, and why the much-repeated line "you'll save money by going green" is closer to "we're going to the moon in ten years" than a business case. Also covered: - Winning a King's Award for Sustainability — and the team back at base who actually did the work - Why maintenance costs dropped to roughly a quarter once the diesel vans left the workshop - The shift to overnight, event-critical work and what that does to fleet utilisation - Driving 15mph slower, the bonus scheme that makes it stick, and a 75% reduction in claims after rolling out AI-based driver and forward-facing cameras - Public charging discounts that kick in when you're plugging in three or four times a day - The smash advert theory of refined fuels (you'll need to hear it) - One missing Volvo EX90, one nine-year-old Land Rover Discovery pressed back into service, and a verdict on 15-year-old in-cab tech A useful listen for anyone running a van fleet who's been told the transition is too hard, too expensive, or too early — and for anyone who's been told it'll be easy. **LinkedIn:** <https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-clegg-b0179242/> **Website:** <https://www.topspeedcouriers.co.uk>

#169 - Dev Chana | E.ON Drive Infrastructure#169 - Dev Chana | E.ON Drive Infrastructure

Published 03 Jun 2026

Dev Chana started his career as an oil broker in Kensington. Three decades later he's running E.ON Drive Infrastructure in the UK, and his ambition for public charging is unexpectedly modest: he wants it to be boring. Reliable, standardised, unremarkable. The kind of refuel you don't post about because there's nothing to post. Paul and Sara catch up with Dev after first meeting his team in a rain-lashed Welsh car park during the EV Rally, where the curb-free bays, weighted cables and a small dog set the tone for what EDRI is quietly building. What's on the table: - How a 10-person team has put 300+ bays in the ground in three years, when the industry average to install a *single* charger is 18 months - The 39p–44p/kWh opening price, why there's no app or membership, and what "no faff, no fuss" actually costs to deliver - Accessibility decisions baked in from day one: no bump stops, five-metre cables, CCTV on every HPC site, drainage that doesn't dump a puddle at the driver's feet - Why EDRI tiers its food and beverage partners instead of building its own forecourts — and why two early petrol-station sites won't be repeated - Vans now make up 25% of utilisation. Nobody invited them. What that's telling EDRI about the next phase of the network - The Shanghai motor show, BYD's jumping supercar, and what the XPeng/VW partnership signals for European OEMs - Dev's car-club mates who told him EVs would never take off — and have now switched their dailies - The mentors who shaped him: Ann Buckingham, who pulled him into the sector, and his father's moral compass - Where consolidation in the CPO market needs to land for the consumer experience to finally standardise Dev is a self-confessed petrolhead with a V8 from the early '90s and a 1981 classic with fewer than 15 survivors. He's also the leader most likely to tell you the industry isn't done learning — and to ask what *you'd* change. **LinkedIn:** <https://www.linkedin.com/in/dev-chana-1228b94/> **Website:** <https://www.edri.com/>

#168 - Elliot Richards | Everything Electric APAC#168 - Elliot Richards | Everything Electric APAC

Published 27 May 2026

Paul and John take listeners deep into the heart of China’s electric vehicle revolution with Elliot Richards, long-time Shanghai resident and driving force behind of Everything Electric APAC. Fresh from Auto China, the conversation covers: - How Elliot went from a three‑month visit to China to 20 years immersed in its EV industry. - The rapid transformation of cities like Shenzhen to all‑electric taxis and buses in under two months. - The rise of BYD, Geely, and other manufacturers, and how vertical integration is giving Chinese brands a massive global advantage. - Game‑changing innovations in batteries, from sodium‑ion grid storage to five‑minute flash charging and upcoming solid‑state technology. - Autonomous driving, LiDAR‑equipped vehicles, robo‑taxis, and cargo bots that already operate in Chinese cities. - The commercial vehicle sector, battery swapping, and why Europe’s legacy manufacturers are now partnering—or being outpaced—by Chinese firms. ## Elliot Richards (LinkedIn) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-richards/> ## Everything Electric APAC <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVtrDZAqOFM8_wIZHHzsqvg>

#167 - Tanya Sinclair | Electric Vehicles UK#167 - Tanya Sinclair | Electric Vehicles UK

Published 20 May 2026

This week: Tanya Sinclair, Chief Executive of Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK). Tanya shares how EVUK is tackling misinformation about electric vehicles, supporting both current and future drivers, and working with the wider e-mobility sector to build collaboration rather than competition. She discusses the organisation’s approach to public engagement, from hosting hands-on events like Everything Electric to street-level outreach in city centres and even driving Members of Parliament around Westminster in EVs. Tanya explains how EVUK balances the need to educate hesitant drivers with the fast-paced innovation happening in the industry, all while building a sustainable organisation from the ground up. **There’s insights on:** - Combating EV myths and online “guff” - Engaging millions of future EV drivers beyond the enthusiast bubble - The role of vans, taxis, and fleets in accelerating adoption - Collaborating across the entire e-mobility ecosystem - Bringing joy and positivity to serious industry work Events mentioned include Everything Electric West (12–13 June in Cheltenham) and upcoming city-centre activations in Manchester, plus EVUK’s continued presence at political and industry showcases. ## Tanya Sinclair (LinkedIn) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyasinclair/> ## Electric Vehicles UK <https://electricvehicles.uk> ## Everything Electric <https://uk.everythingelectric.show>

#166 - Becky Lalanne | Voqa#166 - Becky Lalanne | Voqa

Published 13 May 2026

This week, Paul and Sara sit down with Becky Lalanne, Managing Director of Voqa, a new entrant in the UK EV charging market. Becky shares how Voqa is tackling the challenge of destination charging, introducing a 7–22kW AC charger with built-in contactless payments, designed to make charging effortless for drivers and more commercially viable for venues. **The conversation covers:** - The frustrations of current destination charging and how Voqa addresses them - Why tethered AC chargers and tap-to-pay improve the driver experience - Voqa's approach to designing its own hardware for reliability and ease of maintenance - The revenue-share model and business case for hotels, co-working spaces, and leisure venues - Insights into Becky's career journey from Red Bull cliff diving events to EV innovation They also discuss future-proofing the UK charging network, the role of installers, and why putting the driver at the heart of design is key to accelerating electrification. ## Becky Lalanne (LinkedIn) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-lalanne/> ## Voqa <https://www.voqa.com>

#165 - Mike Seymour | Truecharge#165 - Mike Seymour | Truecharge

Published 06 May 2026

This week we sit down with Mike Seymour, the driving force behind TrueCharge, part of the TrueForm Group. With 50 years of experience in street furniture—think bus shelters, tram stops, and digital displays—TrueForm is now turning its expertise to the EV world, focusing on the often-overlooked infrastructure that protects and enhances charging sites. **Mike dives into:** - Why many UK charging sites are underused, exposed, or already looking tired. - How protecting EV chargers with shelters, canopies, and smart street furniture improves driver experience, utilisation, and long-term ROI. - Lessons from his background in the military, sales, and early EV adoption—and how those experiences shaped his approach to business and problem-solving. - The importance of moving the industry from talking and over-promising to actually delivering sustainable infrastructure. If you’ve ever arrived at a windswept charger in the rain and thought, “There must be a better way,” this conversation shows why the solution is already here—and why it matters for the future of EV adoption. ## Mike Seymour (LinkedIn) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeseymour1/> ## TrueCharge <https://www.truecharge.co.uk>