Fully Charged Live Show North 2023

The weekend of the 19th - 21st May found us at the Fully Charged Live North Show. Its very unusual for a show we would like to go to, to actually be in our hometown, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to attend. It doesn't matter that we had to travel 3,500 miles to get here (as we are currently residing in North America) - that's not important!

One's sidekick was obviously very excited to be going - this is his thing! It was Friday morning and it was raining - oh no that is a shame, but we never let the rain stop us from going anywhere. We dressed accordingly and by the time we set off the rain had stopped and we were hopeful for a nice day, even if it was cloudy. We'd set off in plenty of time expecting a lot of traffic and it wasn't until we entered the Yorkshire Showground that we found ourselves in a queue. But it was moving, albeit slowly. We followed along and were directed to park in the field along with everyone else. Fortunately we were on the end row and only had to take a few steps from the grass to the gravelly road - as its not really meant for people, its more of a farm track. Up the hill we walked, to the entrance, tickets scanned and off to find the theatre for the first event, the Fireside chat with Robert Llewellyn and Jordan Brompton, Co-Founder and CMO of Myenergi who specialises in eco-smart home management solutions. Turned out to be a very interesting conversation, which resulted in ones sidekick having a very long conversation afterwards with Jordan and her CTO.

Besides there being a lot of Electric Cars at the show there was also an awful lot of Home EV Charging companies, I had never realised that so many companies were now producing them. Basically they all do the same job and all now seem to have an app for controlling time of charge and how much to charge too. There were all sizes, shapes and colours. But of course, each manufacturer claimed theirs was the best because it did x, y and z. But the one the caught my eye was the best looking, designed to be on show, not tucked away in the garage, it featured a choice of case material from wood to carbon fibre plus, it had room to allow you to coil the cable back into the wall box and had brushes on the side that cleaned the cable as you wound it up!

There were also energy companies there to talk about heat pumps, solar, etc, etc. All very interesting these days just how many options there are to go green. We had my mum with us on the Friday so we talked to a couple of companies about changing out her old gas boiler for a heat pump. It would make sense for her and reduce her energy consumption but the best part would be stopping using fossil fuels. We will get some quotes and see what we can do.

Saturday was all about the cars! We took my niece and her family with us for a day out. There were children's activities too - which was great. My nephew in law, great nephew and sidekick went early to get signed up for test drives, and were able to go out in the Genesis, Ora Funky Cat (love the name), Tesla Model 3 and Polestar. According to my nephew in law the Tesla was the best. I am not surprised as it really is one of the best out there. My sidekick drove the Funky Cat and liked it although it doesn't have as many "things" as the Tesla and also has a smaller battery. While the boys were test driving cars, we (my niece, great niece and I) wandered around the children's activities and inside. My great niece was delighted to be handed freebies as we walked around. I think by the end of the day she had collected rather a few things. Super exciting when you are eight!

There were an awful lot of electric cars to look at, it is quite the sight to see. This is what we have been waiting for all these years and it now feels like the manufacturers are finally getting on board and producing more models. There are some cars that I'd be interested in and others not at all. One car that I was disappointed in was the new Smart, it no longer looks anything like a Smart, it's grown a lot and looks more like a big Mini now. There was the Micro-lino too, it's tiny, but does have 2 seats, and definitely would be easy to park! I imagine its battery is on the small side, just judging by the size of the car. It isn't currently available in the UK but it will be interesting to see if they are a lot of sales when/if it makes it to market.

I think I'd get the Ora Funky Cat - if nothing else but for the name!