Fully Charged Live 2019

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It seemed appropriate that our first major outing in our very first EV would be the Fully Charged Live Show at nearby Silverstone!

After picking up Chris and Mark in Northampton, we headed for this iconic location, where, in addition to plenty of ‘talkie-bits’, there was also an opportunity to test drive the latests EVs and look round at the numerous electricity-related Stands. I’d got my eye on test-driving the Jaguar i-Pace.

Hosted and organised by Red Drarf’s ‘Kryten’ aka actor, Robert Llewellyn, this was a Show for anyone with an interest in electricity and its role in the future of the Motor Industry.

Before going, I had a feeling this might be an event just for sandle-wearing envronmental hippies, but I was totally wrong! I’d go as far as to say, it was pretty ‘mainstream’ judging by the amount (and type) of people there (on both sides of the microphone).

We arrived just after 10 am, and judging by the Car-Park, it was already very busy. In addition to the numerous ICE cars, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many privately-owned Teslas – and even more pleased to NOT see another e-Niro! 😁 I’m sure there were going to be some – but ours was the only one when we arrived. It was truly a ‘rare beast’!

Our first big decision of the day was whether to take the short journey to the Show by Bus or by chauffeured Tesla. Ordinarily, this would have been a no-brainer, but with what seemed like the whole world queuing for Musk’s supercars, we took the free Bus instead!

Ten-minutes later, we’d arrived and we took a quick look round the exhibits inside before our first coffee.

It didn’t take us long to realise that this was no niche-ey event – it was very well supported by us the Public, as well as the very wide range of Exhibitors. From solar roof experts, petrol-to-electric engine conversions, solar-storage batteries the size of your radiators and many (many) home-electric charging companies, it seemed to cater for everyone with an interest in electricity as an energy source!

…and if the exhibits inside weren’t enough to get you interested, then there were plenty of organised presentations arranged throughout the day to discuss and explain in greater detail, electric cars and their impact.

Time for a look around outside… And it didn’t disappoint! Although I did try and book a test-drive of the Jaguar i-Pace, it seemed the rest of mankind had the same idea, so as consolation, I took a closer look at a static model!

After a quick Lunch, we took a look around the specialist exhibits. Some of which were iconic ICE cars converted to run on electricity…

…plus some that were all-electric by design…

So, all-in-all, a GREAT event – and to make it even better, we even managed to get our coveted journey in a Tesla to get us back to the car-park…

…plus a few mementos of our visit…

A very well organised event in every sense! 👍👍 I’m sure I’ll be going again next year.