The EV Café

Government wants majority of short trips to be walked or cycled by 2035

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

Government wants majority of short trips to be walked or cycled by 2035Government wants majority of short trips to be walked or cycled by 2035

£4.5bn into 5,000 new active‑travel routes and 10,000 safer crossings

Latest podcast

Coming 01 Jul

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

Scheduled for 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)

Next event

The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 03 July 2026The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 03 July 2026

03 Jul

2026

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

Environment found to be main reason for fleet EV adoption

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

Environment found to be main reason for fleet EV adoptionEnvironment found to be main reason for fleet EV adoption

Stellantis, Wayve and Uber to develop robotaxis as UK consults on tech safety

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

Stellantis, Wayve and Uber to develop robotaxis as UK consults on tech safetyStellantis, Wayve and Uber to develop robotaxis as UK consults on tech safety

More News

UK electric car sales target set to be weakened

By The EV Café Team

// 19 Jun 2026

UK electric car sales target set to be weakenedUK electric car sales target set to be weakened

The government is consulting on reducing the 2030 ZEV mandate

The EV Cafe seeks opinions, specifically YOURS!

By John Curtis

// 19 Jun 2026

The EV Cafe seeks opinions, specifically YOURS!The EV Cafe seeks opinions, specifically YOURS!

Is the UK workforce truly ready for electric vehicles? Help us to gauge just how prepared we are!

Charger Uptime Rules: Reliable…According to Who?

By The EV Café Team

// 15 May 2026

Charger Uptime Rules: Reliable…According to Who?Charger Uptime Rules: Reliable…According to Who?

Concerns are growing over how the UK monitors compliance

Europe’s EV Transition Faces Political Pressure

By The EV Café Team

// 15 May 2026

Europe’s EV Transition Faces Political PressureEurope’s EV Transition Faces Political Pressure

Europe’s push toward electrification is increasingly facing resistance

Podcast Episodes

#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/>

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