The EV Café

UK100 Warns of Complacency on Air Quality

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

UK100 Warns of Complacency on Air QualityUK100 Warns of Complacency on Air Quality

Southampton becomes the eighth local authority area in just over a year to have statutory clean air directions lifted—joining Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Wolverhampton, Derby, South Gloucestershire, and the Blackwater Valley authorities. However, UK100 warns that hitting minimum legal compliance risks triggering a policy and funding cliff-edge.

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Coming 02 Sep

#182 - Chris Chandler | Lex Autolease#182 - Chris Chandler | Lex Autolease

Scheduled for 02 Sep 2026

Chris Chandler is Principal Consultant at Lex Autolease and the electrification SME across all three Lloyds Banking Group motor brands: Lex Autolease on the B2B side, Tusker in salary sacrifice (22,000 vehicles at acquisition, 100,000 the week we recorded), and Black Horse in retail finance. Between leasing and salary sacrifice, that's a serious chunk of the EVs on British roads. Paul and JC get into: - Why cars sprinted and vans crawled - benefit-in-kind versus a purely transactional purchase, and why commercial vehicles are far less price elastic than company cars - The moment the tax went up and "the tap just turned off" - then came back down and switched on again - Why converted diesel platforms were never going to cut it, and what changes when a van is engineered electric from the ground up - Charging that should just work: plug in, it charges, no apps, no cards, no accounts - V2G, home solar and batteries, and why a leasing company is now asking customers what's behind the wall socket - Designing CO2-based company car tax in 1999, and why CO2 beat the other 18 candidates on the list - Biodiesel, waxing fuel, bacterial growth, and the argument for a 5% blend across everything rather than 67% in a handful of refuse trucks **Chris Chandler on LinkedIn:** <https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-chandler-756b9813/> **Lex Autolease:** <https://www.lexautolease.co.uk> Lex are principal sponsors of the Greenfleet EV Rally.

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The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 04 September 2026The EV Café weekly news bulletin - 04 September 2026

04 Sept

2026

10:00 - 10:30 (GMT / BST)

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

Growing Van Chasm with the ZEV MandateGrowing Van Chasm with the ZEV Mandate

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

Electric HGVs Match and Exceed DieselElectric HGVs Match and Exceed Diesel

More News

London’s ULEZ Directly Improves Children’s Lung Development

By John Curtis

// 21 Aug 2026

London’s ULEZ Directly Improves Children’s Lung DevelopmentLondon’s ULEZ Directly Improves Children’s Lung Development

A landmark five-year study has delivered the most definitive medical evidence to date that Clean Air Zones actively reverse childhood lung stunting and improve respiratory health. Led by Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with Imperial College London, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Bedfordshire, and Southern California, the Children’s Health in London and Luton (CHILL) study tracked more than 3,400 primary school children aged 6–9 across 84 schools between 2018 and 2022.

By John Curtis

// 13 Aug 2026

POWERING BRITAIN: THE £130M EV GAMBLEPOWERING BRITAIN: THE £130M EV GAMBLE

This isn't just about grants; it's about anchoring the future of vehicle manufacturing, supply chain resilience, and battery innovation on British soil. Transitioning from promising R&D to commercial deployment at scale is vital if the UK wants to lead the global clean transport race.

USED EVs SURGE 67%: IS ICE FINALLY DEAD?

By John Curtis

// 13 Aug 2026

USED EVs SURGE 67%: IS ICE FINALLY DEAD?USED EVs SURGE 67%: IS ICE FINALLY DEAD?

The used EV market has officially turned the corner. As affordable models feed through from fleet de-fleeting, EV adoption is shifting from early adopters into mainstream acceptance. Maintaining robust public charging and technician training is now critical to support this momentum.

By John Curtis

// 13 Aug 2026

IS YOUR FLEET BLEEDING MONEY?IS YOUR FLEET BLEEDING MONEY?

New research from Webfleet reveals the primary pressures threatening UK fleet profitability. Over half of operators (51%) report that volatile fuel and energy costs are their largest budget burden, while vehicle maintenance and unexpected downtime rank second at 24%.

Podcast Episodes

#181 - Angela Muresan | Be.EV#181 - Angela Muresan | Be.EV

Published 26 Aug 2026

Angela Muresan arrived in the UK in 2015 with broken English and a job picking and packing in a warehouse. Ten years later she's a presenter, content creator, and the face of Be.EV — and the story of how she got there involves a notebook full of borrowed email templates, a self-funded industry event that left her with £20 in the bank, and a one-way ticket taken purely because an ex once said the UK was the one place he'd never go. Angela talks about ADHD — what it cost her before she understood it, why she now calls it a superpower, and how an unlikely combination of therapy and ChatGPT helped her make sense of her own brain. She explains the gamble behind Race to Zero, the event she organised alone with no marketing experience specifically so the industry would come to her (it worked), and why her proudest achievement has nothing to do with work. Along the way: why she refuses to be boxed in as "an EV person" or "a petrol person", the sameness problem with modern car design, her plan to convert a classic — ideally a '69 Shelby Mustang — to electric, and what she'd do with a EuroMillions win. And when handed the EV Café magic wand, her one wish isn't about chargers or range. It's about ending the tribalism — petrol versus electric, us versus them — and just getting on with building a cleaner future together. ## Connect with Angela: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingwithangela/ - Website: https://www.angelamuresan.com - Be.EV: https://www.be-ev.co.uk

#180 - Warren Philips | EVA England#180 - Warren Philips | EVA England

Published 19 Aug 2026

A co-founder of EVA England, incoming chair of the Recharge APPG in Parliament, and one of the earliest UK adopters of home solar, battery storage and electric driving — Warren Phlips received one of the very first consumer Tesla Powerwall 2 units in the country (number three, he's told, just behind a certain Robert Llewellyn) — he has spent the best part of a decade quietly pulling the EV transition in the right direction, almost entirely as a volunteer. But this conversation goes far beyond charge points and policy. Warren talks candidly about the moment that changed everything: sitting alone in a hospital room, holding his newborn daughter while doctors fought to save his wife, and deciding then and there that his job was to make the world better rather than build a fortress around his family. Everything since — the advocacy, the lobbying, the 20-plus hours a week given freely to EVA England — flows from that decision, and from a promise his daughter. Along the way: - From avionics engineering and FTSE 100 software to government security work — and how none of it explains the hats - How showing off a Renault Zoe and some solar panels at an eco open home quietly converted a neighbourhood - The five principles Warren tests every policy against: fair, accessible, equitable, safe, accurate - A live debate on the newly announced VAT cut on domestic electricity — good news, but is it fair to the millions who can't charge at home? - Recognising privilege, and choosing to spend it on other people - Lucid Destiny, his new consultancy helping companies navigate the EV transition without losing sight of the consumer at the end of it - Why his daughter is named after Ayrton Senna - And a Magic Wand wish that might be the best one yet: removing fear itself **Connect with Warren:**[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrenphilips/) **EVA England:**[evaengland.org.uk](https://www.evaengland.org.uk)

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

Published 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)

#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)

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