It’s been 16 years since Robert Llewellyn’s brainchild, the Fully Charged Show, was born on YouTube, and 8 years since it started hosting events all around the world, but boy, how things have changed.
It is true that Electric Vehicle Tech is fulfilling much of the promise we predicted way back when, and that Clean Energy Tech is changing the world for the better too. Yet the transition is still, far from straightforward.
Now, we have no doubt that ‘Electro Tech’ will rule the world, however the timelines within which it will do so seem to have shifted substantially in the last 18 months or so, and the ‘Fossil Fuel’ fightback is in full swing.
Take the UK’s flagship policy – the ZEV Mandate – for example. It’s working. It’s driving behaviours amongst those that buy cars, and perhaps more importantly, those that sell cars, and yet it’s under threat.
More on that specific stupidity, and how its prompted a strategic rethink from the Fully Charged Show (Ltd) a little later.
This is simply one example of how policy has shifted beneath our feet in recent years, as an increasingly ignorant political class is being manipulated by ‘big money’. But it needn’t be this way.
And as an organisation with interests in multiple markets around the world, we have direct experience of the enormous difference that political interference in each territory can wreak.
As of 2026, our primary interests exist in Australia and the UK – North America is difficult right now – and the stark difference between the two, represents a remarkable ‘Tale of Two Countries’.
One country can rightfully lay claim to ‘Great Expectations,’ and another that appears to be falling on ‘Hard Times’.
Great Expectations
A few short years ago, viewers of our YouTube channels in Sydney (our no.2 city globally), were frustrated that progress around EVs and Cleantech elsewhere was outstripping Australia. And, to a worrying degree.
Now, ~90 days from Everything Electric SYDNEY, it’s ‘boom time’ for the battery economy, and our fourth edition exhibition is on track to be our biggest show in the Southern Hemisphere ever.
Since the ‘March madness’ in the Middle East, EV sales have doubled to ~20% as of May, used forecourts are experiencing stock shortages, and battery and solar sales are through the roof.
Sure, excessive sunshine doesn’t hurt, but the Aussies’ financial ability to generate, store and use ‘homegrown’ power, rather than rely on volatile overseas supply, is down to something more prosaic.
A functioning underlying economy. Higher disposable income enables Australians to invest in newer technologies, and here’s the kicker, new vehicles in Australia are on average 30-40% cheaper too.
Now, it’s not to say everything is idyllic ‘Down Under,’ or that it might not face challenges of its own in the years to come, but there’s a palpable feeling that Australia could harness a huge Cleantech dividend.
When our team talks to Australian brands about exhibiting at our show for example, the enthusiasm (and associated budgets) sharply contrasts with the parallel experience in the UK.
Hard Times
Here at home by Dickens, it’s been a tough few years. And above all, it’s the long tail of a post-Brexit downturn that’s the chief culprit for the UK’s obvious economic flatlining.
The ‘credit crunch’ as it started, ‘cost of living crisis’ as it became known, and ‘affordability crisis’ as it is now, has been going on for some considerable time, and Brexit isn’t the only reason of course.
But when it comes to buying a new car (remember, on average 30-40% more than in Australia) while a necessity for many, it’s no wonder that the bulk of new car sales are now financed, and/or through companies.
Equally, more of us are buying used cars than ever before, and the average car’s lifespan has increased in the UK (up from ~7 years a decade ago, to >10 years now) as people hold onto them for longer than ever.
And in spite of that, and all of the policy uncertainty that having 6 (soon to be 7) Prime Ministers in 10 years leads to, regularly 1 in 4 new cars sold are battery electric, and used EVs are selling at speed too.
So while the industry is selling a similar quantity of cars, and an increasing percentage is pure electric, unless you’ve been living in a cave, it will be obvious to you that the slew of new brands means less sales per OEM.
We’ve been banging this drum for the longest time, but we simply do not expect all of them to survive, in the meantime, the mood (and associated budgets) has flattened.
Naturally, EV sales growth was also going to drive demand for energy switching, home chargers and (rapid) charge point operators, but the lofty forecasts from their investor prospectuses are long forgotten.
What’s more, with disposable income under pressure, discretionary purchases – like solar, batteries and heat pumps – seem like a ‘nice to have’, and not as of yet a ‘must buy’.
And don’t even get me started on the tragic, unfulfilled promise of the micro-mobility sector in the UK.
In sum, the numbers aren’t adding up, and while Australia is going great guns, these factors are materially impacting our business in our home market; not least our events.
After all, an exhibition is a direct reflection of the health of a market. When it comes to cleaner energy and transport, we have seen countless clients of ours go out of business in recent years.
As above, these incredibly challenging conditions have necessitated some changes from the Fully Charged Show (Ltd), to ensure that we are fit for the future. More on that imminently.
But the frankly awful news of the further dilution of the ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) Mandate in the UK is set to cost millions of sales of battery EVs, and adjacent technologies over the next 4 years.
Mark my words, more companies (that you might have seen on the Fully Charged Show, or at our events) will be unable to raise investment now, and are likely to go out of business as a result of this shameful decision.
A decision that has resulted from the despicable lobbying efforts of the most laggardly of the overseas-owned conglomerates that make cars in the UK (and then export 80% of them, rendering ZEV irrelevant).
Hard Times are about to be harder still; and as a business, that leaves us with some difficult decisions…
The Signal Man
As the CEO of the Fully Charged Show, the business strategy rests with me, and it’s fair to say that we saw some of the signals, and adjusted our plans ahead of 2026.
In short, we moved our UK events outdoors, to make the events more cost-accessible for clients, more profitable for our events, and to enable the funding of our free-to-air content too.
While our latest outing in Cheltenham (Everything Electric WEST) wasn’t absolutely flawless, it clearly demonstrated that this is a workable model, and exhibitor and visitor feedback has been gratifyingly good.
The shows are physically smaller as a result of this conscious change, but attendance is as large as ever, and of a quality that is unique to the Fully Charged Show / Everything Electric.
We will refine the new format further at Everything Electric GREATER LONDON (Twickenham) in September, and you can expect to see at least 3 UK events in 2027 announced by Q4.
But with all of the economic pressures as described in lurid detail above, these changes aren’t enough, and we will be making further pre-emptive changes to our business model between now and October.
In order to be fit for the future, we will need to reorganise and right-size the business in the UK to be ready for the realities of the marketplace in 2027 and beyond. All options are being considered.
For Fully Charged Show investors reading this, we were keen to issue this holding message while we conduct this work, but rest assured we host an investor update event in ~100 days time.
Finally, more so than ever, your support – whether it’s as an investor, as a Patreon online, as patron at our events, or simply if you subscribe to our episodes and podcasts – is more essential than ever.
As always, we will do our utmost to keep the positive energy flowing.
Dan Caesar is CEO of the Fully Charged Show Ltd.
