The Fully Charged Show is set to return to the Vancouver Convention Centre in 2024. Meanwhile, take a look at our recap of the event's inaugural appearance in Vancouver.
EVfriendly was joined by ARA staff and guests for the premiere of the Fully Charged Show, September 8–10, at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The show was an astounding success with over 18,000 visitors in attendance over the three-day weekend event.
Fully Charged is the world’s #1 home energy and electric vehicle show. To date the show has been held across Europe, Australia, and now in Vancouver, Canada. The Fully Charged show began over 10 years ago with founder Robert Llewellyn (you may recall seeing Robert in the hit BBC sci-fi show Red Dwarf).
Llewellyn started his YouTube channel as a means of informing people about EVs. He became an EV enthusiast after purchasing a Nisson Leaf, and he was excited about what this new technology had to offer. At that time, there was little to nothing in the way of consumer information about EVs, and other than some specialty articles in tech magazines, mainstream media was not talking about them. This prompted Llewellyn to start his own YouTube channel, and he began educating the public about them.
Llewellyn’s channel grew in popularity, and it even began to generate income. In 2015, Llewellyn brought on Dan Cesear as president and CEO, and the YouTube channel was transformed into a live event. In fact, the show is just a live version of the YouTube channel. The show features all the latest new vehicles just as you would expect from any new car show, but it is broader than that. The show features all forms of e-mobility and home improvements—from solar to heat pumps—as well as guest panel discussions, which I was invited to attend. I had the pleasure of discussing the ethics of sustainable batteries, hosted by Robert Llewellyn himself.
One of the biggest take-aways from the show, however, was the need to educate more consumers about EVs, and not just about the latest tech or model, or how or where to charge. There are plenty of people doing that already. Where there is still a real lack of information is with our industry—commonly referred to as the automotive service aftermarket. There are still many questions being asked about the repairability of EVs and especially EV batteries, tools and skills upgrading, right to repair, and end-of-life EV disposal, including the disposal and recycling of the battery.
One of the most popular draws to the EVfriendly booth was our trivia spin wheel. People who dropped by the booth were asked whether they owned an EV or were looking to purchase an EV. It was about 50/50. They were then asked to test their knowledge, and if they got the answer right, they won a prize. What was surprising was the lack of basic knowledge about EVs—even from those who have owned one for several years.
This is perhaps not surprising, however. Most EVs on the road are only a few years old and still being serviced under warranty, The only ones that a recycler will see are those that have been written-off due to a severe accident. Most EV batteries have not reached their end of life or degraded to the point that they need to be replaced. So, these are things that EV owners have not yet had to deal with. This is slowly changing, though, and as the electric vehicle fleet ages, consumers will have more questions and will need answers. This is where the EVfriendly program comes in.
EVfriendly is an industry-led training program and information resource designed to cultivate a higher degree of confidence in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) ownership. The program helps ensure that only trained and qualified industry professionals are selling, servicing, repairing, and recycling ZEVs in a responsible and safe manner. It provides consumers with the right information to make informed choices.
The Fully Charged Show will be back at the Vancouver Convention Centre in 2024, and EVfriendly will be there along with special guests to help educate consumers about the aftermarket. To learn more about EVs and to help support EVfriendly, check out our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube media channels. This is an evolving industry, and we work hard to keep the industry and consumers informed by providing relevant articles, producing educational videos, and continually updating our training and information resources.
