Last Saturday we got up early and drove down to Farnborough to attend Everything Electric South, which is “the world’s no.1 home energy & electric vehicle expo” and has been something James in particular has wanted to attend for ages. It was really reasonably priced and kids were free, so we got tickets for both Saturday & Sunday.
We’ve had an EV for our family car since we got our MG ZS during lockdown, which was a whole COVID-induced nightmare in itself – I don’t recommend trying to get a drive, charger, and dropped kerb installed during a pandemic! We were pleased with our ZS and as a starter EV for a family it was great – you can read our thoughts on it after a year here.
After two years with the ZS, we were in a position to upgrade to an MG4 – primarily for the better range… and to be honest, James really wanted one since they were originally announced. We love our orange Trophy – apart from the Lane Keeping Assist and a few other software niggles!
Right now, we aren’t looking to change cars but James knows that our financing situation means we will probably be looking to change to a used EV in a few years, so he is keeping an eagle eye on the current new models that will be affordable for us when it’s time to say goodbye to the MG4. So, attending Everything Electric was an ideal opportunity to check out the current range of family cars on the EV market.
James pre-booked a handful of test drives, as well as booking one or two once we arrived. Pre-booking most of them definitely let us skip a bunch of queues so we recommend that if you ever attend one of the Everything Electric shows.
He took the girls and me on most of the test drives where possible, which allowed everyone to chip in their thoughts on the different cars. James also test-drove the MG Cyberster just for the fun of it as a finale to our weekend – and came back from it looking like a giddy little boy who got to raid the cookie jar and play with the best toys.
Lydia took a test drive of her own too – she took one of the Tesla Cyberquads out for a spin and had an absolute blast!
In between test drives, sitting in a lot of display cars, and inspecting boot sizes, we enjoyed walking around the indoor part of the show and checking out the different exhibitors that were there.
Our house is pretty ‘smart’, but we still have a traditional gas boiler for our heating & hot water, and all our power comes from the grid. We aren’t in the position to change that any time soon, and upgrades like replacing the double glazing need to come first, but it was interesting to check out the latest technologies on the market with an eye to the future. As one of the first Renewable Energy BSc graduates in the UK, it was fascinating to see how things have developed since I was at uni.
Georgie & Lydia are 13 and 11 years old now, but that wasn’t too old to enjoy some time in the Mini Eco Explorers zone to check out the kids’ activities on offer. Lydia had a great time decorating a reusable canvas bag, while Georgie tried her hand at making a wind turbine, and they both got hands-on with the snakes that Zoolab brought along.
Brickies were also there with boxes & boxes of Lego bricks, so the girls worked together to create a halloween themed building – complete with a strange wind turbine on top – for their Lego Eco City.
The girls also had a great time shamelessly collecting as many freebies as they could, with Lydia playing a kind of ‘soft toy bingo’ by collecting every type of promo plushie possible! Kudos to James for booking the Cyberster test drive – that let her get the elusive MG Cyberster bunny to complete her collection – which also included a dolphin she won from a machine at the BYD stand.
Of course, she also managed to bag a big Octopus for her collection from our energy supplier, much to her delight. I won a finger puppet that mysteriously disappeared into Lydie’s bag before I even got my hands on it! She already had a Colossus Adorabillis in her soft toy army, so now she has a whole family of octopuses. Incidentally, they are a brilliant energy supplier and we have been very happy customers for years – we currently use their Agile tarrif which is great for charging the car cheaply – if you want to check them out you can get £50 credit with our referral link.
Lots of the exhibitors had challenges or competitions to take part in, including bee hunting and cycle powered scalextric with Hive, video game F1 racing with Admiral, and an energy quiz with OVO. Amongst the energy brands there were some really interesting & unique EVs too, including the 2cEv amongst other classic conversions, and even a Formula E racecar.
In addition to the stands and the many cars there were a number of stages with everything from vegan cooking demonstrations to live car reviews, and plenty of chats with energy technology & EV experts on a whole range of topics. The show is ‘powered by’ the Fully Charged show which is something James watches on YouTube, and the presenters and crew were also there taking part in various panels and chats. I managed to catch a few of these and found them really interesting – and entertaining.
If you’re looking to buy an EV – either as a first time buyer or to replace your current one – it is definitely worth checking out an Everything Electric show. Getting to check out loads of different makes and models in one weekend – without having to deal with pushy car salesmen! – really helped us narrow down not only our shortlist of possible future cars, but also our priorities as far as features are concerned. Equally, it’s a really great resource if you want to look into any type of electric home improvements, especially solar panels, heat pumps, car chargers & batteries.
The next UK Everything Electric event is in London next April, but they also have shows coming up in both Sydney and Vancouver – you can get the details on their upcoming events over on the main website.
