Everything Electric Show Organisers Embrace Micromobility
Sydney Showgrounds, NSW
Everything Electric returned for their second annual Australian expo, held from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th February 2024 at the Sydney Showgrounds.
Last year, the event was branded the Fully Charged Show, matching the name of the YouTube channel founded by British actor Robert Llewellyn in 2010 that now has over one million subscribers worldwide.
Everything Electric Australia was the first of a series of 2024 Everything Electric expos scheduled to be held in major cities across the world.
Although the number of specialised micromobility related exhibitors was small and the expo is largely underwritten by major electric car exhibits and home electrification companies such as battery systems etc, the show’s organisers fully embrace micromobility.
They had a dedicated micromobility test track that was busy all day on the day that I attended. It was completely separate from electric motorcycle and electric car test tracks. Key members of the team Robert Llewellyn and co-CEO Dan Ceasar both made clear statements during panel sessions that they hosted to the effect that it’s not enough to just electrify the globe’s existing car fleet and that micromobility and public transport have vital roles to play.
Panel sessions are a core feature of the Everything Electric shows, with two stages running simultaneously to host about 16 sessions per day in total.
I attended several of these sessions which consisted of discussion from the stage followed by questions from the audience.
In one session the title was, “How can following the science help us to accelerate the energy transition?” One of the panellists, Sam Evans has an extensive bicycle industry background, but is now best known as The Electric Viking, the name of his YouTube channel which has 195,000 subscribers.
Sam’s style is not to pull punches and the audience gave loud support when he made, by his standards, very diplomatic comments regarding the lack of progressive policy, while Shadow Minister Paul Fletcher of the federal opposition was sitting alongside him.
When it was Mr Evans’ turn to speak he began, “People are scared of change and they’re confused… I think there are some pretty good reasons… The science has never been more clear.
“Last year battery prices came down by 40%, solar panel prices came down by 40% – that’s wholesale pricing. My issue is that we’re getting campaigning against renewables from one side of the government. That is slowing down the transition.
Then turning directly to Paul Fletcher, Evans continued, “I know you’re (personally) pro-renewables, but your side of politics is campaigning against renewables.”
To this and a range of subsequent questions, Mr Fletcher’s evasive ‘politician’s non-answers’ drew audible groans from the audience.
Another session that I attended directly addressed micromobility. Its title was, “Are micro EV’s and small EV’s a no brainer?”
One of the speakers was Chris Jones, who is President of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA). This is a grass roots, member funded national association, that is completely different in structure and policy emphasis than the similarly named Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) which is the car company-funded industry lobby group.
Unlike the EVC, which, to the best of my knowledge, has shown no interest in promoting anything smaller than full-sized cars, during the panel session, Chris Jones demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of and support for smaller form factors including e-motorcycles and e-bikes.
In commenting on Australia’s trend to ever larger electric cars, after talking about parking space, inequity and other points he concluded, “…of course they consume vast amounts of energy to do exactly the same job as a bicycle, motorcycle or scooter.”
“The pedestrian and cycling safety point can not be overstated,” added forum convenor Jack Scarlett, who is a resident of London and regular presenter on the Fully Charged Show. He went on to explain that he travels everywhere around London by bike and would never consider driving.
“Lime bikes have completely transformed the way I get around London,” he said. “I love them!”
The forum went on to discuss micro-cars such as the Microlino. As the forum discussed and the link to the Micro Australian website confirms, there is not even an appropriate government classification to allow these vehicles to be used on Australian roads.
Everything Electric will be returning to Sydney in March 2025.
