I don't even think it's open to the public, is it?
The first day on the Monday is going to be closed.
First day's pressed,
but I think the other days might be trade.
I'm not sure.
Oh, really?
Hmm, I don't know.
It's a couple of people have asked me,
they've said I've tried to buy a ticket
and it doesn't look like you can buy one.
But I'm not entirely sure.
But I mean, God, it's going to be a massive thing
to not have the public in, so...
Yeah, especially all the new cars being launched.
But yeah, a little trip.
So we're going to try and drive to Munich in two days.
I haven't...
Six hours each day.
So you're stopping somewhere near Lille, aren't you?
Somewhere in France, near Luxembourg, Lille, I think, yeah.
Oh, Lille's quite a long way from Luxembourg.
Is it really? Yeah.
Yeah.
The amount of times I try to plan this trip
and work out where everything's going,
I've forgotten half of it.
But yeah, I think Lille and then Munich
and then we'll have a slower drive back home
because 6,000 one day is quite a bit, really.
Are you staying in Folkestone overnight or...?
No.
Getting up at God knows what hour.
And then we'll end up in France the same day.
So it'll be interesting.
Yeah.
But in Europe, the Tesla charger network
is so much cheaper than it is here.
Oh, is it?
With the membership, it's 22p per kilowatt hour.
Jeez.
In most of France and Germany.
Wow.
And is it all open to everyone in Europe?
Yeah.
Right.
And they've gone back,
unlike what they haven't done here,
they've gone back throughout their old chargers
and upgraded nearly all of them to V4 already.
Right, OK.
Which means everyone can use them.
Yeah.
Without having to park wonky.
So when I did that long European trip in that Ionix 6,
we had a deal with a company
that basically do RFID fobs for big companies for fleets.
So instead of giving all their people
with electric cars and vans
like 50 different cards,
they just give them this little RFID thing
and that works.
And they were just rolling it out in Europe
and all we could use it on was Ionite.
OK.
So I didn't even look at the price
because, you know, they were picking it up essentially.
Yeah.
But we had absolutely no problem
finding Ionite chargers anywhere.
Yeah.
And I mean, on the way,
we did it in one charge kind of thing,
but on the way back,
we came a bit of a longer way
and we used a few.
And I did it as I would normally,
which is every time you stop,
you just plug the car in.
That's the way to do it.
Yeah.
Because I don't personally ever want to stop to charge.
I'd rather just charge when I stop.
Yeah.
And that's how I always do it.
Yeah.
So we did it like that
and it was no problem at all.
They were everywhere
and like always half of them were empty.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it was a breeze.
The one thing that's really annoying though
when I did that trip
is when you go to service station,
you've got to pay a euro to have a week.
Oh, really?
And I feel like if I'm paying a euro,
I want to do more than a week,
you know, to get my money's worth.
Yeah.
I bet they didn't smell though.
I bet they were clean.
Oh, yeah, they were.
Yeah.
But yeah, you shouldn't have to pay
to have a week though, should you?
No.
It's a bit strange.
Yeah.
You look at...
There's a very cool website.
Supercharge.info.
I think it's supercharge.info.
It tells you about all the sites
that are currently open with Tesla
and all the ones they've got planning.
And you look at the UK
and it's so, like, sparse.
It's all the main roads.
You don't have many of them.
As soon as you look into France and Germany,
every major road has just dot, dot, dot,
dots.
There's loads of them.
Yeah.
I've got a link in the show notes to the website.
It's very good.
It just tells you about when they're
opening sites and different things,
but they seem to have more
investment in Europe
into public charging for some reason.
I don't know why,
but it seems pretty good.
Nice.
But yeah, it should be a good trip.
So that's a week to do, I think.
They're also in France
rolling out those solar panels
over car parks, aren't they?
Yeah.
And I think that is on the cards
for this country, I think.
I think it's being planned.
I mean, why wouldn't you do that?
We're spending loads of money
on solar farms and stuff.
And it makes perfect sense.
Yeah.
And you're out of the rain.
Yeah.
Out the sun.
Yeah.
So yeah, it should be.
So I'll have some videos
coming to the channel about
the Munich Motor Show.
You will as well.
Yeah.
Probably a road trip video
for some kind.
And yeah,
it should be pretty interesting.
I'll have my normal
sort of running gun.
Gorilla style.
Yeah.
I do quite a lot of shorts as well,
because I'm really terrible at doing
short form content.
Yeah.
So I'm going to try and make
a lot of those.
I have got someone that's going to
be cutting up some of
Oh, nice.
the video for me.
But I'm going to try
and film some that way as well.
I'm rubbish at that
and Instagram and stuff.
And I don't know,
it doesn't always help.
I'm sure there are times
when you get turned down
for things because
they look at YouTube.
I say I want to borrow
one of these cars
or something.
YouTube and think,
well, that's all right.
But then they look at Instagram
and you've got no one there.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of companies
now are looking at
all the platforms.
Yeah.
And yeah,
I'm just not very good
at any of them.
I'm not very good at them either.
The one I do most
is probably
Twitter
and all I ever put on there
really is
I post when I release
the video.
Yeah.
I don't know,
I'm rubbish.
I'm too old.
I've got
an interest in
week next week.
Oh yeah.
So,
this is going out
before Monday.
Yes.
On Monday,
there's a big announcement
video coming
on my channel.
And it's going to
change the way
I do my leasing videos.
And
it's been a long time coming
and it's
like really important one
for me.
And yeah,
I'm quite excited
about it.
It's good.
Yeah.
I can't say,
I'm trying to say
as much as I can
without saying anything.
But I can't say anything
until Monday.
But as soon as I can,
it shall be there.
So,
go and check out
my channel on Monday.
And there will be a video
there with probably
quite what appears to be
a click baity title
or something
if I can think of one.
But it won't be
click bait.
It'll actually be worth
watching.
And
there are some really good
reasons why
it's worth watching.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
And then
I've got something else
next week.
Oh,
are we driving
these cars next week,
aren't we?
Oh, yeah.
So yeah,
we've seen the Cheri Tigo
7 and 8 today.
And yeah,
this time next week,
I think we're driving
both of them.
Yeah.
So,
I don't want to get
anyone too excited,
but I'm staying at
Premier Inn in Worcester
on Thursday night.
And
it's almost
on the M5.
Yeah.
It's that.
In fact,
I could probably see the M5
from it.
I think I know the one you mean.
That one's not really good.
No, I've stayed there
several times before.
Fair enough.
But it was 67 quid
and the other one was 120.
Yeah.
The one in the town
is a bit nicer, actually.
The one at the cricket
stadium.
Yeah.
That one's nice.
Yeah.
I've stayed there before.
It's 120 quid
and that one's 67.
And I'm going,
thing is right.
Again,
we talked about it
in that other podcast,
but I'm going to review
a car
and it's going to cost me
whatever the electric
in my car costs
and 67 quid for the hotel
and obviously I'll have to
feed my fat self somewhere.
So it's a very different
experience for us.
And yeah,
they have put us up here
tonight,
but they've put us up here
because they're launching
the brand and they hope
we'll probably write
an article about it
or something.
But yeah,
I mean,
we've already done
this, so go and listen to that
or watch that.
But the world of doing this
for us is very different
to how it might be for
even some of the big
YouTube channels,
but also like the magazines
and all that kind of stuff.
And the only reason I do them
is because I hope
when I'm talking about my
least hills things,
people,
I've got more to talk about
and I can offer something
more than it's cheap
or it's expensive.
Yeah.
And
just the whole
when I'm interested
by new cars, I suppose,
which is same for you.
Yeah.
Just love driving
loads of different cars.
Yeah.
But in the comments
that video,
someone will say how much
do you get paid for this?
I've had that a few times.
Yeah, minus 40 quid.
Yeah.
Minus 50 quid.
Yeah, we mentioned that
a few times.
We mentioned it on
the podcast we did with Tesh.
It's not what it seems, is it?
No.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not that I'd take money
anyway, but
yeah.
When you think,
actually,
when you think about it,
I've paid to come and
review this car
in a weird,
roundabout way.
Yeah.
Anyway,
I digress again.
As I do.
Well.
Yeah.
That's about that, isn't it?
I think so.
That's that for this.
Bedtime.
Yeah.
Are you sleeping on
the left or the right?
I thought we
spoon in the middle.
Just to clear this up,
he has got his own room
with his lovely girlfriend.
I'm here on my own.
Don't cry.
I'm happily married.
My wife's just
looking after our kids.
But we're not going
to sleep on here.
Anyway,
I hope we can get those
stains out as well
before the morning.
God.
What?
I didn't know
you were a bed wetter.
Oh, God.
I think that's
a good place to end.
Where can people
find your content online?
Definitely not a guru
on YouTube.
Notaguru.co.uk
is the website.
And
I'm on
Instagram,
which you need to
follow me on
Notaguru Jim
on Twitter
at Notaguru3.
OK.
And although I use
Twitter doesn't mean
I'm a Nazi.
No, of course not.
And I drive a Tesla.
Yeah.
You can find me
on
theinterface.uk
for the car news
and different bits
and pieces there.
And on YouTube,
the interface cars
got my weekly car reviews.
Until next time,
we'll see you again next week,
hopefully from Munich.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
About this episode
Mike and Jim discuss their recent experiences with new and upcoming cars, including the UK launch of Chinese brand Cherry Motors and Jim's hands-on time with the Renault 5 EV. They share insights on EV range, charging networks, and the practicality of electric road trips, including plans to drive a Volkswagen ID3 to the Munich Motor Show. The hosts also touch on Tesla ownership, public perceptions of the brand, and the challenges of content creation in the automotive space. The episode blends car reviews, industry news, and personal stories with a lighthearted tone.
This week on the Charging Status EV Podcast, Alex and Jim are in London, in a swanky hotel room together, having just attended the UK launch of Chery Motors. The pair talk about the new models, the Renault 5 and why Alex has fallen in love with it as well as some Tesla chat.