Neil Russell-Bates (he/him) on LinkedIn: #roadpricing #greentransport #greentransition (2024)

Have you ever booked a hotel because it had a gym only to find that it consisted of one exercise bike (broken), one treadmill (occupied by another guest) leaving you with a slightly dodgy cross-trainer? Booking a hotel because it has an EV charger can feel a bit like this.And although I posted yesterday about how easy it had been to drive around Europe recently in an EV due to the availability of chargers and the more accessible networks, we did book a couple of hotels which had EV chargers and they were disappointing. By coincidence, they were both Park Inn by Radisson properties, although one was in Stuttgart, Germany and the other was in Bratislava, Slovakia.They are both very pleasant hotels and both were supposedly geared up for EV's. However, having agreed to pay to park in their underground car park so we could get access to the charging facility it turned out that the Stuttgart hotel only had one charger....for 181 room hotel. When we found it there was already a Tesla using it and another Polestar parked in the next bay hoping to get access too. There's a very helpful sign suggesting that guests only charge as long as they need and then move their car so that someone else can use it. Given the speed of the charger, that would probably have been in the middle of the night....did they expect the guest to set an alarm, get up in the night to unplug and move their car and then try and find the guest who was waiting to charge and wake them up so they could use it? What nonsense! If you say you have EV charging, hotel managers, make sure you have a bank of chargers, preferably half a dozen or more. Or maybe a valet parking service that will take care of charging management?In Bratislava there were 3 charge points available, so already better, and less EV's around, so we were pleased to find they were all empty. But the set-up was so unusual and crazy that it was a real headache getting charged. You were supposed to scan the bar code on your parking ticket to activate the charging, but the scanner was on the opposite wall, 10 metres away, with nothing to indicate where it was. Cue much confusion. But the real problem was that none of the reception staff had been properly briefed on how it worked. So again, hotel managers, take note, make sure your staff are briefed and trained on how the set up works so that they can help the guests navigate the system...they may not often charge away from home and your system may be unusual to them, like this one, so make it really easy for them. And finally, if you are already charging them for parking, don't then expect them to pay through the nose for charging their car too.EV chargers at hotels can be a godsend, but if hotels get it wrong they can put off guests and inadvertently send them elsewhere. And sometimes it's just plain greenwashing.....#EVs#ChargingInfrastructure#SustainableTourism

14

15 Comments

I just got back last night from a two week holiday touring 7 European countries by EV, and unusually, I haven't posted about it....yet. Perhaps it's just because long distance driving in an EV doesn't feel that noteworthy anymore!This time we drove about 2,300 miles, or 3,680 kms across 7 countries; France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Czechia in our electric car....and it was sooo easy. This is our 5th big road trip in an EV after the Outer Hebrides, the South of France, Bergen in Norway and Puglia, the heel of Italy. On these previous trips I have planned routes quite carefully, looked at apps like Zapmap to check where to find chargers etc. Last year going to Italy I was slightly concerned about the charging infrastructure and was careful to book accommodation where I either knew there was charging onsite or else I was confident I could run a domestic plug cable to the car.This year, despite including Czechia and Slovakia, both of whom I suspected might not have lots of chargers, I didn't do any planning around that side of things. I just trusted that we would be OK. Over the course of the fortnight we will have plugged in more than a dozen times, and we never waited once to charge. What's more, in the past I would have been filtering apps to find chargers of 50kW or more, whilst this year lots of the chargers were 150kW or 300 kW....seriously quick. We would barely have time to eat a sandwich and go to the loo before a charge was finished and we were ready to get on our way again.I was reminded that despite the moaning conveyed in our press about how the infrastructure isn't sufficient, electric car charging is one of the most effective demonstrations of supply and demand. As more electric cars appear on the roads, more chargers appear too. So although countries like Slovakia and Czechia don't have that many EV's on the road, they have enough chargers for the ones that are....and us.What's more, whilst a few years back you might have needed an array of different apps and RFID cards for different charging networks to make sure you were covered, on this trip I relied on just 3 cards, Freshmile, Plugsurfing and Octopus Electroverse and one of them worked at whatever charger I arrived it. In the past you had to put a credit on each card ready to use it, but these are either linked to a credit/debit card or , in the case of the Octopus card, linked directly to our electricity bill so that charges will appear on that at the end of the month.....simples.And the Google navigation system in our Polestar was spot on in working out the best places for us to charge on our route, often taking us just off a motorway to a quieter spot where the chargers were lying waiting for us.So if long range driving and charging infrastructure worries are what is holding you back on getting an EV, don't let them. Driving an EV on holiday has never been easier.#EVs#ElectricDreams#GreenTransition

96

26 Comments

How well do you know your LinkedIn network contacts? How many of them have you actually met? If you're anything like me then the answers in many cases will be "not that well" and "not that many".All the more bizarre then that the first time I should meet my LinkedIn friend Alexander Lewis-Jones in the flesh was on the shores of Lake Attersee in Austria yesterday!! Alex and I have spoken a few times and are currently exploring the possible opportunities to do some fascinating work with a University and a health care trust in Scotland, but in the course of chatting we established that Alex's lovely partner is from Austria and that coincidentally we would both be in the country at the same time on holiday, although not necessarily in the same places. However, a couple of WhatsApp messages revealed that we were passing close by to where they were staying and so we arranged to meet for a coffee and a swim in the lake yesterday morning on a delightfully sunny day.As ever it always adds an extra dimension to meet in person and despite being on holiday Alex and I couldn't resist the chance to chat EV fleets and charging networks. We got a photo together to prove it... at least we thought we had, but it looks like the phone didn't take the photo we thought it had🤦. So you'll have to trust me that that's Alex, his partner and my wife in the photo below getting ready to go swimming in a stunningly gorgeous and surprisingly warm Austrian lake!Where's the most surprising place you have met a LinkedIn contact for the first time?

7

4 Comments

I'm lucky enough to be away on another European EV road trip holiday, so you might expect me to bang on about how good EV travel is (again!), but instead I want to mention the kindness of strangers.Our first overnight stay was in the French city of Roubaix. I picked it somewhat at random because it was en route and because I knew the name well from watching the Tour de France (the Paris-Roubaix road race is a cycling classic known for its punishing cobbled sections). Wandering round we had the impression of an industrial city that had seen better days and a quick Google confirmed that it is in fact one of the poorest cities in France. However we had a nice walk, enjoyed a drink opposite the very impressive Hotel de Ville and went back to our hotel to have supper. We realised that as English tourists we were unusual being there and a man sitting at the next table clearly thought so and talked to us in near perfect English. It turned out that although he had lived in France all his life his mother was English and he was surprised to hear English voices in the restaurant. When the waitress delivered drinks to his table she also placed two glasses of wine on our table. "we didn't order these" we said apologetically. "It's OK, they're a gift" said the young man... he had bought us a drink for the pure pleasure of hearing our voices where they were unexpected, wanting nothing in return but to wish us a pleasant holiday. We were humbled.Then today on our way to Austria Google maps directed us off the autoroute to a small German village near Munich to add some charge to the battery to complete our journey. We arrived at the charger at almost the exact same time as a German Tesla who pulled into one of the two bays and I then pulled into the other one. The driver got out to connect his car and start charging and discovered that only one of the two connections was working. He then got back in his car and said " you probably need this charger more than I do" and drove away.We were amazed. He didn't have to do that, he was first at the charger, but his thoughtfulness and generosity really struck us. Another local noticed our car and stopped to have a chat, again in near perfect English. The whole village was charming and welcoming as we visited a grocers and the local cafe while we charged. When I am back home again, if I come across any visitors I am determined to make sure I show them every help and kindness I can, because these random acts from strangers have been totally inspiring. Whatever you are doing this week, be kind. The recipients of that kindness are bound to be incredibly grateful and you will make their day.#BeKind#RandomActsOfKindness#EVTravelphoto credit:<a href="https://lnkd.in/ej_v_Vxc">Image by rawpixel.com</a> on Freepik

34

3 Comments

We're all proud of our children right, but I loved this when I saw it yesterday and had to share. Lucy Russell-Bates was too modest to have shared it herself so I had to stumble across this on my own. I love the fact that both Lucy and her brother Alex Russell-Bates are super advocates of active travel and helping out others. I am not sure how much I can say about Alex's current project because it flies a little bit under the radar, but he has been putting his practical skills to good use to try and provide helpful amenities for residents around where he lives. And as well as helping others and being general bike enthusiasts you'll sometimes find them taking part together in #CriticalMass rides around the streets of London when cyclists take back the streets and highlight cycling as a better means of urban travel.Thank you The Bike Project for giving Lucy a shoutout and giving me a reason to do the same!#Family#ActiveTravel#Volunteering

29

1 Comment

Obviously public transport offers a low carbon alternative to driving, but the #HellBus takes public transport as an antidote to carbon a whole lot further!While I was being put through my own torture on Saturday at Twickenham watching my team Bath just fall short in the Premiership Rugby Cup final, my daughter was at the Lambeth show seeing what a Hell Bus looks like. This bus is a mobile art installation created by Leeds artist Darren Cullen that was originally created for Joe Lycett's 2021 TV show Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant, which I confess I never saw, but now very much want to. It is little short of genius.The Hell Bus is a parody of the type of greenwashing installations that the big oil and gas companies parade around things like county shows, trying to present their caring side and convince local populations that they really are committed to transitioning to renewable energy....as soon as they are finished milking every drop of black profit out of fossil fuels. Have a look at the photos to see some of the superb texts they have to accompany the displays and images as well as their own satirical innovative technologies, like solar panel oil drums and polystyrene icebergs.My favourite text is this one: "The longer we can delay any serious response to climate change the more value we can create for our shareholders. That's why we like to imagine the possibilities of expensive and ineffective early-development technologies like carbon capture, or hoping that we might one day meet a wizard who can zap all the carbon away or something." It would be hilarious if it wasn't so close to the truth.I am glad to see that exhibits like this are touring the country and shining a light on the hypocrisy of many of the big energy companies. I would rather see this bus plastered all over the press at the moment than sodding political campaign buses!Thank you to Lucy Russell-Bates for letting me know about this and sharing the photos!Read more about the bus and the artists here: https://lnkd.in/erbbPjep

392

55 Comments

Modern farming in the UK is in crisis, as a review of Clarkson's Farm pointed out only this morning. But in reality it has been in crisis for years now. A new film about to come out shows how some farms have found a new way.Many in my network will be only too familiar with the amazing story of Knepp Estate Farm, told by Isabella Tree in her inspirational book Rewilding. It tells of how her and her husband were in debt to the tune of £1.5m 20 years ago with their family farm in Sussex when they made their decision to sell off their herd of beef cattle and rewild the 3,500 acre property. The results have been simply astounding in terms of biodiversity gains, but also in terms of economic success, such that their biggest challenge now is managing the sheer numbers of people who want to come and walk, camp and visit the estate.Obviously not every farmer up and down the country can do the same, but lots more farms are following suit and without any noticeable impact on our food producing capacity. As Isabella points out, on this planet we can already currently feed our 8 billion population, just about, AND waste around a third of the food we produce, so we just need to prioritise less land-intense types of farming and reduce our profligacy.We have been lucky enough to go and spend a couple of nights camping at Knepp as a family and it was an wonderful experience that we all have fond memories of. Given how popular it is, your only chance to experience it might be via this film so I for one am looking forward to watching it and seeing the story come to life visually. The book was great, but I suspect the film will be even better! If you do watch it when it comes out, let me know what you think!#Rewilding#RegenerativeFarming#InspiringStorieshttps://lnkd.in/eZ-hFREb

32

1 Comment

Wouldn't it be ironic, in a kind of karmic way, if you had ordered a great big gas-guzzling SUV from Audi, but it was delayed because of climate change? Well for someone that is actually what's happening right now.🌧 In Southern Germany today they are suffering the effects of severe flooding due to excessive rainfall. The German Chancellor, visiting the affected area, acknowledged that these flood events are made worse by man-made climate change whilst Audi has suspended production at one of it's main plants due to the flooding. Karma huh?🚙 I am paying particular attention because we plan to drive through the area on another EV road trip in a couple of weeks time. This time last year we were driving through Italy shortly after severe flooding hit parts of Italy that we were passing through.When we talk about the risks to businesses of climate change, these aren't hypothetical incidents for foreign companies to have to consider, they are real events that are already happening and will affect us here in the UK. For even if you are a UK business and you feel like the effects of Climate change may not be that dramatic where you are based, global trade means that your supply chain may well be impacted. So, time to start working out what the risks could be as well has how to mitigate them, starting by trying to minimise your own contributions to man-made climate change.Germany and Italy are not that far away and despite Brexit our futures remain interdependent!#ClimateChange#ClimateRisks#CarbonReductionhttps://lnkd.in/efR8_VUn

22

21 Comments

Whilst some people are scrabbling around for what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint, having ditched the diesel car, the annual flights abroad, the gas boiler and the meat and dairy diet, others have some much lower hanging fruit available. For a start, if you have a hot tub, time to ditch it or turn it into a wildlife pond. Let's face it, there's a fair chance there's some pretty dodgy wildlife thriving in it already at those temperatures. Quite apart from the fact that there is a hilarious range of slang names for hot tubs that should be enough to put most people off them in the first place (try Googling "slang terms for hot tubs" and take off the foul language filter, it's quite eye-opening - but my favourite is the one my son uses..."sex pond"...Yuk!), the footprint of owning and running one is bad. According to this report in the news, the scientist featured in California reckoned it accounted for about a fifth of his households energy use/footprint. That's in a state where the ambient temperature is several degrees warmer than here in the UK on average, so one can only presume that running one here is going to be even worse. And if you have a hot tub, what are the chances you also have an outdoor patio heater? Time to ditch that too. The US EPA calculated that if you ran a typical patio heater for 5 hours a week over 3 months in the summer, it would create the equivalent emissions of driving an average car 450 miles.So if you're idea of a fun summer is a meat BBQ outside with the patio heater on followed by a dip in the sex pond...I mean hot tub... then the good news is that you have some very easy wins available when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint!#GreenChoices#EnergySaving#SustainableLivinghttps://lnkd.in/e6s8ucSy

10

4 Comments