Fully charged

The Munich Motor Show 2021 was fantastically packed full of crazy concepts, futuristic designs, and curiously cool EVs. We know that many of these concept designs won’t make it to production, but they are indications of what’s coming, and that’s something to get excited about.

As is to be expected, the German marques dominated at this year’s Munich motor show, constructing enormous stands not only in the expo centre on the outskirts of town, but in the very heart of Munich’s old town. BMW, Porsche, and Audi all gave strong showings (I particularly enjoyed Audi naming its stand the “hall of progress”), but one brand stood out among all the rest, not just for the size of their elaborate displays, but for the volume of exciting new metal on show: Mercedes.

Volkswagen has finally given us our first look at the sub-£20,000 ($24,000) compact electric car we’ve been eagerly awaiting, in the form of the adorable, stubby, VW ID. Life concept.

If you were to take a pen to a blank piece of paper, and from scratch, attempt to design a vehicle that is the very antithesis of everything you’d look for in a mode of urban transportation, I strongly suspect that you’d end up drawing something that looked an awful lot like… a car.

Across its long and storied history, Mercedes-Benz has repeatedly proven itself to be a marque capable of doing lots of different types of car extremely well. From low-slung, sporty convertibles to compact city cars of unparalleled luxury, there is hardly a shape of four-wheeled thing that Merc hasn’t successfully taken swing at. But there has never been so much as a shadow of doubt as to which type of car Mercedes does best.

I have a hunch that if you were to ask 100 random petrolheads which ICE car would be the most sacrilegious to convert to electric, there would be one overwhelmingly popular answer. A few would perhaps select some naturally aspirated Lambo or Ferrari, but the rest, without hesitation, would surely name the Porsche 911.

A few weeks ago, Fully Charged’s Elliot Richards had a go in the Wuling Mini, the cheapest EV currently available. Today he’ll be driving not only the most expensive EV ever built at $3.48 million, but also the fastest, at 217 mph – the Nio EP9.

To enable a future transition to electric, it’s vital that we look beyond electric cars and focus on electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

In DK Kim’s first report from Korea, he gets a sneak peek at Hyundai’s incredible Ioniq 6, the production version of the Hyundai Prophecy Concept that was revealed in 2020.

After taking its sweet time to get cracking in the first place, Audi is now off to a strong start on its long journey to 100% electrification.

If you’re a lover of stuff on wheels, there truly is no place like the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Situated in the sprawling front garden of the Duke of Richmond’s house, complete with hillclimb route and rally stage, it truly is a glorious day out.

Generally speaking, getting overexcited about a concept car is a one-way ticket to bitter disappointment. Why? Because firstly, it may not even make it to production. And secondly, even if it does, it’ll probably look very “different” – aka “worse.” Goodbye massive rims, butterfly doors, and wacky interior with joysticks in place of a wheel. Hello softened edges, cheap plastics and sadness. 

There are currently two electric wagons on the market, and they couldn’t be more different from each other.

Could geothermal power be the future of electricity generation? Fully Charged‘s Robert Llewellyn visits Cornwall to find out how Eden Geothermal is unlocking geothermal energy in the granite beneath the ground.

In his debut episode for Fully Charged, Jack Scarlett joins Robert Llewellyn in rural Wales to see which of two popular electric cars — the Tesla Model 3 Long Range or the Polestar 2 Long Range — is best suited for a road trip.

BMW has been making cars for decades and got off to a strong electric start with the i3 and i8, but since then, they’ve been a little quiet. Until now.

As the demand for EV batteries increases, could lithium be the vital element we need for our electric future? British physicist, oceanographer, and TV presenter Helen Czerski heads to Cornwall, which is rich with lithium, to find out why it’s so important and how it can be more ethically sourced.

This video tells the story of cobalt and its importance to batteries and electric cars.

Is the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV the most exciting electric car on the market? Probably not. But what is it about this little box on wheels that has led to it outselling Tesla?