I like to think of myself as a pretty happy-go-lucky person, who never gets too up or too down. But one thing that tends to frustrate me – and it’s been increasing steadily over the past few years – is the insistence that people pick a ‘side’ in any given situation. It could be sport, politics, a public feud between two ‘personalities’, or – dragging this intro back to the subject matter – the technology powering a vehicle. There’s a continuing ‘ICE vs EV’ debate raging in certain sections of society and I, for one, find the whole thing baffling, tiring and utterly futile.

Why do we have to choose one or the other? Where has all the reasoned debate and discussion gone? I’m a big fan of EVs, but it’s clear that the days of the ‘petrolhead’ are far from numbered, so why does one ‘side’ try to antagonise the other?. Certainly at the moment – as we, as a society, continue to shift from one to the other – there must be room for respect (or acceptance) for both forms of propulsion? When there is enough else going on in the world that is anything from mildly concerning to utterly horrific, why on earth are people falling out over big lumps of metal?

I didn’t go to the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed this year (a situation I have promised to put right because the Challen Jnrs weren’t happy about my inability to organise myself/ourselves), but I’ve seen and heard many reports from people having a whale of a time. I’ve spoken to peers who have barely recovered from runs up the hill with legends of race tracks and rally stages – and seen clips of the latest supercars (those powered by conventional engine and also batteries and motors) blasting around the Sussex circuit wowing the crowds. In large part, it’s a celebration of cars and vehicles, regardless of what is under the bonnet (or floor, in the case of the EVs). That’s how life should be, even though the festival might be one step removed from the reality of the world outside Lord March’s estate.

History – through all sorts of examples – has shown us that division is very rarely a good thing. On the contrary, an understanding of another person’s perspective is a very positive step (it’s one of the few skills that I have, to be honest). If we can have empathy for a point of view or opinion, that’s got to be a good thing, right? Why should anyone be anti-petrol or anti-EV? Drill down into it and you even find people at loggerheads about different attributes of EVs that, to them, don’t have enough power/range/space/charging capabilities.

That last point brings us back nicely to the main subject of this issue of EV Fleet World, that of EV charging infrastructure – yet another subject that divides opinion on different levels. There were a flurry of announcements and reactions around the time of production, but we’ve tried to cover the most up-to-date news in what is a fast-moving part of the industry. For some people there will never be enough EV chargers, or they stubbornly won’t shift from a petrol or diesel car. But let’s just hope that they can, albeit begrudgingly, accept the wants of others and applaud the efforts made by those who are trying to keep everyone happy.

Reading these words back, I realise I’ve posed a lot of questions – I can’t help it, that’s my MO in life! I don’t really have the answers, but that’s often the point. Questions are there to mull over and consider, without jumping into a conclusion within 15 seconds of reading or hearing them. Maybe some of them will get you thinking, maybe they won’t. All I ask is that you consider that sometimes there is more than just a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer.

Enjoy the issue.

John Challen Editor