What's the issue with public EV charging?

I wanted to get an industry expert back on to talk about where things really stand in the EV space right now. In this episode, I catch up with Sam Clarke - Guinness World Record holder, and Green Fleet 100 nominee, for a wide-ranging conversation on the current state of electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and the challenges facing the industry. What You’ll Discover The State of EV Misinformation: Why Sam is less bothered by it now and how facts are winning in the long term despite the noise. Public Charging Realities: Pricing pressures, utilisation, first-mover advantage, and why some networks perform better than others. The Future of HGV Charging and Consolidation: What’s happening with eHGVs, roaming, and why the market is inevitably heading towards fewer, stronger players. He acknowledges the real challenges around pricing, grid connections, and inconsistent government policy, but remains optimistic about the direction of travel. His point about needing more joined-up thinking from government and the value of consolidation for simplicity and reliability felt particularly timely. If you’re interested in where public charging is heading, the realities of operating a network, or how the HGV transition is progressing, this episode gives you a clear-eyed insider perspective. Guest Details: Sam Clarke is an award-winning entrepreneur, EV owner for 24 years, head of eHGV at GRIDSERVE & a 4-time Guinness World Record Holder for EV driving. His EV journey started in 2002 with all electric motorbikes before founding a zero-emission logistics firm which he sold to John Menzies Plc in 2017. He now works on public charging infrastructure for GRIDSERVE, being the architect of the ‘Electric Freightway’ a £100M Government funded eHGV Project. He is a regular public speaker on EV and is a founder of The EV Café webinar & news channel, an industry recognised voice in the EV community. In 2015, Sam was a Great British Entrepreneur’s Award winner and by 2022 he was a GreenFleet EV Champion for services to the industry. In 2024 he was voted #1 in the Motor Transport Power Players list and #7 in the greenfleet.net top 100 most Influential list in 2026. He holds 4 Guinness World Records for the longest journeys ever driven in an electric car, SUV, van and motorbike on a single charge. Episode produced by Arran Sheppard at Urban Podcasts: https://www.urbanpodcasts.co.uk Support me: =========== Patreon Link:   / evmusings   Ko-fi Link: http://www.ko-fi.com/evmusings The Books: 'So, you've gone electric?' on Amazon : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Q5JVF1X 'So, you've gone renewable?’ on Amazon : https://amzn.to/3LXvIck Social Media: EVMusings: Twitter   / musingsev   Instagram: @EVmusings Octopus Energy referral code (Click this link to get started) https://share.octopus.energy/neat-sta... Upgrade to smarter EV driving with a free week's trial of Zapmap Premium, find out more here https://evmusings.com/zapmap-premium