Image: Riz Akhtar
Fully Charged Live has been the most successful EV show to reach Australia. With over 15,000 people interested in electric vehicles and home energy attending during the weekend, it clearly showed the turning point we are experiencing in Australia.
Today, we take a look at what we did see there and what we would have liked to have seen, and which may possibly be seen there next year.
Before the event in Sydney, The Driven highlighted some of the EVs to look out for during the weekend. They were there and included new EV offerings such as the soon to be released MG 4, the Cupra Born, and a bunch of electric vans and motorbikes, as well as the well established models.
There was also a big presence from the Tesla Owners Club of Australia and the Australian Electric Vehicle Association. Apart from Polestar, MG, LDV and BYD, there was little presence of any big vehicle makers.
Collectively, owners shared their insights and the uniqueness of each zero-emission vehicle on display which helped others considering an EV see the real benefits from real owners.
Although no official details were provided on the launch of the MG 4 or it’s pricing, at least people got to see what smaller, more affordable electric cars may be like.
Some of what we saw at Fully Charged Live 2023 in Sydney included:
Given it’s the first show, a lot of EV manufacturers were missing from having any presence. Their absence meant that owners and EV communities had to bring their vehicles over the Fully Charged Live 2023 weekend. That in itself was a good thing as many people attending would have liked to have heard from real owners over manufacturers’ sales talk.
Having said that, it would have still been good to see a variety of manufacturers that are serious about the EV transition in Australia.
Volkswagen, one of the leaders in EVs in Europe, was widely tipped to have its ID series vehicles at the Fully Charged Show. We were not able to spot them anywhere on the show floor or in the test-drive areas which was a bit disappointing.
The Volkswagen ID.3 or the ID.Buzz were both absent – although the Cupra Born is effectively a rebadged ID.3 – and that was noticed by many of the visitors at the show during the weekend.
Electrification of vehicles would most certainly include flagships from Tesla like the refreshed Model S and Model X which we have been waiting years for.
Given Australia’s affinity with utes, it would have been great to see a Rivian R1T, Ford F150 Lightning, Chevrolet Silverado and others light trucks from the US.
EVs with different applications would also have been a good addition. Electric delivery vans, Australia post trikes, London electric taxis and gardening equipment would have been great to see too.
Surprisingly there was a bigger presence of alternative electric vehicles at the Australian Electric Vehicle Conference in Canberra in August last year.
We would love to see them at future events as it forms part of decarbonising many areas of our transport system.
Some of what we would have liked to see – our wishlist – at Fully Charged Live 2023 but are hoping would be there in 2024:
What else would you like to see in 2024? Leave your suggestions in the comments below and you never know, they might actually be there next year at a bigger and better Fully Charged Live Australia 2024!
For those that missed the show, an extended walkaround of the Fully Charged Live Australia 2023 was uploaded by Ludicrious Feed on YouTube:
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
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