Today at LCV-Cenex - Gearing up for busy times ahead!

Today was a really interesting day at the Cenex - LCV event in Millbrook. Badged as the largest low carbon vehicle event in the UK, it brought together a variety of exhibitors from across the supply chain, and a number innovative fuel-less vehicles on were show too.

Getting to the event itself is quite different to a normal exhibition, with it being held at the Millbrook test facility. Getting in was tough, and the country roads around were rammed at 8.45am this morning. Inside, it looks as though the area is pretty much as capacity, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the event move to the NEC or Excel in future years. How that will impact the vehicle driving experiences will clearly be an issue to navigate. In fairness, apart from the lack of service on the PDQ machines that caused big queues, the event is very well run and organised.

There was a constant buzz around the place, and I must admit, do like the smaller stands rather than the almost sports hall sized stands we tend to see now at other industry events.

It was great to see a lot of the early entrants to the sector, live EV-Box, Alfen, ABB, Siemens and Chargemaster to name but a few. With some of these, and others, launching very exciting rapid charge products, it didn't take long to see that Rapid is indeed the word, with technology advancing at that rate. As I stood for what seemed like hours in the coffee queue, it made me think of who and what else will come into the sector in the coming months. Some of our key clients were not even attending the event, let alone exhibiting, despite some very promising hires they are about to conclude.

It is also great to see many of our clients in the room, and learn more about what they hold for the future, the likes of Delta, Ricardo, AVL all telling us about where the market will be from there perspective. One thing was said a lot, and that is - Infrastructure will be critical, and there appears to be a clamour to get charging points out there quickly. Some of the early joiners are shouting loud, but realistically, do they have a distinctive edge and real long term USP - or is there USP that they are here first? It wouldn't be fair to name names, but I do look at some of the businesses in the market, and wonder if they will in the room again a couple of years time.

Outside were a selection of EVs being test driven, and here I stopped, and thought it is amazing to be part of a market that really is changing the world. Electric vehicles will change the very way we live, and its weird to think our grand children will never go to a petrol station. With meetings and a tight schedule, I didn't get a great amount of time outside, but it was evident that all the main players are keen to show off what they have and competitive edges.

Be careful when walking around out there, as EVs hardly make any noise - so you certainly can't hear them coming!

The show was perfect for us, where we could network, learn more about the sector that will assist in developing our future plans, and meet with clients who want us to help grow there teams.

There is a lot of natural talent movement in the market at the moment, with companies going for obvious choices when hiring. Thats normal in any start-up sector. However, one thing I learnt from the show, and meetings with some key players influencing policy at Government level, is that the talent shortage here will be very harsh. The need for top talent won't just be solved by companies like ours, but also further down the line and getting young, talented people to get into the market from college and after University. It is great the Government are passionate about Electric Vehicle technology, but more needs to be done to assist with talent shortages that are undoubtedly going to get worse.

Overall, it was a positive day, we built some new relationships and strengthened some old ones too. I feel excited about what the future holds in this market, and its evolving all the time. With some big assignments in progress, we are quietly building our expertise in the sector and learning like everybody else too. I can't wait to see what the show next year looks like.