Robert Llewellyn: 'Electric cars are simply a better technology'

What's your name? Robert Llewellyn

What’s your current job? Producer/presenter/writer.

How long have you held the position?

35 years

Can you describe your daily work routine?

Chaotic and ever changing. I produce and present a long running series called Fully Charged about electric vehicles and the future of energy and transport. When I’m not doing that I write articles and books, and every few years I act in a long running TV comedy series called Red Dwarf.

What is your professional background?

I have been writing and performing as a comic actor and stand up since 1979, I have written and presented seven stage plays and published 15 books, fiction and non-fiction.

I am uniquely unqualified to do any of these things so the term ‘self-taught’ fits very well.

Tell me about yourself away from work?

I am married to writer Judy Pascoe (29 years) and we have two children, both now in their 20’s so for many years I have been a parent, amateur cook, keen gardener and technology enthusiast.

I have 2 dogs and 4 chickens.

Tell us something very few people know about you?

I trained as a bespoke (posh) shoemaker and in 1975 spent two weeks in Skibbereen, Co Cork, working with a very old shoe maker who was, and I mean this kindly, a ‘character’.

You are speaking at the forthcoming Electric Vehicle Summit in Dublin. What is the focus of your talk?

It will essentially focus on my own experience driving electric cars for the last seven years, the advantages and pitfalls, the way the technology has developed in that time and the disruptive nature of the technology, its knock on effects in the energy sector and how the islands we live on are ideally suited to a zero carbon, 100 per cent renewably powered future.

What do you see as the main challenges ahead for electric vehicle penetration?

Mainly public perception. Anyone who’s driven one will rapidly learn that they are simply a better technology. Ranged against this are some of the most powerful and influential forces the human race has organised. After that it’s down to infrastructure, affordability, seeing the long term costs instead of upfront expense, electric cars are already hugely cheaper over a 10 year life span than any fossil burning machines and the batteries in cars have more than one life. We won’t ever ‘throw them away.’

What innovations do you envisage will be developed over the next 10 years in for electric vehicles?

Primarily autonomy. Cars will be able to drive themselves. This is the single most disruptive and challenging change I can foresee. Battery technology will make huge leaps, this isn’t some vague wish as it’s already happening. Toyota have just announced the adoption of solid state battery tech which is set to be transformative. The challenges for government when people can ‘fuel’ their own vehicle and house from wind or solar are also very challenging. How will governments replace lost tax revenue from fossil fuel sales? Vehicle to grid technology is already in the latter stages of trials, that is the idea that you can use a car to either run your house or as a grid backup system. My house currently uses about 12 per cent of the electricity from the grid that it used last year, the combination of solar PV, battery storage and electric vehicles is highly disruptive to the energy market.

Robert Llewellyn will be giving a keynote address at the Electric Vehicle Summit 2017 on October 4 at Croke Park in Dublin. For more information and tickets for this event please visit:EVSummit.ie