Sophie: Hi, I’m Sophie-Marie Odum Lifestyle Magazine’s editor.
Sam: And I’m Samantha Renke, Broadcaster and Disability Rights Campaigner and a very warm welcome to The Motability Lifestyle Pod. In this podcast, we invite our friends from the disability community into the studio for a conversation on how we can all live our best life, particularly when navigating a disabling world.
Sophie: Today we are joined by the comedian and model Fats Timbo. With over 2.9 million fans on TikTok, she uses her platform to spread laughter and educate people on questions around disability.
Sam: We love her,
Sophie: don’t we?
Sam: Very excited.
Sophie: Very!
Reasons to be cheerful
Sophie: Hi, Sam.
Sam: Hello my darling.
Sophie: How are you? Oh,
Sam: I’ve got man flew, which basically means I’ve got a tiny little cold, but I’m reacting in a really diva, overdramatic way. So I, I’m doing my best. If I start sneezing, you just have to like, excuse it.
How are you? Tell me what is good in the news today? What should we be thankful [00:01:00] for? What is bringing us joy?
Sophie: So our first reason to be cheerful is that British Sign Language users and scientists have created 200 new signs for common environmental terms. So it’s hoped that this will make climate and biodiversity science much more accessible for deaf people and could enable deaf people to attend global climate and biodiversity summits and participate in discussions.
So, At the moment, there’s 200 signs for terms like biodiversity, global warming, etc. But by the end of the project, the team hopes that they would’ve developed more than 400 signs. So this will be themed around energy, sustainability, and the impact of environmental change on humans, and will include signs for global warming, carbon neutral, and deforestation.
Sam: I love that. I mean, I think this should be happening as standard anyway. I think BSL… I learned BSL at night school. I can only do my level one. My two favourite signs were “drunk”, which is like you put your two little uh, fingers on your palm and [00:02:00] wiggle it around like a drunk person. I found that fascinating and also “tired”, so I always used to think to myself…
It’s like your boob is falling off. You put your hand like “I’m tired”, “tired”. But I loved it and I. I, oh, I feel really disappointed that the UK, in particular, still doesn’t have BSL as standard on news reports or, you know, just, just in, in the national curriculum. I mean, as someone who used to teach children languages and a lot of children with intellectual disabilities as well.
You know, I actually amalgamated BSL into my learning because a lot of the kids were visual learners, were kinesthetic learners and it’s such a beautiful expression and a lot of my deaf friends have taught me so much and I, and I think that it’s a huge injustice in the UK that we are not, giving more space to the deaf community.
So this is absolutely incredible. Very welcome news.
Sophie: And it’s just making climate change conversations just much more accessible. Because in the [00:03:00] past they haven’t been…
Sam: absolutely
Sophie:…disabled people and deaf people and neurodivergent people have felt left out of conversations…
Sam: yeah.
Sophie:…so it’s nice that there’s actually like a space now to involve, deaf people and that they can actually attend summits where big decisions are made that affect everybody.
Sam: And you know, I, it’s a bit of a cliche and you don’t want to kind of say that everyone who’s part of the community is, you know, forward thinking. But I would say that most of my deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent friends, we do have to think outside of the box and like when it comes to innovation, we’re probably the best people to get on board for these conversations because we see the world really, really differently because I’ve got to preempt all, all the hurdles, all the barriers.
And I think, you know, the deaf community is exactly the same and that can only be a positive when it comes to diversity and inclusion when we’re talking about such serious, um, matters on climate change. So absolutely brilliant.
I just hope that this is something that sets the standard moving forward.
Sophie: I agree. So for those who are interested, a full glossary of signs can be found on the [00:04:00] Scottish Sensory Center website.
So onto our second reason to be cheerful, Sam, you actually shared this story on your Instagram, didn’t you? From BBC News?
Sam: Yeah. I’m just sucker for like a happy, a happy story. I love how that I, you know, you, you just take, take inspiration.
Sophie: Of course you inspire me
Sam: Not only when we’re working together, but just out and about in general.
Sophie: Of course my dear. So Henrietta Onyema, she’s from Bermondsey, in London, and she started offering food and other supplies after the food bank at her local church had to close. So initially she was using her own money, um, to buy these food supplies for the local community, but now she receives donations from local people and supermarkets.
This is a story from the BBC, and she was quoted saying “some of our neighbours are housebound. They don’t really go out much, and I knew they needed some help,” so she stepped up to the plate to offer the help. And it’s just really, this story just comes at a really timely moment with the whole cost of living crisis and people not being able to afford, you know, basic necessities and having to, [00:05:00] turn to food banks.
And a recent study by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation found that almost eight out of 10 Londoners on low income are skipping meals or going without essentials.
Sam: Mm-hmm.
Um, so it’s. Uh, it’s amazing that women like Henrietta or people like Henrietta are out there just serving the community.
Sam: She is a, an absolute character. She actually made me cry a little bit when I watched, because I think she, I mean, I’m, I’m paraphrasing here, but I think she said, you know, If you have what you need and you have more like surplus, then why not?
And that’s a very, you know, Christian values. And, and that’s something that I would definitely say that I live my life by. I come from a working class, um, background. Um, when my dad passed away, that meant that we, we didn’t have a lot, but I’ve always, you know, I’m not trying to virtue signal here, but I’ve always really enjoyed, I’m a gift giver to begin with.
That’s definitely my German blood. Like, I like gift giving, but I think, you know, when you actually take stock of what you do have, it’s like, well, yeah, [00:06:00] do I need X amount of this? But I think on another level, you know, just being able to… I always compliment people on their outfits or randomers in the street. And it’s really funny because in London, most people have their headphones in and just block out anyone in existence, you know?
But I kind of force myself onto people a little. I’m like, “hi!” but I will say to people, “oh my God, beautiful dress”. And you can just tell that that lifts people, you know?
And I think that costs… kindness, costs nothing.
Sophie: I agree.
Guest interview
Sophie: I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest. Joining us is content creator, model comedian, educator, and author Fats Timbo. She pulls no punches in her comedy, finding fun in her life and the world around her. She decided to share her top tips for confidence, and earlier this year, she released her first book, Main Character Energy, 10 Commandments for Living Life Fearlessly.
Fats Timbo, great to have you on The Motability Pod. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I’ve personally watched your journey, which has [00:07:00] been phenomenal.
Um, so let’s start at the very beginning. You are a model, also working in finance and went on the show The Undateables. Tell us about that. How was that experience? Because I mean, you mentioned in your book that when you were asked, you didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
FatsTimbo: Yeah, I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, but thank you so much for following my journey. I really appreciate that. It means a lot. Um, to be honest with you, I’d never done anything like that before in terms of going on TV and it was super scary and super daunting. I was thinking about what are people going to say? What are people going to think? You know, going on a show called The Undateables, that’s what I might be called the rest of my life. So, that’s the reason why I initially said “no” to it.
And a couple months later, I was thinking about it, and I was thinking, actually, if I think about the bigger picture, it’s [00:08:00] about the message I’m going to put across and the representation I’ll be giving to people and that’s when I made the decision to call them back. I just thought, okay,
What’s the worst that can happen? And I think from there it kind of helps me recognise that I could represent for the under-represented. Going on these shows and, um, being on social media and doing what I do in terms of dancing, comedy, all that stuff. It was kind of was a stepping stone for me. So I’m quite thankful for it actually.
Sam: I mean, I love that because I have spoken. Hi, it’s Samantha by the way, and I
Hiya babe. You alright? I’ve started reading your book actually, but I’m waiting for, um, a beach holiday, um, to actually dive right into it. So bear with me. Um, I’ve spoken a lot about The Undateables and it was, it came out very, very [00:09:00] close to when I first moved to London. And I very, probably very similar to you.
I got inundated with messages on Instagram, like from producers going, do you wanna be part of this show called The Undateables? And it was very much at the beginning of my journey into TV work, but also my campaign work and, you know, the elephant in the room obviously was the title, and I kind of really, I really dug my heels in and I was like, you know, this is not appropriate.
And I think it’s amazing that you have a completely different narrative, and I think that’s great that you are flying the flag for how you experience that.
But I, I have to say, I think a lot goes for the person that you are and the fact that you are incredibly tenacious and the fact that you are, you know, a go-getter in life. Um, can I say very similar to myself? Um, you know, that we, we can make. We can make a, any situation work in our favour. And I think, you know, I’m so grateful that you, you had that positive experience, but I think still why I feel uneasy about shows [00:10:00] like this.
And we spoke about the, you know, down with, uh, *’Down For Love’ on Netflix last episode. The problem I still have and, and, and I love to hear your thoughts on it. I sometimes feel like we as a society, we are not in a place where everyone can watch a show like that, or the majority people can watch a show like that and have a nuanced, respectful, non-ableist approach when watching it.
FatsTimbo: No, I know what you mean. I, did, I did speak about this in the Guardian, um, uh, specifically ”Down For Love’. My problem is I just hate that society kind of still looks at disabled people in the sense that, oh, I pity them with these dating shows. You know [00:11:00] kind of thing. But I did highlight as well it educational. There are people with nuances that want to learn about people with disabilities. So there is a plus side but there is a down side as we are still othered in society.
You know, as you were saying before, the, the continuous discrimination that we face every single day. I just feel like now I’m at a point where it still hurts me because obviously I can’t erase it, I can’t escape it, I can’t just put a magic cloak on and be invisible to it, but that’s why I think it is so important what we do every day, educate people, bring awareness, talk about our lived experiences. So that average height people think about how not to treat us, basically. How…
through my comedy, I love to do it, in a way where it’s like, I’m making fun out of them, and then they can see themselves in that, and then not do it to the next person. [00:12:00] That’s my way of doing it, and I think it definitely works well, and I think that’s why a lot of people respond to it well.
Sophie: And I love that you’ve used your platform as just a way to, to highlight and shine a light on issues within society. Um, but looking at, talking about after the show, so your presence grew and as well as a content creator. Like you said, you became a comedian, um, obviously a model and now an author. Congratulations, but which is your favourite title? Mm-hmm. Or title that means most to you?
FatsTimbo: To be honest with you, a lot of people think I would say comedian. But I would say author because people really get to know the crux, the meat and bone and crux of me. I explain about my sisters and what got me to where I am today.
I think watching a 15 second clip and then people moving on. Yeah. They like it at the time, but, [00:13:00] I think people really reading and spending time getting to know my story, it means so much to me. And the fact that, you know, I’ve written a whole book, I’m still shocked to this day that I have a book.
Sophie: It’s amazing. It’s such an achievement. I mean, well done. Main Character Energy. Um, what I loved about the book as well is that it offers readers, like, it allows readers to get involved.
Like you actually give like a point, like a place for readers to actually write their goals or what to do next or how they should approach a situation.
It, It, just allows the reader to get more involved rather than just read it and it just stay on the surface level. They can actually take those lessons on board.
FatsTimbo: I just thought in my book, I need something like that and I’m glad it, uh, people have responded to it well and actually writing things in there and I’m like, yes, yes,
Sophie: journaling, isn’t it?
FatsTimbo: yeah. Yeah. It’s like journaling. I love journaling.
Sam: And I think, you know, very similar to you . When [00:14:00] I wrote my book it was very cathartic. I actually learned a lot about my own disability identity and it kind of like opened a lot of, it opened Pandora’s Box. Some of it was good, some of it was bad. But have you had that kind of same, um, enlightening experience because writing it myself. I was like in…crying sometimes because I was like, transported back to seven year old Samantha. And I was like, it wasn’t your fault.
FatsTimbo: Tell me about it! Honestly, it’s like you know when you are diving into things you haven’t even unpacked as an adult and I have to explain it in a book. It is like revisiting your old self. I knew that it was necessary to speak about these things because that’s what I’ve gone through.
That’s me. Just because I have to unpack all of these things doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t write it, you know, [00:15:00] um, but it was hard. It was definitely hard doing that, but it was necessary at the same time.
You, you’ve touched upon comedy and it obviously plays still a really big part in your life. And I think for, for many disabled people, comedy can be a way of deflecting all that negativity, all that ableism. And I’ve definitely used it as a shield, you know, uh, when people make comments about, I’m, I’m a power chair user, and they go, oh, you know, have, you’ve got a driving license for that.
Sam: It’s like, oh, there we go
FatsTimbo: That joke is so old
Sam: I Know, but it’s normally a, it’s normally a certain, certain demographic isn’t it. It’s like, ha ha ha. But, um, you know, I, I have used it particularly, I don’t know, again, I feel like we we’re very similar in many, many ways. Like I would enter a space, whether that’s a party or a working environment, and no one would necessarily come up to me and, and introduce themselves. They do now because they’re like, oh, you’re on the telly. But prior to that, you know, it would always be me that would have to instigate the conversations. I
FatsTimbo: Really?
Sam: was, yeah, I [00:16:00] remember once I went on, um, a bus and in London, the buses said, thank goodness they don’t do it anymore when you press the ramp.
It used to go “wheelchair onboard, wheelchair onboard” and I, I honestly, uh, I got on it seven o’clock in the morning. It was absolutely ramed, central London, and this like, you know, raining and I got on and went “morning”, like really loud to everybody. And I, and you know, I I, I would say that you are a, you are naturally comedic.
You’re naturally a bubbly character. But does it ever get to a point where you’re like, ah, do you know what I can’t, I can’t pander to your uncomfortability or ignorance anymore.
FatsTimbo: Do you know what? I think, I still kind of have this. I have this thing where because you know how you said like you be bubbly to people and for me, I used to wait for people to talk to me, and if people don’t talk to me, that is fine. I’ll be isolated in my [00:17:00] corner, but I’m trying my best to change that I’ve done, I think I’m, over the years, I’ve gotten better at it and just speaking to people and just not having any worries because I used to think “people stare at me yes, but how are they gonna react when I come up to them and speak to them?” Oh my God, that’s my worst fear. That’s what I used to think. So, I try my best to just change that kind of mindset with it because in college, in university, I was kind of isolated. And I do want to not be that person. I’ve realised if I do that, I will not be able to talk to people and tell people it’s okay to be little. I am literally just little.
I just have smaller bones. I normally end up that, with that conversation being, you know, I’m only little, I’m only a wheelchair user. I an absolute douche bag. But that’s a [00:18:00] different, that’s a different kettle of fish for another day. Now let’s talk about something that’s very dear to my own heart fashion. I am, I am self-proclaimed fashionista, and I was absolutely blown away by, first of all, the dress.
Sam: That saw you wearing because you featured in May’s issue of British Vogue. So this was, um, a collaborative, um, piece through tilting the lens, obviously with Sinead Burke, and it was reframing fashion and featured, I believe 19 disabled people, uh, from all different, um, creative industries, so fashion, sport, activism, and arts.
Um, I actually went around lots of different shops to try and the get covers of the, um, of the, the addition of Vogue. Just because I’m, I want them all over my, um, my office when I re re redo my office. So how was that? I mean, I’m not gonna lie. A little bit jealous. I was bit like, wow. I mean, did you get to keep the dress?
That’s my first question.
FatsTimbo: I did.
Sam: [00:19:00] Can I borrow it?
FatsTimbo: you can if you want. You can. It’s an amazing dress. um, but honestly, I think collapsed when they asked me. Because I was just like, me, doing Vogue. When I first started modelling and started doing it more, I was like, “you know what? One day, I might do Vogue”. I literally said that. I was like “one day I might do Vogue”.
I mean, I like to say far-fetched things just to see if it happens. And it did happen in just few years. Like, it was insane. The people that I worked with, like Sinead, so thankful because it just opened my eyes to what’s possible and what change we are making. We’re like, we’re the ultimate change makers.
And getting involved with Vogue and just showing people that, yes, we’re disabled, but we can look good. it’s, it’s just normalising it. It’s [00:20:00] all I want in life, like, normalising disabilities. that’s it, and that’s what Vogue helped me do, and… Oh, still shocking that I did it.
Sophie: I can imagine that you just like, you still wake up and think, “I did Vogue”, I did Vogue”
FatsTimbo: exactly.
Sophie: And it’s beautiful how you spoke it into existence. Like that’s just amazing.
FatsTimbo: I, spoke into existence. I did it in a way where… I, I said, yeah, one day I’ll do Vogue and it was like a Vogue challenge on TikTok as well I got involved? in that Vogue challenge and I ended up…
Sophie: What’s the Vogue challenge?
FatsTimbo: During the pandemic people were just taking pictures of whatever and putting Vogue on top. So they called it the Vogue challenge and at the time I just used one of my old modeling pictures and I was wearing white as well. So,that’s, that’s, what a coincidence. Um, Yeah. and then, a few [00:21:00] years later, I actually did Vogue. crazy, innit?
Sophie: bet you family were so proud, your family and friends?
FatsTimbo: They were so shocked. They were so shocked. My mum was like, “wow! I got a Vogue model in my house.” I was..
Sam: Oh,
FatsTimbo: Yeah, mum. Yeah,
Sophie: You, you made it. You made it. Um, so you mentioned earlier about how you sort of used to isolate yourself, but obviously fast forward to today, like your confidence just seems astronomical. Um, would you agree that confidence is a journey and not a destination, that you’re always working to be confident
FatsTimbo: I always refer to it as a muscle. If you keep working that muscle it will get stronger and if you stop working that muscle it, will get weaker.
And that’s how you have to see confidence I not going to say that you will always be 100%. But as long as you are working on it, doing new things, breaking new boundaries ,your confidence will always grow.
Sam: There is probably gonna be lot [00:22:00] of, um, young disabled people listening to podcast because we are down with the kids… clearly. Um, Um, and they may be thinking, okay, yeah, fair enough, easy said than done. ‘ cause you’ve done this and you, you’ve got that platform and, and so on and so forth. And I think. You know, there is sometimes, and I’m very mindful of it, every time I put anything out there, that disability looks and feels so different for everyone, whether that is because of your physical disability or whether that’s, you know, because you don’t have the right support package in place. You know, ’cause things like that can be so subjective. You know, depending on where you live, whether you, you know, you still live at home, whether you wanna try and move out and be independent, you know, or whether you are, you are an ambulatory, uh, wheelchair user. There are so many variables and I think it can be quite challenging to go, well, “I’ve done it, so I’m your, your role model”. What advice would you give to our community to people who may, may look at you and go, “okay, well it work for you but know it won’t work for me.”
FatsTimbo: [00:23:00] It’s true. I completely agree with you because everyone’s got their own journeys. It’s one of those things where I think if they have the right support network, or if they don’t, they need to find it in a counsellor or a therapist or, teachers to to help them with the mindset that they need. Reading books oh my god, reading books was my stepping stone to even thinking positively because before that I thought life was hell. I thought life was.
Why am I working? Why am I living? You know, I just thought, um, I was in a very dark place and reading self-help books like The Secret, learning how to manifest with whatever is around you, whatever you have. It was something that was out of the ordinary and I thought, okay, let me give it a try because I want to do anything to get me out of this [00:24:00] mindset, I want to do anything to get out of this state. All these things that you might not have ever thought of or might not have ever had the tools to know about.
Sam: Even social media though, like what I always say is, you know, social media is free you know, it’s there and it’s something you can use and experiment and really feel for what you feel comfortable with and it connects so many people. I never really knew any disabled people before social media I mean, a lot of that came from my own prejudice. A lot of it came from my own internalised ableism I was like, Ew, disabled people. I mean, I’m happy with me, but I don’t really
FatsTimbo: I’m telling you, I feel like every disabled person has gone through this. Especially not having any representation to look up to. And then when you actually do see it, it’s like, I’m not one of them. [00:25:00] Excuse me, When I look back and I think “Oh my God, I can’t face a little person” What? It’s crazy. It’s because of our own internalised ableism that has been put onto us with this learned behaviour. So I’m so thankful for social media. I’m so thankful that when I have a child. If whether they’re little or not, they are going to be educated on what it’s like to be a little person, they are going to have little people around, they are going to have a little person mum . It’s way different to how we grew up.
Sophie: I love that. Just the thought that you are just a role model. So Fats, we have a tradition going on where our previous guest asks, um, a question to our next guest. So our previous guest asks you, um, whatever you’re working on right now, what do you think makes it innovative?
FatsTimbo: What makes It innovative is… [00:26:00] I don’t want to give lazy answer because it’s me…
Sophie: It can be you.
Sam: Yeah.
Sophie: Yeah.
FatsTimbo: Because it’s me, I have to think of innovative ways to do things, get things done, partake in things
Sam: so in the same scheme of things, have you got a question for our guest?
FatsTimbo: What’s the best part of having a disability? Because we love to talk about the negatives that, negativity that comes our way. But I love having a disability. I love, being different now. I, I, I embrace it so much. Now, people stare at me, yes, I look good. , Yes. …while you’re
Sophie: Yes!
FatsTimbo: …staring at me. I look good so it’s fine.
Sophie: I love that question and it’s been such a pleasure. Fats Thank you so much. Honestly, keep being great. And hopefully you’ll come back and talk to us, whether [00:27:00] that be in the magazine or on the podcast again to, yeah, I’m definitely keeping in touch.
Sam: I’ll be booking in for TikTok tutorials from you. Let me know what your hourly rate is, my love. I’ll be round… be round with a carrot, carrot cake, carrot cake and tea.
Sophie: That’s not a bad idea. Actually.
FatsTimbo: I love a cheeky carrot cake.
Sam: Yeah. See, I’ll be knocking on your door my darling.
Sophie: Fats, thank you. Thank you.
FatsTimbo: Oh, thank you, so much.
Sam: Take care. My lovely.
Car chat
Sophie: What time is it, Sam?
Sam: Car chat with Matt. Trying to do Mariah Carey. I mean, the fact that I feel like the bottom of someone’s shoe right now. That was impressive.
Matt: I appreciate the effort
Sam: Yeah, I did it just for you, Matt.
Sophie: Um, so what are we here with today? What are we…
Matt: today? Uh, so we are talking about electric cars So we chatted recently with Catherine Marris head of innovation at Motability about the, the brilliant work they’re doing in improving, uh, accessibility around electric cars and electric [00:28:00] car charging.
Um, but often when we’re at events, I get a lot of questions from people on the scheme who just don’t…just not aware of the basics of electric cars. So we’re just gonna cover some of the sort of basics today and a lot, some of the common questions I get that will hopefully at least make people feel like they can make an informed decision on whether or not they even want to start looking at electric cars.
Um, So, for example, I mean, some of the things I get asked are things like, oh, can you put an electric car for a car wash? Or can you plug it in to charge it while it’s raining and things like that. And you absolutely can, like, of course you can.
Um, but you know, they’re, they’re perfectly reasonable questions to ask you..
Sam: All valid
Matt: but yeah, so I, I think, I think the most important questions to start with is, can you charge at home? Um, because that, that changes things quite drastically. So charging at home is, the most cost effective way to run an electric car by some margin. But it’s also the most convenient.
Right. Um, one of the great things about the Motability Scheme is that they will cover the cost of a standard installation of a, of an electric car charger at your house, which is really good, ’cause they, they, they do cost a reasonable amount of money. So if you can get that for free, that’s fantastic.
Now the reason they’re [00:29:00] cheaper is the, the… well, obviously it just uses your home electricity tariff now, an average electricity price in the uk… so, so people often ask me, how much does it cost to charge an electric car?
And that’s a really hard question to answer because how long is a piece of string? If you imagine a petrol car and someone asks you that, well, it would depend on how big the car’s petrol tank is, and it depends how much the petrol station is selling fuel for, right?
Um, so similar thing applies with electric cars. It depends on the cost of the electricity and it depends on how big the battery is in your car. So if you imagine average fuel prices in the UK at the moment are about, uh, 34 pence per kilowatt hour.
Uh, and a sort of normal sized battery in electric car is about 60 kilowatts, um, 60 kilowatt hours I should say.
Uh, then that brings you to about sort of 20 pounds to charge that. But the bit where it gets interesting is if you can charge at home lots of energy companies do special EV tariffs or they just have general tariffs where electricity is cheaper at night when demand is low. Mm-hmm. And it’s usually quite substantially cheaper at that time,
Sam: like the washing machine, isn’t it?
Sophie: They say, do you washing at night.
Matt: There you go. Uh, [00:30:00] it’s, and it’s exactly the same principle and that actually can drastically reduce the cost of running an electric car.
Sam: Can I, I play devil’s advocate
Matt: You absolutely can.
Sam: Um, because all these things go through my mind. I’m sure it will through other people’s minds. That’s all handy dandy. If you’ve got a drive or you’ve got
Matt: Yes. Yeah.
Sam: But what if you live in a flat or a, or a terrace?
Matt: Um, so then I guess you’d be looking at charging your car using public charges.
Motability does offer something where you can get a subscription to the BP Pulse Network. So for people who can’t charge at home, instead you can, you can have a, a subscription to this network and that gives you a better rate on charging. So it’s probably still not as, it’s not gonna be as cheap as charging at home, but it, it, it helps out a little bit.
But yeah, in an ideal world, Charging at home is just the cheapest and most convenient way to do it. And unfortunately, not everyone could do that, so that is a shame.
if you do charge from home and you can get one of those EV tariffs, you, you can charge a car for as little as £4.50
Sophie: Very cheap. That sounds very cheap because you think about filling your tank.
Matt: yeah.
Sophie: are looking at like hundreds. Is that in comparison, is I feel like I’m, it sounds [00:31:00] too good to be
Sam: true.Oh, no, no. It’s about, I mean, yeah, I’m just like, yeah, Yeah. yeah.
Matt: It is hard to compare. But then, and, and prices do vary. ’cause like I said, if you, if you were to.
If you didn’t have one of those EV tariffs and you’re using your normal energy tariff,
it’d be more like say £20. Yeah. Which is suddenly not at, you know, suddenly a lot closer to, to putting your petrol whatever in your car.
Um, but yeah, it is cheaper. And I bear in mind a tank of fuel will take you further than 200 miles, but not, you know, £4.50. Exactly. Um,
Sam: Um, Can you overcharge?
Like so can you over, so should you let it run down quite substantially and then charge it, or, but don’t be topping it up even if you’ve, you know, it’s gone down a little bit.
Matt: This is one of those things that, that, you know, lots of people say different things and I, and it’s hard to actually.
Work out how much of a difference it makes. But they do advise that you don’t always charge it up if you don’t need to.
Like, rather than say… because as I sort of mentioned before in the podcast, the average mile average daily mileage in the UK is around 20 miles. Yeah. And if you think a car can do 200 or 300 miles, that’s only a very small percentage of the battery. So what you don’t really wanna be doing is going out and just recharging every day from 95% to 100%, 95 to a hundred.
Sam: the fear [00:32:00] though. People still have fear. Yeah.And they’ll be like, I need to do it. I need to do it just in case. Again, I keep thinking about my power chair, but I’m like, when I get to 40%, I’m like, I’ve never been this low. I’ve never been this low, and I’m halfway up to Waitrose, what do I do? Turn back, or just go and get the expensive cat food?
Like what, what do I do?
Matt: No, that is re range anxiety. That’s called,
Sam-: called, is that what it is?,
Matt: yeah. Range anxiety is..
Sam: Wow.
Matt: in the world
Sam: Wow. That’s me. That’s me a lot.
Sophie: you’ve been diagnosed.
Matt: Um, but yeah, you know, it is something
you get used to once you’ve been driving them for a while, you know, you know what your car can do and, um, And there are lots, you know, if you are out and about and you are low on battery, there are lots of places you can charge your car in public that are very fast.
Um, but we, uh, we’ll, we’ll get to that in a moment. But you can, you can also actually, if you’re charging from home, even if you don’t have a home charger installed for whatever reason, you can do, uh, something’s called granny charging, uh, using a granny charger. Uh, I, I thought there was some technical reason for this, but apparently it’s, it’s just called a granny charger because it’s a charge you’d use if you were visiting your gran[00:33:00]
Sam: Oh, I was like, I was like, is there a bit of ageism here?
What’s going on?
Matt: Yeah. For some reason it’s known as granny charging and that’s where you can actually charge your car by plugging it into a normal three-point socket…
Oh, wow. …in your house. But I, it, it’s generally not advisable.
Sam: gonna say, how long would that take?
Sophie: is it safe?,
Matt: in theory it’s safe, but I think. A, it’s, it does put a lot of pressure on your household electric, so it’s not always advisable. I think they generally recommend you don’t unless you have to. Um, and also it does take a long time as as Sam just asked. Um, yeah, you’re looking at about, probably about 30….
Obviously varies, but you look at about 30 hours for like a kind of average size electric
Sophie: would the cost be the same because…
Matt: yeah, it’s still coming from your home electric. Same thing. Yeah anyway, getting back to whether or not you should look at an electric car, um, the next thing to think about is actually the, the car itself and how you use your car and whether it would suit your needs.
So, you know, do you go on a lot of long journeys and if so, you want a car with a bigger battery? If you mostly cover short journeys, you could maybe, um, you know, save a bit of money or, or be able to get a smaller, lighter car that’s, that doesn’t need a huge battery if you [00:34:00] mostly just do, do journeys around town.
Sophie: I just had another question. Yeah. So if you live really remote or in a very rural area, that’s something else you need to consider. if you’re getting an electric car, don’t you?,
Matt: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, that actually sort of brings me onto a next point actually, which is to check. The charging infrastructure around your area, so, you know,
hopefully you could still charge a car at home if you lived in a rural area. The chances are if you’re rural, there’s a larger chance that you’ve got off off road parking, which is great.
Yeah. but yeah, it’s the public charging that then becomes more difficult. I think the first thing to remember is a lot of these cars can do 200 miles on a charge. Right. And some can do 300. and if you think 200 miles is like driving from London to Manchester, that’s a long way, so long way, you know, that’s a long way.
And the chances are even if you live somewhere rural, if you could, if you’re driving that far, you will end up passing through somewhere that that has fast charges.
But yeah, that, that is something to consider if you have a car that, that, that, that doesn’t go as far or if, or more importantly if you’re driving too somewhere rural.
So when you get there and your battery’s low, yes. So, if you’re doing long journeys and electric cars, it does require a bit of [00:35:00] planning. There are some really useful tools for that.
There’s uh, something called Zap Map, which is one of the most popular ones, and that gives you a map of the UK and tells you where all of the charges are.
And it also tells you how fast they are and it tells you whether they’ve been in use recently, whether they’re currently being used. People can leave comments on there and say: “This one is rubbish. It rarely works”. Or they can say, “there’s no cover here, so if it rains, you’re gonna get wet.”
Uh, and sometimes people actually leave accessibility comments on there, which..
Sam: So on the internet, I just worry about people who aren’t tech savvy, internet savvy. and I think we need to be very mindful that not everybody knows how to, you know, be, be fluent of navigating.
Yes.
Social media. I mean, when my mum found out how to use emojis, it was like the end of my life as I knew it, because all of a sudden it was just emojis.
Um, yeah. So what about that? I feel like it might be excluding a certain demographic
Matt: Yeah, there is an argument about that. One of the things that is gonna make it easier, lots more cars
now are adding a feature within the sat nav where if you’re going on a [00:36:00] long journey and you put in, uh oh, I’ve gotta go to here. The car will know if you’re gonna need to charge on the way and it can add a charging spot on route
Sam: Oh, I, like that, which actually makes life a lot easier. That’s amazing.
Sophie: So it..
Matt: It takes a bit of the thought out of it.
Sophie: I just had one question. You know, like with a phone you can carry like a, a charging bank with you. Is there anything like that for an electric car?
Matt: So this is a question I get asked is, uh, what happens when you run outta of battery?
Right. Um, it’s very rare that’ll happen, ’cause the car will give you lots of warnings. It’s not gonna suddenly stop. Um, and even if you run out, it goes into like a sort of limp mode
Sophie: Okay.
Matt: Where you can drive really slowly and hopefully either get out of the way
Sophie: yes.
Matt: Or to safety or just get to a charger. But let’s say, say the worst happens in that and that you don’t, and you’re stranded. The RAC now are equipped with Vans for electric vehicles.
Sam: Nice.
Um, and they can either A: sort of tow you somewhere but tow you properly, uh, or B: uh, some of them have a sort of quick charging system that can give you enough juice to say, travel 10 miles, so it can just get you to the nearest fast charger.
So, Yeah, that, that has been thought off. Not something you can carry around yourself. ’cause the size of the battery you’d need would be enormous and so heavy.[00:37:00]
Sophie: but I didn’t know that. So that’s really good. And you get the RAC membership as part your…
Sam-: love it.
Sophie: worry-free package
I love it.…with Motability.
Matt: I mean, that kind of covers the most of the common questions. The other one is, how long does it take to charge an electric car?
and again, there’s lots of answers to that question. but the real simple terms, and I’m gonna generalise and say this is like a car with an average battery,
Sam: it’s ’cause you’ve got about 30 seconds.
Matt-1: getting ..Gonna get cut off, right? If you’re charging from home, probably takes about 10 hours, but you’re not gonna be coming home with an empty battery all the time.
So that’s what people need to remember, most of the time you’re coming home and it’s still gonna be mostly full. Uh, if you’re charged in public, there are rapid charges that go from anywhere from 50 to 150 to 350 kilowatts. They’re ultra rapid. Um, and then it comes down to how fast your car can accept a charge.
So generally, cars… yeah, so there’s two things at play here. A 50 kilowatt charger will generally get you up to 80% battery in around sort of 40 to 50 minutes, which is quite good. Uh, there are some new cars that are just being added to the scheme that have something called 800 volt architecture, which means they can charge really fast.
if you’ve got one of those and you are lucky enough to find a [00:38:00] 350 kilowatt charger, which are still quite rare, you can be from up to 80% battery in around 18 minutes, which is actually rather snappy. Yeah,
Sophie: Yeah,
Sam: is snappy.
Matt: But expect us to pay a bit more
Sam: this, let’s say a pumpkin spice latte rapid that that’s…,
Matt: that’s
Sam: what
Matt: I think, and I think the most important thing to say as well is go and test drive one. Yes. Because if you haven’t driven one, I think most people will actually prefer the way they drive to a normal car. They’re smoother, they’re quicker and they’re quieter. Yeah. And, and they’re all automatic, so. I think most people actually enjoy driving one.
So give one a try.
Check that the, your, whatever adaptations you need are compatible with an EV, check that a hoist will fit, for example, ’cause sometimes the boots can be a little bit smaller on electric cars ’cause of the way the batteries are positioned. Not always. Um, so check that a hoist will work if you need one. And those are kind of the main bits to get you going.
Sophie: And our gadget, have we got
Sam: oh gosh, ga No, I forgot. Gadget. Gadget.
Sophie: Okay. Quick gadget.
Matt-1: It’s practical today. so we’ve all been there. You sit in the car, you change wallet, phone falls out your pocket goes down the side, and it’s impossible to recover and you’re never ever gonna see it again. [00:39:00] Uh, and, and I, I can only imagine how difficult that is for people with like Yeah. You know, limited movement and mobility.
Um, so, there is something you can get. There’s, I mean, there are certain brand names, but the general term is a ‘car seat gap filler’, very catchy terminology, but it’s effectively like a, a, it’s sort of made of foam and you…
it goes over where the seatbelt would be and it just fills that gap next to your pockets and, and between the door and between the gear stick and whatnot, so that if anything falls out, it doesn’t. Sink into never realm, never to be seen
Sam: That’s Amazing.
Sophie: That’s really handy.
Sam: not for, it’s not for concealing anything that should not be in your car. I can imagine there might be some, uh, younguns out there. Oh,
Sophie: and that’s it for today’s episode of The Motability Lifestyle Pod. Thanks to Matt Lizzimore with his car chat today and our guest, Fats Timbo.
Thanks to our producer Joleen Goffin at Rethink Audio and to our editorial assistant Lucie Rhodes at Wonderly.
Sam: If you like this episode, then give us a follow, tell all your friends and please do leave a review. If you want to tell us [00:40:00] what you thought or if there’s something you’d like to hear from us come and say a “hello” on Instagram. For some behind the scenes content, or follow us on TikTok. I’m sure Fats will be over there, won’t she? And we’ll, the full video on YouTube. You can find us on Motability_Lifestyle_Mag
Finally, if you want more information about the Motability Scheme, go to Motability.co.uk. Or if you want to learn more about Motability Foundation, visit Motability.org.uk.
And that’s it everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. I’m Samantha Renke.
Sophie: and I’m Sophie-Marie Odum.
Sam: See you in deux semaines.
