Plug Life Television

The Creator

 

Plug Life Television was created by Dr Euan McTurk, an electrochemist and electric vehicle battery engineer who has been driving EVs since 2009. 

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Euan didn't choose the plug life; the plug life chose him.  Euan was a 3rd year undergraduate student in an applied physics degree called Renewable Energy at the University of Dundee, when he first encountered the University's newly-acquired 1999 Peugeot 106 Electric.  That car went on to form the foundation of his Honours and Masters projects and inspire him to follow a career in electrochemistry and electric vehicles.  A PhD on next-generation lithium chemistries and the degradation mechanisms in commercial lithium-ion cells followed at St Andrews and Oxford.  This was followed by a stint at WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group), where he developed new instrumentation techniques that allow probes to be inserted into Tesla-style 18650 cells so that we can determine how hard they can really be pushed in an EV.  Euan is now the resident electrochemist at Dukosi, an Edinburgh-based firm that has developed a revolutionary alternative to a conventional Battery Management System (BMS).

The Channel

 

Having seen a number of valid questions about the practicality and sustainability of EVs go unanswered at public information events, Euan decided to launch a YouTube series that provided the answers that people were looking for.  But what to call it?  The answer evolved from a prize-winning meme that he made for a competition that was run by smart charging firm MyEnergi.

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Plug Life Television has a number of themed series, including:

 

• Under The Bonnet: a series that distills complex electrochemistry into a format that everyone can understand, in order to bust some myths and misconceptions about EV batteries.

• EV Success Stories: electric road trips through some of the most EV friendly parts of the world, showing how technological challenges have been overcome and providing excellent examples of infrastructure and incentives for other regions and nations to replicate.

• Plug Life Manifesto: a pragmatic series of policies designed to decarbonise all sectors of transport as quickly as possible, whilst boosting the economy and social mobility and gaining cross-party support.

• Watt Barriers: a series that looks at how to balance everything that is required to switch an entire nation's grid to electric vehicles, including the grid, raw materials and social mobility.

• Plug Life Bites: short videos that provide useful hints and tips for EV drivers as a handy reference whether at home or out and about. 

• Live talks: including "Electric vehicles - you'll wish you'd bought one sooner," a live talk given at Dundee Museum of Transport that demonstrates how EVs are already the best form of transport for just about anyone. Since going online, it has turned many skeptics into EV fanatics!

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The Live Talks

 

Plug Life Television also takes the form of live talks for keynote speeches at conferences and public outreach events.  The latest live talk, "Watt Barriers? Balancing the rapid charge to electric vehicles," examines how we can balance the grid, supply of materials, social mobility and balance the books in the mass transition to EVs. Talks can be booked for conferences and public outreach events. 

 

All episodes of Plug Life Television can be found at https://www.youtube.com/c/pluglifetelevision