Fats Timbo | Episode 6 with British Sign Language | The Motability Lifestyle Pod

hi I'm Sophie Marie Odum lifesty magazines editor and I'm Samantha ring 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 Liv particularly when navigating a disabling world today we are joined by the comedian and model fat Timbo with over 2.9 Million fans on Tik talk she uses her platform to spread laughter and educate people on questions around disability we love her don't we very excited very Hi Sam hello my darling how are you oh I've got manlow which basically means I've got a tiny little cold but I'm reacting in a really Diva over dramatic 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 for for what is bringing us joy 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 have 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 I love that I mean I think this should be happening as standard anyway I think BSL I I learned BSL at night school I can only do my level one my two favorite signs were drunk which is like you put your two little uh fingers on your palm and wiggle it around like a drunk person I found that fascinating and also tired so I always used to think of myself it's like your boob is falling off put your hand there go tired tired but I loved it and I I 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 de friends have taught me so much and I and I think that it's a huge unjustice in the UK that we are not giving more space to the deaf community so this is absolutely incredible very welcome news it's just making climate change conversations just much more accessible cuz in the past they haven't been and disabled people and deaf people and neurode Divergent people have felt left out of conversation 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 and you know 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 de disabled and neur diverent friends like we do have to think outside of the box and like when it comes to Innovation we're probably the people to get on board for these conversations because we see the world really differently because I've got to preempt all the hurdles all the barriers and I think you know the de 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 exactly moving forward I agree so for those who are interested a full glossery of science can be found on the Scottish sensory Center website so on to our second reason to be cheerful Sam you actually shared this story on your Instagram didn't you from BBC News yeah I'm such a sucker for like a happy a happy story I love how that I you know you you just just take take inspiration of course you inspired me not only when we're working together but just out and about in general course so Henrietta on yma she's from bery 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 neighbors 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 turn to food banks and a recent study by the Joseph rry Foundation found that almost eight out of 10 londoners on low income are skipping Mills or going without Essentials um so it's it's amazing that women like Henrietta or people like Henrietta are out there just serving the community I she is 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 virtal 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 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 random is in the street and it's really funny CU 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 like hi but I will say to people oh my God beautiful dress and you can just tell that that lifts people Spirit you know and I think that cost kindness costs nothing I agree I'm pleased to introduce today's guest joining us is content creator model comedian educator and author fat 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 that's Timbo great to have you on the motability Pod welcome welcome welcome I've personally watched your journey which has been phenomenal um so let's start at the very beginning you're a model also working in finance and went on the show UND datatables tell us about that how was that experience cuz I mean you mentioned in your book that when you were asked you didn't know whether to laugh or to cry 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've never done anything like that before in terms of going on t 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 undatable 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 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 could happen and I think from there it kind of helped me recognize 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 kind of was that stepping stone for me so I'm quite fightful for it actually I I love that because I have spoken hi it's Samantha by the way and I hi baby you're all right 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 no worries I've spoken a lot about the undatable and it was it came out very very close to when I first moved to London and I very probably very similar to you I got unated with messages on Instagram like from producers do you want to be part of the show called The onat Bo 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 experienc 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 favor 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 like this and we spoke about the you know down with uh down with dating on Netflix last episode the problem I still have 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 of people can watch a show like that and have a nuanced respectful non- aist approach when watching it no I know what you I did I did speak about this in the guardian um uh specifically down for love but 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 kind of thing but I did highlight as well that it is educational as well um there is people with nuances that want to learn about people with disabilities so there is a plus side to it but there is a downside because we're 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's so important we do what we do every day educate people bring awareness talk about our lived experience so that average highy people don't think so they think about how not to treat us basically and um 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 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 and I love that you've used your platform as just a way to highlight and shine a light on issues within Society yes and but looking at talking about after the show so your presence grew and as well as a content creator you like you said you became a comedian um obviously a model and now an author congratulations but which is your favorite title or title that means the most to you to be honest with you a lot of people would think I would say comedian but I would say Ora because people really get to know the Crocs the the meat and bones and Crocs of me where I explain about my sister and my sisters I should say and what got me to where I am today I think watching a 15sec clip and then people moving on yeah they like it at the time but 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 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 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 just allows the reader to get more involved rather than just read it and it just stay on the surface level can actually take those lessons on board just thought in my book I need something like that and I'm glad uh people have responded to it well and actually writing things in there and I'm like yes journaling isn't it yeah but journaling I love journaling yeah and I think you know very similar you know when I wrote my book it was very cathartic and I actually learned a lot about my own disability identity and it kind of like opened a lot of 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 I was crying sometimes because I was like transported back to seveny old mother I like it wasn't your fault tell me about it honestly it's like you know when you're just doving into things that you haven't even unpacked as an adult and I have to explain it in a book it's it's like just revisiting like you just said like you're revisiting your old self but 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 does it mean that I shouldn't write it it you know 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 You' got a driving license for that it's like oh there go that's so but but it's normally it's normally certain certain demographic in there it's like 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 remember one yeah I remember once I went on um a bus and in London the buses they thank goodness they don't do it anymore when you press the ramp it used to go wheelchair on board wheelchair on board honestly I got on 7 o' in the morning it was absolutely rammed Central London and this like you know raining and I got on out morning like really loud to everybody and I and you know I I I would say you're a you're naturally comedic you're naturally a bubbly character but does it ever get to a point where you're like ah you know what it's I I can't I can't Pander to your uncomfortability or your ignorance anymore do you know what I think I still kind of have this I have this thing where cuz 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 olated in my corner but I'm trying my best to change that I think over the years I've gotten better at it and just speak into to people and just not having any worries because I used to think people stare at me yes but how are they going to 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 um not be that person I've realized if I do that then I'm not going to be able to talk to people I'm not going to be able to tell people that it's okay to be little I'm just I'm literally just little I just have smaller bones I normally end up that with that conversation being you know I'm only little my only will choose I am an absolute douchebag but that's a 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 a self-proclaimed fashion Easter and I was absolutely Blown Away by first of all the dress that I saw you wearing because you featured in MA issue of British Vogue so this was um a collaborative um piece from vog through tilting the lens obviously with chenade Burke and it was reframing fashion and it featured I believe 19 disabled people uh from all different um creative industry so fashion sport activism and the art and I actually went around lots of different shops to try and get all the different covers of the um of the the edition of V just because 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 going to lie little bit jealous I was a bit like wow I mean did you get to keep the dress that's my first question I did I did can I borrow it you can if you want you can it's an amazing dress um but honestly I think I collapsed when they asked me because I was just like me doing F when I first started modeling and started doing it more I was like you know what one day I'm might do vog I Lally said that I was like one day I about do v i me I like to say far-fetched things just to if it happens and it did happen in just a few years like it was insane the people that I worked with like chenade so thankful because it just opened my eyes to what's possible and what change we are making we 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 just normalizing it that's all I want in life like normalizing disabilities that's it and that's what fobe helped me do and oh still shocking but I did it I can imagine that you just still wake up and think I did fog I did fog yeah and it's beautiful how you spoke it into existence like that's just amazing I literally did I spoke into existence I did it in a way where I I said yeah one day I'll do Vogue and there was like a Vogue Challenge on Tik Tok as well I got involved in that Vogue Challenge and I end that invol what's the Vogue challenge so it was what was it so during the pandemic everyone was just getting pictures of whatever just put in vobe on top yeah so they called it the vobe challenge and at the time I just use one of my old modeling pictures and I was wearing white as well so that's that's what a coincidence yes um yeah and then few years later actually did by oh bet your family was so proud your family and friends they were so shocked they were so shocked my mom was like wow I got a vog model in my house I was like a you know that's it you made it you made it um so you mentioned earlier about how you sort of used to isolate yourself but obviously fast water 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 always I always refer it to a muscle if you keep if you keep working that muscle it will get stronger if you stop working that muscle it'll get weaker um and that's how you have to see confidence I wouldn't say you're always going to be 100% but as long as you're working on it doing new things breaking boundaries your confidence will always grow there's probably going to be a lot of um young disabled people listening to this podcast because we are down with the kids clearly yes um and they may be thinking okay yeah fair enough easy said than done because 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 cuz 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 want to try and move out and be independent you know whether you're you're an ambulatory a wheelchair user there's so many variables and I think it's it can be quite challenging to go well I've done it so you know this is your I'm your Ro model so what advice would you give to to our community and to people who may may look at you and go okay well work for you but I know it won't work for for me it's true I completely agree with you cuz 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 counselor or a therapists or teachers to to help them with the mindset that they need reading books oh my God reading books was my stepping stone to to even thinking positively because before that I thought life was hell I thought life was what 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 or 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 out of this mindset I want to do anything to get out of this state so um all those things can all these things that you might not have ever thought of or might not have ever like had the tools to know about 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 that you you can use and experiment and really feel for what what you feel comfortable with and it connects you 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 internalized ablism where I was like e disabled people I mean I'm happy me but I don't really like I'm telling 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 yeah excuse me when when I look back and I think oh my God I can't I can't faced a little person I can't see what it's crazy and I think yes because of our own internalized aism that has been put on to us we has learn Behavior 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're going to be educated on what it's like to be a little person they're going to have little people around they're going to have a little person mom you know so it's way different to how we grew up I love that just the thought that you're just a role model yeah so FS we have a tradition going on where our previous guest asked 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 what makes it inative is I'm don't want to give a lazy answer because it's me but I don't know it can be you me because it's me I have to think of a inative ways to do things get things done to partake in being so in the same scheme of things have you got a question for our next guest I think I want to ask 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 dis vinity I love being different now I I I embrace it so much now people stare at me yes but I look good while you're staring at me I look good so it's fine oh I love that question and it's been such a pleasure F thank you so much honestly keep being great and hopefully you'll come back and talk to us whether that be in the magazine or on the podcast again so yeah I'm definitely keeping in touch I'll be booking in for Tik Tok tutorials from you let me know what your hourly rate is my love I'll be around be around with the carrot cake carrot cake and tea that's not a bad idea actually I love a cheeky I love a cheeky carrot I love a cheeky carrot cake yeah see I'll be knocking on your door my darling thank you so much guys it's been a pleasure thank you so much take care my lovely what time is it Sam with trying to do Mariah Carey I mean the fact that I feel like the bottom of someone's shoe right now that was impressive I appreciate the effort yeah I did it just for you Matt and so what are we with today today uh so we are talking about electric cars so we chatted recently with Katherine Maris head of innovation at motability about the the brilliant work they're doing in improving accessibility around electric cars and electric 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 going to 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 through a car wash or can you plug it in to charge it while it's raining and things like that and you absolutely can of course you can um but you know they're perfectly reasonable questions to ask if you but yeah so I think I think the most important question 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 of an electric car charger at your house which is really good because they they cost a reasonable amount of money so if you can get that for free that's fantastic now the reason they're cheaper is that or obviously it just uses your home electricity tariff now average electricity price in the UK is 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 asked you that well it would depend on how big the car's petrol tank is and it would depend 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 P per kilowatt hour uh and a sort of normal siiz battery in electric car is about 60 Kow um 60 Kow hours I should say uh then that brings you to about of 20 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 and it's usually quite substantially cheaper at that time the washing machine isn't yes they say do you wash it at night there you go it's and it's exactly the same principle and that actually can drastically reduce the cost of running an electric car can I play double double cut though you absolutely can 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 but what if you live in a flat or or a Terrace 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 subscription to this network and that gives you a better rate on charging so it's probably still not it's not going to be as cheap as charging at home but 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 terorists you can charge a car for as little as450 very cheap that sounds very cheap cuz you think about filling your tank oh yeah you're looking at like hundreds is that a comparison I it sounds too good to be I mean yeah I'm just like yeah it's hard to compare but then and prices do vary because 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 would be more like say 2020 which is suddenly not 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 £450 yeah exactly um can you overcharge like so can you over so should you let it run down quite substantially and then charge it up but don't be topping it up even if you've you know it's gone down a little bit this is one of those things that that you know lots of people say different things and 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 M average daily mileage in the UK is around 20 miles 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 want to be doing is going out and just recharging every from 95% to 100 95 to 100 it's a fear though people still have fear yeah and they'll be like I need to do it I need to do it just in case 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 weight what do I do turn back or just go and get the expensive cat food like what what do I do no that is range anxiety that's called is that what it is yeah range anxiety is a a thing e me that's me a lot people um but yeah you know it's 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're low on battery there are lots of places you can charge your car in public that are very fast um but we 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 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 charger you'd use if you were visiting your grand for is there a bit of agism here what's going on 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 freepoint socket oh wow but it's generally not advisable that take in Fe 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 obviously it varies but you're looking at about 30 hours for like a kind of average size electric car be the same 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 light a car that's that doesn't need a huge battery if you mostly just do Journeys around town I just had another question so if you live really remote Jo a very rural area that's something else you need to consider for getting an electric car don't absolutely um so yeah that actually sort of brings me on to a next Point actually which is to check the 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-road parking which is great 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 now if you think 200 miles is like driving from London to Manchester that's a long way so 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 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 to somewhere rural so when you get there and your batter is low so quite if you're doing long journey to electric cars it does require a bit of 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 going to get where and sometimes people actually leave accessibility comments on there which is I just worry about people who AR Tech savy internet savy and I think we need to be very mindful that not everybody knows how to you know be be fluent of navigating social media I mean when my mom 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 yes so what about that I feel like it might be excluding a certain demographic there is yeah there is an argument about that one of the things that is going to make it easier lots more cars now are adding a feature within the satav where if you're going on a long journey and you put in uh oh I've got to go to here the car will know if you're going to need to charge on the way and it can add a charging spot on rout which actually makes life a lot easier so takes a bit of the thought out of it I just had one question you know like with a phone you can carry like a a charging bank with you is there any like that for an electric car so this is a question I get asked is what happens when you run out of battery right um it's very rare that will happen cuz the car will give you lots of warnings it's not going to suddenly stop um and even if you run out it it goes into like a sort of lymph mode where you can drive really slowly and hopefully either get out of the way or to safety or just get to a charger hopefully but say say the worst happens and that and that you don't and you're stranded the RAC now are equipped with Vans for electric vehicles 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 of not something you can carry around yourself cuz the size of the battery you need would be enormous so heavy but I didn't know that so that's really good and you get the ra membership as fre package with bability 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 going to generalize and say this is like a car with an average size battery you've got about 30 seconds that's it I'm going to get cut off right if you're charging from home probably takes about 10 hours but you're not going to 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 it's still going to be mostly full uh if you're charged in public there are rapid charges that go from anywhere from 50 to 150 to 350 Kow they're Ultra rapid um and then it comes down to how fast your car can accept a charge so generally most car yeah so there's 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 just been added to the scheme that have something called 800 volt architecture which means they can charge really really fast if you've got one of those and you're lucky enough to find a 350 Kow charger which are still quite rare you can be from up to 80% battery in around 18 minutes which is rather Snappy that is Snappy but expect us pay a bit more for the a pumpkin spice latte ra that that's that's what I'm I think 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 and and they're all automatic so I think most people actually enjoy driving one so give one a try check that your whatever adaptations you need a compatible with an EV check that a hoist will fit for example cuz sometimes the boots can be a little bit smaller on electric cars because of the where the batteries are positioned not always um to check that a hoist will work if you need one those kind of the main bits to get you going and our Gadget have we got for a quick gadget gadget gadget 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 going to see it again and I can only imagine how difficult that is for people with like you know limited movement 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 it's sort of made of foam and you it goes over where the seat belt 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 the never realm never to be seen again amazing that's really handy it's not it's not for concealing anything that should not be in your car like can imagine there might be some uh younguns out there oh and that's it for today's episode of the motability lifestyle pod thanks to Matt liore with his car chat today and our guest fat Timbo thanks to our producer y Goa at RE Audio and to our tutorial assistant Lucy Rose at Wy if you like this episode then give us a follow to tell all your friends and then please do leave a review if you want to tell us 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 Tik Tok I'm sure FS will be over there won't you and watch the full video on YouTube you can find us on motability uncore lifestyle uncore mag finally if you want more information about the motability schemes go to motability deco. K or if you want to learn more about motability the foundation visit motability org.uk and that's it everybody thank you so much for joining us I'm Samantha Rank and I'm s Mar odm see you in the bye