Episode 180: Liz Allan and Lulu O' Hagan - Making EVs Simple Through Community, Confidence and Real Experience

Episode 180: Liz Allan and Lulu O' Hagan - Making EVs Simple Through Community, Confidence and Real Experience. 

Liz Allan is joined by Lulu O'Hagan, founder of EVs Made Easy and the Ham EV Group in London, for an open and engaging conversation about what it really takes to help people feel confident about switching to electric vehicles.

Lulu shares her fascinating journey from film and TV production into EV advocacy, driven by lived experience rather than industry jargon. She talks candidly about becoming one of the first EV drivers in her local area, navigating charging without a driveway, and why community support has been essential in helping more people make the transition.

The conversation explores the most persistent myths about electric vehicles, from batteries and range to charging costs, and why real-world experience often outweighs technical explanations. Liz and Lulu also discuss the role of collaboration in improving the EV driver experience, particularly for those living in flats or urban areas, and how small, local actions can have a meaningful impact.

Alongside her EV work, Lulu brings insight from the film and television industry, noting that sustainability is increasingly influencing production decisions, including the use of electric vehicles on set and the growing importance of the Green Rider.

This episode is an honest look at how making EVs simpler, more social and accessible can help build confidence, trust and momentum in the journey towards net zero.

Quote of the episode:

"The only way you really understand an EV is by driving one. Once people experience it, everything changes." Lulu O'Hagan

Lulu O'Hagan Bio:

Lulu O'Hagan is an EV transition specialist, content creator and community builder. Through her "EVs Made Easy" Instagram account, Lulu helps demystify electric vehicles for everyday drivers by breaking down charging, range, and ownership in a clear, accessible way. She also founded the Ham EV Group in London, a grassroots community that supports residents without driveways in charging confidently through collaboration and shared knowledge. Alongside her EV work, Lulu has an extensive background in film and TV production, where she is actively championing sustainability and electric vehicles on set.

Lulu O'Hagan Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evsmadeeasy?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lulu-o-hagan-01242314

Transcript

Liz Allan [00:00:01]:
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Electric Evolution. This week I have with me the lovely Lulu o' Hagan and she is the founder and EV transition specialist of EVs Made Easy and also the founder of the Ham EV Group in London. I don't mean anything to do with animals, as in ham that way. Thank you for joining me, Lulu.

Lulu O'Hagan [00:00:29]:
Thanks for having me. I've been waiting ages to come on you.

Liz Allan [00:00:33]:
I know.

Liz Allan [00:00:35]:
You should just give me a nudge.

Lulu O Hagan [00:00:37]:
I know.

Liz Allan [00:00:37]:
Well, I have given me a nudge.

Lulu O Hagan [00:00:39]:
I have.

Liz Allan [00:00:40]:
And I've still got a. I've still got an octopus in the car for you. So that's another story. Anyway.

Lulu O Hagan [00:00:47]:
Pink octopus.

Liz Allan [00:00:48]:
I know, exactly. Anyway, let's talk a little bit about you and your background, because you've got a really eclectic one. We kind of got to know each other through your Instagram channel and other things, didn't we? But, but actually, let's talk a bit about what you did before EVS became a bit of a headline in your life.

Lulu O Hagan [00:01:12]:
Life before evs.

Liz Allan [00:01:13]:
Exactly.

Lulu O Hagan [00:01:16]:
So I suppose I could say that I actually started in an insurance broker, funnily enough, for the oil and gas department.

Liz Allan [00:01:26]:
Oh, okay.

Lulu O Hagan [00:01:27]:
But I was 17, a long time ago, as a clerk typist, and I was typing things like about semi-submersible barges, which I had no idea how to write in shorthand. And then, by some fluke, I ended up working for a stockbroker after an insurance broker, and I went to work on the stock market floor when we had one in the city on Threadneedle Street. And I was a market maker, and that was in the Motors book. In the Motors book, a book is all the stocks and shares that come under that category. So I wasn't in stores like Marks and Spencer, funnily enough, always my passion. I ended up in motors. So you're buying and selling shares from the broker for their private clients, that kind of thing, and you're making the prices. And that was, I realise, really privileged.

Lulu O Hagan [00:02:23]:
Now I was in my 20s, it was in the 80s, and.

Liz Allan [00:02:29]:
There were.

Lulu O Hagan [00:02:29]:
1500 men and I was the 10th woman on the market.

Liz Allan [00:02:32]:
Oh my word.

Lulu O Hagan [00:02:34]:
And so, you know, you had to hold your own. And then from there I did an interview about the stock market with a TV channel, Michael Aspel's show back in the day.

Liz Allan [00:02:48]:
Oh my God.

Lulu O Hagan [00:02:49]:
And they said that I taught nonstop. And I had the blue eyeshadow, red lipstick, 80s style, and would I consider presenting? So I was like, my dad works at Ford's again. There's the start of the car, love Mum, works in a library, comes from Essex, doesn't know anything about it. And then ended up working, presenting, and working in film and TV production. That's part of what I still do. When my kids were small, I was a personal shopper and stylist, did people's colours, and I've always done a bit of retail. And then the love of EVs came because we had a 23-year-old beautiful red Volvo T5 estate with cream leather interior, and he was called Geronimo because we couldn't think of anything that was jrn.

Lulu O Hagan [00:03:45]:
So. And we really love Geronimo but he was petrol and after being 23 years old he had to go and we fully committed to an electric, all electric car. And I've always been around cars. Like I say, my dad was at Ford's; he was a graduate, went in buying truck heads from Renault, and spoke fluent French and German. And my boyfriend, my first boyfriend taught me about Mark 4 facelifts, things like that on 4. And he had a Jag, and yeah, and he loved Ferrari Dinos, this guy. So I really learned a lot. And then when we swapped from Geronimo to an ev, we didn't have any charging near us, and so we had to drive five minutes to a charger and walk 15 minutes home.

Lulu O Hagan [00:04:42]:
And so that was a full commitment to a fully electric vehicle, not a hybrid.

Liz Allan [00:04:47]:
And what did you get? What was your first EV there?

Lulu O Hagan [00:04:50]:
Well, we still have it because my husband probably wants to keep it for 23 years. It was amazing at the time, it was an Enero. It is an Enero, yeah, Royal blue. So although we are mistaken for an Uber quite often now, at the time no one, there weren't many. But then of course Uber, they know how great the, you know, the warranty is on Kia's, etc., so they popped up everywhere. So yeah, we got that in February 21st. So that one's called UFI because it's UFE. Couldn't think of anything else.

Lulu O Hagan [00:05:33]:
And so we've had that, yeah, nearly, well, five years and a brilliant car. I mean I, I would like to try others but I'll have to fight that battle. And then we got a second-hand, more of a runaround, which is an E208 Peugeot Red. So we have two fully completed and so.

Liz Allan [00:05:57]:
So, when did you start EVs Made Easy? Was that kind of like once you bought the EV, because you obviously have been involved in kind of the film and TV for a long time, you know, was it something that you just thought, actually, let's have a bash at this because?

Lulu O Hagan [00:06:18]:
Well, the sad truth of it is, slightly sad, that I lost my sister when she was 49 to cancer. And that gives you a sharp reminder that you're lucky to be here.

Liz Allan [00:06:33]:
Yeah.

Lulu O Hagan [00:06:34]:
And you should get on with things. So, as we got the EV and we were the only people in the street or anywhere around here with an EV, and because I wasn't doing much presenting, I haven't done any for a long time. I'm always in the production office or doing drama rather than light entertainment. I've done lots, I've done, I floor managed the Big breakfast, worked on Sky News, all sorts of live stuff, and I like live rather than with a drama. You know, you take one, take two. So I just decided that when my sister went, I should just get on with it. And because no one knew about EVs, I know there are people who've been around it a lot longer than me, but for me, five years ago, really no one I knew, no one in my circle, knew anything about it. So I thought I would talk about it on camera to explain it to people, to make it easier for them to transition, really.

Lulu O Hagan [00:07:37]:
And I had. My soon-to-be son-in-law is a cameraman in film and telly. He wasn't working, so we went out, and did you know we did Word Wednesdays, where you were debunking myths about range anxiety? We came, you know, then we ran out of words for Wednesday, so we stopped doing that. We'd done all the myths, so that's why I started really. And I don't do enough, but when I do, I really love it, and I know it has helped people. I know there's even a guy who actually, okay, sort of, it's sort of a name drop, but not really. But he, he was one of the line producers on Ghostbusters and oh my God.

Lulu O Hagan [00:08:20]:
He CLANG He. We know him but I don't see him socially but he told my husband when they ended up working on a job together that he had watched my, some of my videos and that was helped, that helped him when he got his EV because he hadn't had one before and I, I do get bits of feedback like that but I feel like I've told as many stories as I can about how to plug one in, you know, all the different options. There's more to tell now on batteries and things like that. I know, and you know how they've gone up in their. What's the word?

Liz Allan [00:08:59]:
You know.

Lulu O Hagan [00:09:00]:
Yeah. In the range and. And what they're made from and that kind of thing. There are always more stories to tell, but for ease, and to make it easy for the general public. I think I've told those stories quite a bit.

Liz Allan [00:09:13]:
Wellbecause it's not easy to get your head round, is it, really? Kind of, you know, if you've had an EV for a bit, like you have and like we have now, you know, I mean, when I started this podcast, we hadn't. We didn't have one. And talking to people like you made things so much easier. But even then, it was still a bit, you know, I've talked about this before, it was a little bit difficult. I remember, you know, somebody bringing a low, low loader, swap the EV for our Golf. And I cried as it went down the road, oh, what am I gonna do?

Lulu O Hagan [00:09:46]:
What am I gonna do?

Liz Allan [00:09:47]:
Why were we doing stupid things? But, you know. But actually, after all that, I now would never ever go back, you know, unless I had. Well, I don't ever want to.

Lulu O Hagan [00:09:59]:
So I think it's. I mean, you hear it all the time in all the things that you attend, and I attend and what we listen to. I think very few people go back. I know of only one person who went back, and it was really because of where we live. It was just quite hard at the time to charge fully electric, so she got a petrol version. She had a BMW IX thing. Then she went back to a petrol BMW. She's still my friend.

Lulu O Hagan [00:10:36]:
But it was hard.

Liz Allan [00:10:38]:
I'm surprised. Yes, I was gonna say.

Lulu O Hagan [00:10:41]:
But she. Yeah, not many. Most people, yeah, once they have a go, I've. I've got. Because, as you know, I run this HAM EV group. And so when I first I. I spent from April 21 to May or June 22 writing to Richmond Council to lobby them for a lamppost charger in my road. Because I live in a flat, I don't have parking my side of the street, so a gully wouldn't help.

Lulu O Hagan [00:11:10]:
Not that that existed five years ago. And so after 13 months, I did get a lamppost put in, and they put one around the corner as well, charging. And from that we start. I started an EV group because one other guy kept showing up, who's still part of it. And there were four other charges in the HAM lamp post charges, but they were permanently iced, and people still don't know what that means. So I will obviously say "iced" means it was internally combustion-engined, which means a normal car is blocking your flipping space to charge. Yeah, they were permanently blocked. So the two in my road just around the corner were very popular, and they started to increase, increasing the usage.

Lulu O Hagan [00:11:56]:
And rather than rely just on ZAPMAP and Electroverse, I started this community. So we have postcards, green postcards with a little logo on. And if it gets iced or if an EV that we don't know goes on it, we put the card on, and it says, " Welcome to the HAM EV group. And then brackets. "If you're not an electric vehicle, kindly notice that this is a charging point", and then people join that way. I just have a, I just put my email. Evs made easymail and they joined. So we've probably got just under 30 members, and now we actually have bollards and things rolled out across the whole of Ham.

Lulu O Hagan [00:12:41]:
So we've gone from six charging points only to I don't know how many. So that makes it a lot easier. But you still have the little bollards. People don't notice the blue light. You know, they're constantly iced. But with my road, we talk all the time, and we share information, and if someone's really desperate, they'll say, I've only got this much left. Can anyone jump on. And even this morning, two new ladies have joined and one lady had put. So we say things like off the, off my road, Simpson, off Simpson or on Simpson, off Simpson.

Lulu O Hagan [00:13:18]:
That's all you write in the group, so people can just look at a glance. This lady wrote that she was on a charging point and wasn't coming off it because there was nowhere else to park anywhere near. But she said, if anyone needs it, I'll move. So it's all about collaboration.

Liz Allan [00:13:39]:
Do you know, I really like that, I really like that. And, and actually like you say, being in flats and things like that, just, just talking to, to each other and having that, having that group would make a massive, a massive difference. You know all the times when people kind of go, oh, you know, because I know there's one specific person in the sector who doesn't like cross pavement. I know it's not appropriate for you, but you know, it, it's not one, one size fits all, is it?

Lulu O Hagan [00:14:08]:
So, we've got lots of Uber drivers who've joined the group now, and they really rely on the charging points because they're flats. So. And also, a 73-year-old man joined the group, and he'd never driven an electric car before. Good on him. And he had an E208 like mine. So he messaged me, and I went round. I knew him vaguely. I went round. I had to go in the car with him, and I showed him how to plug it in, and that's for everybody. Obviously, that's been going on since 21. So most people who've got electric cars have much more clue about them.

Lulu O Hagan [00:14:49]:
But there is still this element of help if needed, which I think is fantastic.

Liz Allan [00:14:55]:
In fact, you know what, it's just reminded me I need to share with you, just in case this helps. So, about two and a half years ago, we put together an EV charging guide with EVA England, and I updated it a few months ago. So I will share it with you if it, if it's helpful.

Lulu O Hagan [00:15:12]:
Okay.

Liz Allan [00:15:12]:
We had it set on our website for ages, and then our website changed, and now we've got charge-wise, so it's kind of things, things are changing, so I want to try and make sure that it's just not sat there because anything to help people, same as you. I think the fact that you went around is actually fantastic. It's. It's kind of. I probably, I might have said to you, and I said this on the podcast before. There was a couple last year who didn't know the difference between a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, you know, or an electric. And they were getting no help from their dealerships. So my husband and I got talking to them because my husband worked with them, with this, you know, the cup, the couple, the chap.

Liz Allan [00:15:56]:
And, actually, I spent time because I wanted to, I wanted to spend time and actually help him, help them understand it. And they picked up a Volvo, an electric Volvo in December, and it was just. Yeah, that, that to me is very rewarding. It is, absolutely. And you'll have that, won't you?

Lulu O Hagan [00:16:20]:
I. Yeah. And I mean, you know, you do get people. We've got a neighbour across the road with a newly dropped curb driveway. Not that I'm jealous and but she told me he went and spent a lot of money on a, on a Fiat 600 Hybrid which gives her 35 extra miles if she needs. And I said so, he didn't want to, you know, spend that money on an EV then. And she went no, sorry, Lulu, electrics aren't going to last. And I have to go.

Liz Allan [00:16:55]:
For those of you who are listening, she's just had one of those smiles that just says it all, really.

Lulu O Hagan [00:17:01]:
You say that. You just go, "Okay, fine. I'm glad you've got an extra 35 miles." Don't worry about saving the planet.

Liz Allan [00:17:11]:
Said things People don't realise. I mean I, I had a conversation with a chap who works for Henley Business School and he's like one of the kind of customer engagement managers or outreach and, and he'd been thinking about getting an ev, but the charging side of things and, and he kind of, I think he lives the other side of Reading where I am and the charging had been putting him off, you know and his, and his mum lives in Wales, you know, so, so I was kind of talking about what we're trying to do with charge wise and also trying to just give him a little bit of a helping hand with regards to understanding how it all works. You know, it might take him a few months to get to the point where he buys one or whatever.

Lulu O Hagan [00:17:56]:
But it's just that thing of, can you, what I would give for a driveway and my own charging point, you know, if we've managed for five years from our flat with an electric vehicle on lampposts and whatever. And obviously, we've driven to Amsterdam, used electronics, and made the whole drive to the Everything Electric Show. You know, we don't just do our little, we don't do a five-mile circuit. We do use the car, but on a day-to-day basis, we often just rely on that lamppost out there. So. And if I had a driveway, God, I wouldn't even have to think about charging. It just wouldn't be my issue at all.

Liz Allan [00:18:40]:
So depending on what you might, how many miles you, you. I mean, we're, you know, we've got, we are lucky, but we don't live in London, so. And we've got a driveway, but you know, I still need to use public charging.

Lulu O Hagan [00:18:54]:
What, you haven't got a home charger?

Liz Allan [00:18:56]:
No, no, we have, we have but, but I, you know, it's like when I take my son down to Ex to uni at this time of year, you know, so we're talking in, in February at this time of year, I can get, we can probably get about 145 miles, 155 out of it. But it's 145 miles to, to Exeter.

Lulu O Hagan [00:19:15]:
350-mile range car.

Liz Allan [00:19:17]:
Well, it's all financial, isn't it, really, when it comes down to it. It's one of those things. I'd love to, I would love to.

Lulu O Hagan [00:19:24]:
Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:19:24]:
I was going to say just going, going back to, you know, kind of the things that you've been doing to help people. What are the biggest myths that, that do you know like you said, you had the, the Wednesday words. What are the biggest myths that, that you've kind of, other than your neighbor across the road thinking they don't last? What, what are the ones that have kind of come up and you've gone, oh my God, that's still happening. People are still thinking that.

Lulu O Hagan [00:19:49]:
Well, she said electrics won't last as in the idea of them. So it's even worse. And they don't. So the biggest concern tends to be battery; still, how long the battery is going to last. So even if you can convince them on range, they'll say, but how long and how long is the battery going to last, though? You know, I might want to keep my car for 20 years. And the other thing is, they still question how the batteries are made. You know, our children digging minerals out of the ground, that one. So it's usually about the battery.

Lulu O Hagan [00:20:29]:
Of course, charging is just standard. I don't, I think for anyone that's not sure about them, they're always going to question the charging and the range. But the one that does tend to come up is if I did get one, I might, you know, I'm not someone who changes my car all the time, and then I've got this battery issue. I tend to say, actually, we don't know yet how long a battery lasts. You know, they say 8 to 10 as a guide, but do we really know? They could go on for 15 years. It's.

Liz Allan [00:21:01]:
I think they go on for longer than that.

Lulu O Hagan [00:21:03]:
Yeah, it's unproven for now.

Liz Allan [00:21:06]:
Yeah, it depends on the car's age and other factors. But I know that, you know, kind of the degradation on the, on the batteries in, you know, a lot of vehicles is, is, is quite small and ours has done, I don't know about what yours has done, and ours is, ours is a 20, 21 and it's done about 40 odd thousand miles now. But I can imagine it's not.

Lulu O Hagan [00:21:27]:
Has it changed much? Have you noticed?

Liz Allan [00:21:29]:
I don't think so. No. No. I mean, we probably need to kind of do one because you can get clear what on other tests and stuff like that, to see what kind of, what percentage, if anything, it's gone down by. But I think the biggest thing is that I don't know about you, but people compare an EV battery to a mobile phone, don't they? Because like, you know, think it's going to last as long as a mobile phone, or it's only going to die. In a couple of years, you know. But it's totally different.

Lulu O Hagan [00:21:58]:
You're told about the 80, maximum 80, down to 20, which is what people associate with phones as well. I think that's why they liken it. But. But I would say our car was probably 300, and it does 335 in the summer and around 285 in winter. Only this I've not. I've noticed a 50 mile drop on the fully char on the full charge.

Lulu O Hagan [00:22:32]:
It's 2, 35 or something. So I'm going to get that checked because that's the first time that's ever happened and it certainly hasn't been colder this winter than any other I think. So, someone did mention there could be an issue with two things not talking to each other properly. Properly. But still two, three, five after five years is pretty good. And with the E3 E208, which was three years old when I bought it, I still get 185 miles on a full charge. Right. And I've had that, I've now had that for two years, and it hasn't changed.

Lulu O Hagan [00:23:11]:
185. So you know that's the one I consider more of a runaround, because I used to have to do long trips to Essex and things, so I would always go in the Enero, but if I had to go in the E208, I'd just make sure. I like what you will do with Exeter. You know, you just make sure you charge halfway down and have a coffee or something, don't you?

Liz Allan [00:23:31]:
Yeah, exactly. I think you just reminded me that I need to plug my car in because I'm going to Cardiff tomorrow.

Lulu O Hagan [00:23:36]:
Oh my God.

Liz Allan [00:23:37]:
Thanks for reminding me.

Lulu O Hagan [00:23:39]:
You're welcome. I mean, we also use EVS on our films. That's the other thing. Yeah, we try to use. We're trying to get. There are more coming in. So we've been to lots of film studios where they're talking about being sustainable in movies and telly, and there are companies now that will lease cars to films for a price and their EVs, because that's what we need to do. It's just getting actors and producers and bigwigs getting over themselves to think they need to be in a black Mercedes saloon, which you can get as an EV, or you get the EA.

Lulu O Hagan [00:24:20]:
What's it, the EQ? One of them's EQs. I can't remember the names and the numbers now, but one's a saloon, and one's a 4x4. But most of the time, big actors and people are driven around in the saloon version. So it's just. It's still a slow education. But for us, when we have unit cars, and unit cars are the ones that you drive the actors to and from places in. We just drove them in EVs on ours.

Lulu O Hagan [00:24:47]:
And they're nice, aren't they? All EVs are nice because they're all pretty.

Liz Allan [00:24:50]:
Yeah.

Lulu O Hagan [00:24:51]:
So.

Liz Allan [00:24:52]:
Well, when this episode goes out, it'll be the week after. Excuse me, Rebecca Denyer from Sebring, you know, so she's. She's going to be on. The week before.

Lulu O Hagan [00:25:04]:
Yes.

Liz Allan [00:25:05]:
So yeah, just put. Get them into one of those. Because you can't argue with the Sebring, can you? You know that they use.

Lulu O Hagan [00:25:11]:
They.

Liz Allan [00:25:11]:
You. They've got that electric platform that they. But you can put any. Anybody over the top of it, you know.

Lulu O Hagan [00:25:19]:
Yeah, yeah.

Liz Allan [00:25:20]:
That in itself is a. Is a brilliant idea. You've got to talk about your films because I think, you know, you've just talked about the sustainability side of stuff.

Lulu O Hagan [00:25:27]:
Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:25:28]:
But actually, you and your husband and your daughter have actually produced, and you know, you've produced, written and produced and done all of that with Sustainable.

Lulu O Hagan [00:25:39]:
Yeah, totally sustainable. The newest part of being green for movies, which makes me laugh in that it's a good thing. But it's called the Green Rider. So a rider is always a clause. Like when Lady Gaga wants 40,000 doves in her room upon arrival and 50 bottles of champagne. That's all lies. But you know, that's what a rider is. It's a clause in their contract that lets them have these things.

Lulu O Hagan [00:26:03]:
A Green Rider is being set up by the actors, but not yet fully in place. But we adhered to it by. By the dot. And the Green Rider is that shock horror actors might actually travel in the same vehicle as another actor to the set.

Liz Allan [00:26:18]:
Oh my goodness.

Lulu O Hagan [00:26:20]:
Or they might. The same Winnie Bago, you know, rather than have their own. And that's. That's something that will be really huge. The Green Rider, because you know, they're not. Some people will still have to fly in on their own private planes if they're coming from far away. There's not much you can do about it. But it's all a massive start, and we are the first feature film.

Lulu O Hagan [00:26:41]:
Think of England. It's called to adhere to the Green Rider. Totally. So, yeah, I'm pretty proud of how sustainable we were on that. And the next one we do in October will be the same, though we feel sometimes, don't you, that you're all doing it on your own, even though we are all a collaborative group, the EV people. But sometimes it's such a slog.

Liz Allan [00:27:05]:
It is a slog trying to get people to recognise how important it is. But let's talk, then, because we've got to do this. Let's just talk about the film because. Because, you know.

Lulu O Hagan [00:27:21]:
Yes.

Liz Allan [00:27:22]:
How did it come? How many films have you done? How did it come about? How did you decide to be, you know, was the sustainability side part of what you've been doing? Because, you know. Because of the EV side.

Lulu O Hagan [00:27:35]:
Yeah. What.

Liz Allan [00:27:36]:
What? Because. Because of your background, you always undersell yourself. I'm going to tell, I'm going to tell everybody now. She always undersells herself. If all of. All of Lulu's experience on, on kind of LinkedIn, you will see everything that she's been involved in and there's absolutely loads to do with film and TV and, and everything, you know, so, so it's. To me, it's really, really interesting because that doesn't always smack of sustainability, as you've just said. So to integrate the two and bring your, you know, love of EVs and cars into all of that as well.

Liz Allan [00:28:18]:
Blooming egg.

Lulu O Hagan [00:28:21]:
I remember talking to Mr Paul Kirby from the EV Cafe about Albert. And Albert is BAFTA. Albert has been for quite a long time now. I couldn't tell you how many years television has been trying to make productions green. So you had to get your, your, your Albert certification. And so you fill in lots of forms, they ask you lots of questions, and you fill in lots of forms to qualify how much paper you used in the photocopier. I mean, we don't really do that now.

Lulu O Hagan [00:28:53]:
How green your bins are. What, you know, how many bins do you have on set, on stage? All of that. But Nick and I, my husband and I, always, you know, we're the. We will follow the council's bin policy, you know, and save our food and do all that. You know, we always try to be green. We always have. And then, obviously, when Geronimo went, and we got the EV, that's part of our commitment to being good and green generally. And then Nick is a producer in his own right, but also Line produces for other people, because when you make your own films, you don't make any money.

Lulu O Hagan [00:29:32]:
And this particular film, Think of England, came about. Originally, about 20 years ago. Yeah. And then couldn't do it because you need money to make your own film. And if you aren't rich by birth or something, it's really hard to fund yourself long enough to make that film with a wife and kids in this instance, and survive. And so they've done a recce for this film down in Dover, where it'll be eight, 20 years ago. And it just. They couldn't sustain it.

Lulu O Hagan [00:30:09]:
They couldn't get the funding. And then again, probably because of my sister and my mom passing very close together, Richard, the director, rang Nick and said, " Can we do this? Can we do it? I've rewritten the script. I know it's a long time. And Nick said, "Yeah, let's just do it." So when we chose, when he chose to do that, you have to get. We managed to get a private investor. That investor came through someone I know from a series I did, a drama called The Serpent Queen, which is now on Channel 4. But we did it in 21 in France with Samantha Morton, and that guy who provided me with all the unit cars, non-electric at that point, all the black Mercs would have lost his business if I hadn't given him that job.

Lulu O Hagan [00:31:02]:
And he said, you need to meet my friend. And his friend is now our investor. So it's all about communication. And when we decided to make the film, we talked about the Green Rider, learned about Albert and everything, and decided to be sustainable anyway, so we said we'd do as much as possible. We all came in by train, and we were in Reading at Shinfield Studios near you. So all the actors had to come by train, and when we drove them around in our personal EVs, we got others. We hired two E-Niro's as well. And the film, it's quite small, as in we didn't have a big crew, but lots of people weren't working then.

Lulu O Hagan [00:31:48]:
So we had a lot of big, high-calibre crew. And at Shinfield Studios, it's quite easy to be sustainable, too.

Liz Allan [00:31:56]:
Okay.

Lulu O Hagan [00:31:57]:
But we got all the secondhand props we could. We got a secondhand washing machine for the costume designer. I went around Reading in a lorry with the runner and loaded it onto the lorry. Oh my God. That was quite a feat. We only shot for four weeks. Three weeks in Reading, all on. On this in the studio.

Lulu O Hagan [00:32:20]:
And then one week on Anglesey, which is pretending to be Orkney. And the story is that Winston Churchill, back in 1943, wanted to bolster the troops' morale in the trenches. And he commissioned films. So he commissioned Henry V starring Laurence Olivier. And this is the story of one of the other films ,which is about porn. It's a porn film. The film we've made is not a porn film. And I have been introduced to people.

Lulu O Hagan [00:32:51]:
This is Lulu. Her husband's just made a porn film. It's not a porn film. I'm amazed I still got that job, since it was my future employer. He introduced me like that, too. And it's a story of making. One of the porn films that he.

Liz Allan [00:33:08]:
Commissioned and how it went for Winston Churchill, actually. Did he.

Lulu O Hagan [00:33:16]:
This is based on truth. But actually, I now know that was common. Porn for the troops and Germans. You know, they were all from the 1940s. Porn was really prolific. And we do have a little bit of black-and-white footage in the background of one of our scenes. It's not pretty.

Liz Allan [00:33:35]:
Okay.

Lulu O Hagan [00:33:36]:
They're not all like they are now with. Not that I've seen any. But you know, how I imagine to be where they're all, you know, buff.

Liz Allan [00:33:45]:
And that's just the women.

Lulu O Hagan [00:33:53]:
It's a really interesting story. It isn't a light romance. It's tough. Watch. Brilliant performances. And we won Best Production Design last November at its world premiere in Tallinn, Estonia. Our UK premiere is just about to happen in Glasgow at the film festival.

Liz Allan [00:34:15]:
Fantastic.

Lulu O Hagan [00:34:16]:
In March. And then we go on to the Glasgow Film Festival. Sorry, Manchester Film Festival. So we're still on the festival circuit because after this, you need to get sales and distribution to get it into theatres.

Liz Allan [00:34:28]:
Right. Is that. I was going to ask you how. How it works.

Lulu O Hagan [00:34:31]:
That's the thing. So festivals are amazing. If you get into them, you have to be selected. So it's all a testament to the movie that we've been selected for three different ones so far. And then if a sales company comes along and likes it and wants to take a risk on it. Because it's a risk. Because there are no A-list A-listers in it, and there are no A-list exec producers who've put their name to it. So you have to get people to see it and get it for what it is without an A-list.

Lulu O Hagan [00:35:00]:
I mean, can you imagine? It's so. It's, you know, that drives me mad. That's like, you know, only wanting to drive a new car. Not a secondhand car. You only want to watch a film if you know someone in it. There are plenty of actors you don't know who are brilliant.

Liz Allan [00:35:13]:
Yeah, exactly.

Lulu O Hagan [00:35:14]:
And ours are brilliant. So, yeah, we. We will always do as much as possible. Nick is now working for a massive company. I won't mention them, but that will be harder to be sustainable because it's a big machine. But there will be things.

Liz Allan [00:35:32]:
I was going to put little ears on my head just to. But I'm not gonna do, am I?

Lulu O Hagan [00:35:39]:
You are not gonna do that. You can just edit that out anyway. It doesn't say what it's about. But yeah, you know, it's harder with a big, big, big studio and big companies in general, they'll have loads of policies in place, but for things like maybe the Green Rider, it won't be so easy.

Liz Allan [00:36:00]:
But you've also. Did you say you've also got another kind of film sort of in. In the Office?

Lulu O Hagan [00:36:06]:
That one again, we need to get investment. This. This one will cost much more money. We did the first one for less than a million, which is why when people say they had a low-budget film for 4 million, you think phoney. That's a bit like me wanting a driveway and a charging point. Yeah. So the next one we're working towards will be in Dover again. That's where we.

Lulu O Hagan [00:36:31]:
That's where it should have been, and that's where it will be. And that one we've got to get investment for again. And it will be more commercial. This. It's not as original. It's original, but not as original as. As the porn movie.

Liz Allan [00:36:47]:
I know what you mean. Oh, my word. I'm gonna ask you another. I'm gonna ask you another film question then. So if you were gonna make a film about evs, what story would you like to tell? What do you reckon? As if you were gonna make a blockbuster about EVS or even just a little bit of a buster or block.

Lulu O Hagan [00:37:13]:
Well, you obviously have to include Flipping A Listers in it, or it won't be a blockbuster. And I would. I would think it would have to be a bit like Formula One with Brad Pitt. It had to be a movie where everyone drives really far in their cars, with little to no charging, or with normal charging, and still survives. So, you know, it could be a car-chase movie or something like that, but it's always EVs, which will be interesting because they'll be so quiet. You won't be getting a, you know.

Liz Allan [00:37:51]:
Get the wheel spinning, though you probably get that.

Lulu O Hagan [00:37:53]:
Or you can do it with the I. The. The Ioniq N5 or something where you put the. The road, the car noises on which I know you can do in more cars now. But I think I would definitely do it. It would have to be a chase kind of movie. Which had a thrill to it, but also debunked a load of the myths, which movies can do anyway. They can tell a fantasy story.

Lulu O Hagan [00:38:19]:
But this one would maybe make people think, oh, yeah, maybe. Oh, might get an EV now because Brad Pitt just drove around the world, you know.

Liz Allan [00:38:26]:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I like that. And you said earlier, didn't you, that you would like to try a few other EVs?

Lulu O Hagan [00:38:35]:
Yes.

Liz Allan [00:38:36]:
What would be your favourite part? Favourite EV either to test drive or to actually manage to get, you know, just, well, after a few days.

Lulu O Hagan [00:38:47]:
I like the Volvos. I like the EX30 and the X60. Is it. I like the. I love the Volvo. I like Volvos anyway.

Liz Allan [00:38:58]:
Not a Porsche then. You don't want any of those.

Lulu O Hagan [00:39:00]:
Was it a Cayenne? Taycan. Taycan, yeah. I would def. Yes, I would. And, in fact, my friend has just bought a 4x4. The. The. My.

Lulu O Hagan [00:39:11]:
Oh, I can't remember what we call it, but the 4x4 Porsche. And that is beautiful. I made him take me for a spin in it, wouldn't let me drive it. And that is really beautiful. I would like a Porsche or a Mercedes, you know, the high-end ones would be lovely. I can't fault the E-Niro on comfort and quality. And I deliberately got the top-of-the-range four-plus E-Niro when we got it, because it has JBL speakers. So, you know, I like.

Lulu O Hagan [00:39:39]:
That's the Essex in me, isn't it? I really like all the stuff you're.

Liz Allan [00:39:44]:
Going around the streets with it all popping out.

Lulu O Hagan [00:39:46]:
Yeah. And if I want to annoy people on my road, I come home with it.

Liz Allan [00:39:50]:
Oh, she's in a mood again. I've heard that music.

Lulu O Hagan [00:39:53]:
It's the people who ice my bloody Lemper post. I do it. But yeah, yeah, I would say you're right to say a Porsche or something. I was being practical then.

Liz Allan [00:40:02]:
Like, you've been very good actually.

Lulu O Hagan [00:40:04]:
Well, I was thinking about what I would change our car for, on a practical level. But yeah, give me. I mean, I love the Genesis. I love the Genesis cars. And actually, there was another car I really liked that isn't being made anymore. It lasted a year, and there is one in Richmond. I've seen it, I've just forgotten what it's called. It was out at the same time as the Genesis, really expensive and beautiful, and it was made by one man, but it went out of production within a year.

Liz Allan [00:40:35]:
I don't even know. Blooming egg.

Lulu O Hagan [00:40:37]:
Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:40:37]:
That's why you're thinking, though, let's go back to that EV film. Who would be your leading man or leading lady?

Lulu O Hagan [00:40:46]:
Right. Well, I love. He's not really tall enough for me, but I love Killian Murphy. I love him. I really love him.

Liz Allan [00:40:54]:
Do you think he'd be good behind the wheel of an ev, though, you know.

Lulu O Hagan [00:41:00]:
Yeah. It wouldn't matter about his height when he's. Just look at his eyes. So, yeah, if he.

Liz Allan [00:41:07]:
Killian Murphy and what about Woman, then?

Lulu O Hagan [00:41:12]:
That'S more difficult, I suppose, because I.

Liz Allan [00:41:15]:
Had Julia Roberts just popped into my head because of her long legs, kind of getting out.

Lulu O Hagan [00:41:19]:
But, I mean, you know, then if they were going to be a couple, they'd get out of the car, and he'd look a bit ridiculous, wouldn't he? I can't be upsetting.

Liz Allan [00:41:26]:
Very true.

Lulu O Hagan [00:41:26]:
Killian's the only person I've actually kissed a photo of in a long time because I love him. Who would I have as a female actress? I probably. I will say to you that if I'm having him as an A-lister and a non-A-lister, then I would have Natalie Quarry, who is our leading lady in Think Of England, because she's 28 now, and she's a rising star, and I think she could absolutely handle something completely different like that. She's in. You know, she's starting off her career really, mostly now in Call the Midwife. She's on it, and she's doing ours, which is wartime, and she, you know, is really brave. They. They have to take their clothes off, and it's really heavy, and she's done that.

Lulu O Hagan [00:42:13]:
So I would love to put Natalie in the driving seat with Cillian as his younger model, and have her be really brave and ballsy and like out there, which she hasn't been able to do so far for us.

Liz Allan [00:42:26]:
Oh, you have to share. When this goes live, you're going to have to share this with her because I think, you know, she'll probably like hearing you say this, because I think that's.

Lulu O Hagan [00:42:35]:
That's.

Liz Allan [00:42:35]:
That's brilliant. Yeah. If you could change one thing about EVs or where we are currently. Oh, what would it be?

Lulu O Hagan [00:42:47]:
It would be to standardise the pricing so that it doesn't change. It. So it's standard. And if you standardise everywhere across the country, like petrol sort of is. I know petrol can be 1 or 2p. Different and yes, if you go to a motorway, you expect to pay 5pmore a litre for your petrol or 10p less. That's the thing I would change. I would just have it all the same price, and then if, for some reason, electricity pricing goes up, then it all goes up a bit.

Lulu O Hagan [00:43:18]:
But now you can look at Electroverse, that map, whatever, and you know that in different places you might be paying double. So, you know, I know places that have gone from 30p a kilowatt on. On a lamppost somewhere up to, I think, 59p or something like that. So there's. I. I don't mind. It will always be better and cheaper to drive an electric vehicle. I've heard a lot about that, even though the cost is secondhand.

Lulu O Hagan [00:43:49]:
But I think standardisation of the charging price on slow charging and maybe also for slightly faster, like the 22 kilowatt ones, 22 kilowatt hour ones, that's what you should do. It's too. It's so boring that when you turn up somewhere, it's a different price again. A different price again. You know, I just don't understand.

Liz Allan [00:44:14]:
Sometimes you don't actually know the price, do you? Even though it's supposed to be shown.

Lulu O Hagan [00:44:17]:
And also it's quite frightening when they take 25 quid off, you know, and you think, why are they doing that? It's never happened that. I've not had that back. But that is quite often. You don't put your petrol in your car, and it charges you 25 quid, but you might only want 10 quid. No, I just don't understand. It's because EV charging is a bit lawless at the moment. There isn't. There aren't any rules in place.

Lulu O Hagan [00:44:41]:
It feels.

Liz Allan [00:44:42]:
I mean, you do have this pay-it-forward, don't you? You know, you've got to pay at the pump, and if you do, it has a £99 pre-auth. But it automatically. Well, it does, yeah, if it kind of. It's been on for a while. So if you actually go to, like, the local Esso garage near us, it's been there for some time. But if you choose to pay by pump rather than go into the kiosk, it'll make you tap first, and it only gives you nine pounds. Then it only does it, and then at the end of the. When you've filled the car up, and bear in mind this is a while ago, it automatically offsets. But I know that, I know Sarah Sloman and pay through their making, and you know they're making kind of movements towards trying to make tariff.

Liz Allan [00:45:28]:
Well, make that payment procedure. The pre or side of stuff you could. The whole thing about tariffs and the change in the fluctuation, that's a bigger, that's a bigger situation, isn't it? But like I say, the priors, that's why I always use Electroverse, but because you don't get that pre-authorisation fee.

Lulu O Hagan [00:45:46]:
And also with Electroverse, you get partnership deals, don't you? Some people. But you can choose. You don't have to just use those. Yeah, I mean, really, I should because I love doing my EVs made easy and things I probably should do. Go to more events, as you said before, go to more events and talk about it more and do some more cutting together of some nice pieces, because there is so much.

Liz Allan [00:46:10]:
And you know exactly what you're doing, you know exactly what you're doing, you know, so, so rather than us amateurs kind of putting our, you know, face to camera, and you, you've done it before, you've gone, that person's not stood in the right position. And I'm like, well, just go and tell them then.

Lulu O Hagan [00:46:30]:
Making my halo slip a bit.

Liz Allan [00:46:36]:
Oh goodness me. Well, look, so final question. If somebody listening or watching is still on the fence about tech, you know, driving electric, moving to electric, what would you say to them?

Lulu O Hagan [00:46:52]:
I'd say have a go in my car if you want, I'll insure you on it, and you can have a go in my car. Or I would say I don't know really because I haven't done it. But I would say surely you're allowed to. Can you get a car for a week or something from a salesperson, or are you only allowed to have it for a day?

Liz Allan [00:47:11]:
Because I mean, you could lease an EV just to try it out, but you'd still have to pay. Some of them do long test drives, don't they? Like 48 hour ones.

Lulu O Hagan [00:47:19]:
Yeah. Because otherwise, most people who say rude Things about EVs haven't really driven one. So, if someone asked me, I'd say, "Have a go in mine," because the only way you'll know is to drive it. That is the only way. You can't always convince them because it's a lot of money they're outlaying. Even if it's secondhand, it's a lot of money to go when you've just been comfortable with your filling it up at the. It's the experience of getting in. And I remember the thing that really struck me was that I didn't know it was going to be a thing, I'd had it for about three days, and I was waiting for Nick to collect him from somewhere.

Lulu O Hagan [00:48:04]:
On a side street.

Liz Allan [00:48:06]:
Right.

Lulu O Hagan [00:48:07]:
And I was idling, and nothing was coming out. It was great. I had the seats on, the radio on par,k and it was all heated and lovely and not one bit of pollution coming out because it wasn't an engine idling. It was brilliant.

Liz Allan [00:48:25]:
It does make a massive difference, doesn't it?

Lulu O Hagan [00:48:27]:
Yes.

Liz Allan [00:48:28]:
You know. Yeah, just all the, all the rubbish that you. That everybody breathes in with petrol and diesel cars.

Lulu O Hagan [00:48:37]:
People do. I understand when it's cold, they keep it running to keep the windscreen demisted or to keep the car warm. They keep it running. They keep it running and keep polluting, polluting, polluting. In an EV, you don't have to do that.

Liz Allan [00:48:49]:
I know. And you know what? This morning, there was somebody having some paving stuff, actually some bricks, delivered next door, and there was a grab loader that had reversed into her drive and just left it running, and we could breathe. It just stunk. It was awful.

Lulu O Hagan [00:49:08]:
So, yeah, you know, you get more sensitive. You know what the thing is: being an EV driver must be like being either an ex-smoker or a non-smoker. You literally can't stand any of that stuff anymore.

Liz Allan [00:49:23]:
No, I know, I know. I think, yeah, you're right. But you. But you also recognise that other people are being affected, aren't they? Do you know what I mean? So. But listen, on that note, I'm going to say thank you, Lulu. It's been so brilliant talking to you. You do need to go to more events. Everybody needs to see this woman because she's just the life.

Liz Allan [00:49:48]:
The life and soul and bounces around when she's not beating herself up.

Lulu O Hagan [00:49:54]:
And. And didn't you say what episode number we are?

Liz Allan [00:49:58]:
You are going to be. You're going to be 180. That's the one. Obviously. I'd forgotten already. Terrible. 180.

Liz Allan [00:50:10]:
Oh, listen, it's been amazing talking.

Lulu O Hagan [00:50:11]:
Thank you. Thank you. The time to do it.

Liz Allan [00:50:14]:
I was going to say for everybody else. Look, all of you watching and listening, please check out Evie's Made Easy on Instagram. I'm going to share all of Lulu's links.

Lulu O Hagan [00:50:23]:
Thank you.

Liz Allan [00:50:24]:
I will do more.

Lulu O Hagan [00:50:25]:
I will do. Taking Sara Sloman's lead. I will try to do more on YouTube, but I probably won't. But I know I should.

Liz Allan [00:50:33]:
But you will be turning up to some events now. People know exactly who you are. But listen, thank you, thank you. And thank you to everybody else watching and listening. Like, subscribe, share, do all of those wonderful things, and I'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.

Lulu O Hagan [00:50:50]:
Bye.