Finally! The newsletter hiatus is ending

The Fast Charge is returning next week

Good morning all. It’s been a while, I’m Tom Riley, and I am very pleased to welcome you all back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.

This edition is a short update with no actual EV news, but I was keen to share…

• A quick note on my health

• Outline the plan for this newsletter’s imminent return; and

• A summary of what’s to come, including stories I’ve been working on from the hospital bed – and how you can get involved.

Before I crack into those, I would first like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to the huge number of you who reached out after I shared my recent news. The support, warm wishes, and friendship was truly felt, and certainly helped lift me (and my family) up on some truly bleak days. Thank you so much, it meant more than you may ever know!

And, so, a quick health update…

I am pleased to say the surgeons successfully removed my brain tumour in late April. The terrorist was then promptly sent off in an orange jumpsuit for some vicious waterboarding.

Frustratingly, we’ve since learned from that interrogation that, while the tumour was entirely taken out in surgery, some cancer cells do remain in my noggin at the margins. What this means is I’m starting radiotherapy soon followed by a chunk of chemo. Long term, while the disease will never go away, it is something my medical team hopes can be controlled for some years.

As with any cancer diagnosis – which I know several readers have also experienced firsthand – it’s a lot to process. However, I have started to make my peace with it and my doctors are Michelin star level – I’ve been extremely lucky in that regard.

I’m sure there will be ups and downs to come, but I’m abso-bloody-lutely determined to keep marching forward and living life.

Anyway… crucially, what does all the above mean for this newsletter’s return?

The good news is, it will. Alas, the weekly editions will likely be no more. Not that I don’t want to do them, I just physically am not sure with treatment if I’ll be able to commit to publishing the quality I would be proud of. More likely, I expect it will be a bi-weekly-ish email.

Due to this change, the content will shift to be much more focussed on features, reports, and interviews. Don’t worry, though, I’ll still pick out top/notable/unseen stories in my editions!

You should expect the first proper edition of this newsletter back in your inbox next week. The next one after that will be mid-June.

With the election kicking off, the immediate stories will focus on the policy positions of the main parties and what the industry is hoping for in manifestos. Elsewhere, from the hospital bed I’ve been working on a feature about charge point accessibility and also one on EV market competition. As ever, if you have insights or thoughts on either, please do drop me a note.

Further ahead, you can expect interviews – I have some great ones in the works – as well as features on other parts of Britain's EV transition I believe have flown under the radar. All to come!

Last bits to mention…

As I am a seizure risk due to ye olde tumour, I will forever be taking anti-epileptic pills. I am thus not allowed to drive a car for the foreseeable – the DVLA has already made me dramatically “surrender” my licence to them.

While that’s a gut punch, crucially, being unable to drive is not going to change my ability to cover, report, review, or track the EV space. And, in fact, I do still plan on testing new vehicles. More to come on that soon!

Finally, I would like to make a special shout-out here to my day-to-day employer, Pagefield, whom I know many readers through. The team has been utterly amazing throughout all this. I’m hoping to be back there soon and I’m excited to cross paths with many of you when I do - particularly with the election inbound!

As I said at the start, thanks for all your support. I’m looking forward to catching up and writing for you all again. See you next week!

Tom ⚡

By Tom Riley | Check my Linktree for LinkedIn and Twitter