Last Monday I went back to the Octopus Energy Tech Summit at Evolution London in Battersea Park.
It was my second time there and, once again, it was a fantastic event.
Really well organised, really well hosted, and full of interesting people talking about energy, transport, technology and where all of this might be heading. A great example of a brand community.
There were some brilliant speakers too, including Hannah Fry, Ginny Buckley, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Sam Evans from The Electric Viking, Marcus Gossen from SEAT S.A. and CUPRA, Adam Brem from Uber UK and, of course, Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy.
One of the biggest announcements of the day was Swaptopus.
Following on from last year's partnership with BYD UK to launch the UK's first Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) bundle, this year Octopus Energy and CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, are forming a joint venture to build an electric truck battery swapping network across the UK and Europe.
The idea is that, instead of electric lorries sitting around for hours charging, they will be able to swap depleted batteries for fully charged ones in minutes.
The first UK battery swapping hubs are expected to launch in 2027, with more than 30 mega hubs planned across Europe by 2035.
At full scale, the network could support more than 300,000 electric trucks and unlock around £30 billion of private investment.
Which feels pretty significant.
Not just because it helps solve one of the practical problems around electrifying road freight, which we all know has been painfully slow, but because it feeds into a much bigger conversation about energy security.
We saw what happened to energy prices in 2022 after Ukraine.
And we are seeing it again in 2026 because of the Strait of Hormuz.
If these sorts of energy shocks are going to keep coming along every few years, then surely we need to get much better at protecting ourselves from them.
That means more homegrown green energy.
It means more storage.
It means making better use of batteries.
And it means finding smarter ways to balance the grid, because the problem is not always just how much energy we can produce, it is also when and where we need it.
One of Greg Jackson’s points really stuck with me.
China is already a long way ahead in battery and EV technology.
So rather than trying to pretend otherwise, or spending years attempting to copy what already exists, why not work with that expertise and leverage it for our own benefit??
That struck me as a very sensible way of looking at it.
Partnership does not have to mean giving something away.
Done properly, it can mean taking the best available thinking, applying it to our own challenges, and creating something that benefits the UK and Europe.
In this case, that could mean greater energy security, cleaner road freight, lower running costs, a more balanced grid and, hopefully, lower energy bills.
There is a lot to like about that.