Britain's long-running motoring show plugs in. Fifth Gear: Recharged takes the team tests, shootouts and buying advice of the original format and applies all of it to electric cars.
What is Fifth Gear: Recharged about?
Rather than bolting an occasional EV segment onto a petrol-first programme, this 2021 series from the United Kingdom rebuilds the whole show around battery power. Returning presenters Jason Plato and Vicki Butler-Henderson line up electric models against one another in head-to-head tests, while Rory Reid, formerly of Top Gear, and ex-Formula 1 and Formula E driver Karun Chandhok bring racing instincts to the track segments. Between the fast stuff, the series turns practical: what it actually takes to fit a home charger, how to shop for a second-hand electric car without getting burned, and what the UK's public charging network is likely to look like in the years ahead. EV consumer journalist Grace Webb and engineer Jimmy de Ville handle the nuts-and-bolts explanations. Episodes run around forty-four minutes.
About the cast
The on-screen line-up mixes familiar faces with specialists. Butler-Henderson and Plato are the continuity with earlier Fifth Gear seasons; Reid and Chandhok add presenting and driving pedigree from motoring television and motorsport; Webb and de Ville are there to answer the questions a first-time EV buyer would actually ask. The catalogue credits Grace Webb as the series' director.
Context & significance
Fifth Gear has been a fixture of British car television for years, and this reboot arrives just as the UK market was tipping toward electrification. That gives the show a different job from its predecessors. The earlier format assumed viewers already knew what they wanted and came for the entertainment; Recharged assumes many viewers are curious, sceptical or simply confused about range, charging and resale value, and treats each of those questions as worth a segment of its own. The result reads less like a lap-time contest and more like a consumer guide with a racetrack attached, though the shootouts remain.
Watching Fifth Gear: Recharged on Ktime
Fifth Gear: Recharged streams on K-Time with a free account login. The interface is available in Persian, but note that this series carries no Persian dub or subtitles, so it is best suited to viewers comfortable with English-language motoring television.