we gasp as the world's fastest ev charger is unveiled in germany we wave our hands at a
cool range of touchless switches and we step back in ore and wonder at the world's first
robot electrician will he put us all out of a job welcome to electrical news weekly whether
you're listening in the van on site down at the wholesale counter or if you're a designer and
you've made it safely to your desk wherever you are i hope your week is off to a great start i'm
joe robinson and i've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble
yes you heard us correctly the world's fastest ev charger has hit the market rated at stonking
360 kilowatts the ABB Terra 360 is more powerful than even the mighty tesla supercharger in fact it
can fully power up a vehicle in just 15 minutes oil giant shell and tech joint abb teamed up to
deliver the unit currently there are only two cars available in the uk with capacities close to this
charger namely the hyundai ioniq 5 and the kia ev6 both of which are rated at 350 kilowatts the terra
360 has been launched in germany and then half a million will be rolled out across the world
when quizzed by efixx we were told no decision has yet been made about when they plan to deploy these
bad boys in the uk but we'll keep you posted now if you can't wait 15 minutes for your car
to charge how does 5 minutes sound that's the time it takes to swap out a car's entire battery pack
instead of charging up you drive to a swap station park in the designated bay and weight in the car
the battery is then removed from underneath the vehicle and replaced with a fully charged one a
whole network of swap stations has been developed by electric car maker Nio in its native china but
this week they're coming to europe the company has just opened its first swap station in norway where
70 of new car sales are electric the service is aimed at drivers who don't want to queue to charge
and will pay a bit extra for the privilege now for any electrician looking to get into this exciting
world of ev charges we can recommend a new guide to charge point installation from the technical
team at Napit the gurus there have come up with the top 10 tips for putting in charges while
avoiding the common pitfalls it covers earthing the adequacy of supply how to alert the dno and
the labeling and certification requirements for a charge point the guide is free it's cpd approved
so if you want to get a copy i've popped the link in the show notes now batteries aren't just about
powering cars these days they're also increasingly being used in factories and industrial plants
in fact experts believe that the mass installation of batteries across industry is the next big thing
and by connecting the batteries to the grid it will cut peak demand and reduce costs for
everyone we're talking some serious beasts here battery systems from 30 kilowatts up to
a thousand kilowatts and over to dairy farm in germany for instance a one megawatt hour
lithium battery and two 800 kilowatt combined heat and power units are saving the owner over
60000 pounds a year now that is one smart farmer still on renewables octopus energy has announced
that it's going to build a massive solar farm in the north african desert and connect it by
cable to the uk the solar panels in morocco home to the stork the ibis and the flamingo will use
the blazing saharan sun to generate 3.6 gigawatts of low-cost energy for british homes and offices
four cables sitting on the seabed will bring the power the 2500 miles to the devon coast where
it will connect to the national grid two british homes which won't be troubling the moroccan solar
farm or indeed the national grid very much are a couple of carbon negative houses which have just
been completed in west sussex these trial homes are capable of reducing homeowners energy bills by
79 percent and delivering a whopping 125 reduction in co2 emissions the pair of properties are the
result of a partnership between british gas and house builder St Modwen homes part of
the secret is that the houses are 10 times as airtight as industry standards they are also
fitted with solar panels a battery an ev charger an air source heat pump a smart hot water tank
heat recovery ventilation and a wastewater heat recovery unit they've even been built with special
low carbon concrete and ultra low energy led lighting for more on sustainable and low energy
lighting you can visit a brand new event in london this september called Circular Lighting Live 2022
this one day conference will look at lighting for the circular economy and there's also a special
exhibition of the latest innovations in luminaires and controls efixx will be there too checking out
all the new kit and maybe a few london curry houses too so please do come and say hello
the link to circular lighting live is in the show notes sustainability is all the rage these
days and everyone is doing their bit we'd like to give a shout out to Linian maker of the fire clip
for cables and trunking they've just changed all their packaging from plastic to recycled cardboard
a small simple change but those are the ones that count so congratulations to them
congratulations are also in order to the ECS whose ecs check scheme has just registered its
1500th member organization Salford city council can now easily verify all the electrotechnical
employees and contractors who work on its premises and buildings also celebrating a milestone are our
friends at marshall tufflex makers of trunking cable trait and conduit who are 80 years young
this week another celebrant is makita the power tool maker which has been in the uk
for 50 years to mark its half century anniversary makita uk will be announcing a number of exciting
promotions throughout the year so keep an eye out for those another promo you shouldn't miss is
schneider electric's spring clean offer they are giving electricians the opportunity to give their
vehicles some tlc by winning a range of cleaning prizes during may prizes include power washers
wet and dry vacuum cleaners and cleaning packs simply spend 50 pounds or more on any schneider
electric products to enter the links to all the promotions are in the show notes as usual next up
is a couple of cool new switches the first is from skullmore and it's a wireless battery-powered unit
which allows you to control multiple lights and appliances you can create different atmospheres
for each room by personalizing the lights you can set routines for the lights and appliances
to turn on and off as required to help create a more energy efficient home and you can even
pair the switch to Scolmore's click smart plus or esp4 security devices to enhance security another
switch we're loving is the new touchless version from Knightsbridge the company is hoping the units
prove popular in settings where an enhanced level of personal or environmental hygiene is required
such as in healthcare buildings they also look great seven colourways are available
from anthracite and matte black to brushed and polished chrome and the screwless switches have an
ultra slim projection profile of only 4.3 millimeters now how would you feel if those
switches were installed not by a human electrician but by a robot that could be the future if the
deployment of the first android contractor goes well in japan the science fiction style spark has
started his career carrying out maintenance work on hard to reach railway contact lines
he was developed by the west japan railway company to carry out tasks that are considered
risky for human electricians but how would he do on the e-fix electrician's challenge now there's
a thought it would make his guffor if he made it hashtag above Aaron coming up this week on youtube
we explore why your a-rated energy-efficient lamp has been downgraded to an f and that we serve up
some top tips from science express on getting your van wrapped so make sure you're subscribed
to receive the next update we're going to leave you with a new tv advert which we love from our
scottish electrical contracting friends home rewire we apologize to those who are listening
only as you'll miss the visuals however the ad is construction sounds used to make rhythms who knows
maybe Home Rewire will be the first electricians to be remixed by calvin harris but before that
have a great week stay safe out there and remember there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm
at home rewire we never miss a beat when you need to rewire remember home rewire