Government Wants You To Use Your Car To Power Your Home?

- Coming up on this week's news, electrical contractors should connect electric cars to power their customer's homes, says the UK government, Leicester authorities warn that there's a rogue electrician operating in the city, and what's causing the mysterious electrical hum in Omagh? Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Whether you're listing in the van onsite or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And this week's challenge word competition is supported by the good people at Compleo, the complete solution for EV charge point installers. If you think you spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with the below for the chance to win a prize. The UK government wants the British home powered by the electric car sitting in the driveway. It's announced its backing for so-called vehicle-to-home or V2H charging and it's putting its money where its mouth is. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is awarding four new trial projects a share of 4.8 million pounds to develop and implement the technology. Using two-way charging, households could fuel their cars when electricity costs are low and draw power back from them at peak times when prices are higher. This method would lead to hundreds of pounds in savings, say officials. However, currently only a few electric cars are capable of bidirectional charging. These include the Nissan Leaf, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and 6. Renault says the electric Renault 5, which launches in the UK next year, will also feature vehicle-to-grid technology. Skills Minister Amanda Solloway said the prospect of families using EVs to power their homes was incredibly exciting. Speaking of EV charging, as part of our occasional feature, Meet the Sponsor, we'd like to introduce you to Hydra EVC. Established in 2022 with a commitment to integrity, Hydra EVC is an ambitious player in the UK EV charging market. Their serpent head logo symbolises transformation, standing out in a competitive landscape with a customer-first focus. As we enter 2024, Hydra EVC is poised for growth, driven by core values of reliability, ambition, agility, and a desire to educate. The importance of the reliability of charging equipment and the potential of an electric vehicle to step in as a power source was ably demonstrated in Australia this week when storms in Queensland led to extensive blackouts. This caused a major headache for mum Kristy Holmes, whose 11-year-old son Levi needs a kidney dialysis machine to stay alive. Quick-thinking Holmes remembered the emergency power system on her BYD Atto 3 electric car, which she promptly connected to the dialysis machine. This saved the family a long and dangerous emergency dash to Brisbane during the storm. Holmes says now she's been able to save her son, she doesn't think she'll ever go back to a petrol car again. And if you're hoping your EV could save a life, there's a new option for keeping you charged up while you're on the road. ENW sponsors Compleo have unveiled their new groundbreaking, high-powered EV charge point. The eTower 200 has the ability to deliver 200-kilowatts ultra fast charging for two vehicles at the same time, giving hundreds of miles of range in under half an hour. It's user-friendly with an integrated payment terminal, chip and pin pad, and a bright all-weather display. It's also simple to instal and looks pretty easy on the eye too. It also features an advanced ventilation system that keeps the dust and dirt of the road out while keeping the noise of the fans in, meaning it can be used close to residential areas. And its seven power interchangeable power modules balance power distribution to both vehicles depending on each EV's charging curve and state of charge, meaning power is shared where it's needed most, setting a new benchmark for charging efficiency at 96%. Incredible stuff. If you'd like to know more about it, then click the link in the show notes. Now, you might be installing or connecting to one of these charge points sooner than you think. The government is providing 70 million pounds to help the installation of rapid chargers at 10 motorway service stations. Transport Secretary Mark Harper says he wants to instal six or more rapid or ultra rapid chargers at every motorway service area in England. Currently, only four in 10 meet this criteria. The money will go towards the cost of upgrading the electricity grid so that there's sufficient capacity for the plugin points. The government grants come as the number of pure battery electric vehicles on UK roads hit the one million mark. Helping to drive that growth is tough rules on car makers. They're under a legal obligation to sell a growing percentage of EVs each year. If they don't, they're required to pay the government 15,000 pounds per polluting vehicle sold above the limits. In other news, Leicester City Council has announced that it has identified a rogue electrician who's operating in the town. The person has created a flurry of what the local authority terms unsatisfactory electrical certificates for rented homes. The discovery follows sweeping inspections of city homes registered under the new council licencing scheme. The local authority says that their inspectors raised safety concerns at more than 85% of the registered properties they visited. The council introduced its new landlord licencing scheme in 2022. Along with electrical safety issues, other common concerns were staircases without handrails and the risk of falling out of windows. In product news this week, a shock survey has revealed the extent of lighting equipment available online which doesn't comply with the standards. Manufacturers' trade body LightingEurope sent a mystery shopper to establish how much noncompliant lighting is sold through online marketplaces into European and UK markets. The organisation discovered that no less than 95% of products it purchased failed to comply with relevant product standards. It says its survey demonstrates that noncompliant lighting products are easily accessible online. These excruciating results have prompted the organisation to call for a major crackdown on shady lights entering the country. Still on lighting, illumination overlord Philips has introduced an LED version of the traditional high-pressure sodium lamp. It has a record-breaking efficiency of 210 lumens per watt. That's twice what sodium can achieve. The Philips Master LED Son-T ultra-efficient A class lamps have a similar look, feel, and light distribution to their conventional equivalent. They can be retrofitted straight into existing Son-T fittings without any need to disconnect or replace the ballast. And finally, what's causing the Omagh hum? A low-frequency noise with a similar frequency to alternating current has been baffling residents of the Northern Irish town since last September. The locals describe it as a continuous buzz and they say that once it's been heard, it cannot be unheard. Some speculate that it's caused by the old-school sodium streetlights that illuminate the town. Others suggest that in recent storms, water has got into transformers, resulting in the sound. But pub manager Gerard Casey says the hum is a myth, a figment of people's imaginations. Audio experts say the problem in locating the source of the noise is that it's very difficult to detect where a low frequency, such as a mains hum, is coming from. The investigation continues. And just a reminder that our content is moulded in part by you, dear viewers and listeners. And we'd like to see more of you on the news and we'd like to answer the questions that keep you awake at night. This month, we're focusing on wiring accessories and residential solar and battery equipment. Have you carried out any interesting or unusual electrical installations? Send us pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier and you could feature in a future episode of the news. Or have you got any burning questions you'd like our tame renewables and wiring accessories expert Joe Hammond to answer? Drop us an email for any of the above to admin@efixx.co.uk and we'll see what we can do for you. And just before we get to your favourite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're the people who've created the Swiss Army knife of solar inverters along with all-weather batteries, very much the Boy Scouts of the solar industry, it's Sunsynk. And testing, testing, one, two, testing, if you've got something you need to measure or a piece of test equipment to calibrate from multimeters to power quality analyzers, then it can only be Test Instrument Solutions. Are you a bit of a control freak? Motor control, that is. If so, with huge stocks and excellent service, check out Crompton Controls. As they said to me in a recent conversation,"If we don't have it, then we can build it." Now, who doesn't love a freebie? With their incredibly simple and totally free EV charger management platform, they're helping installers win jobs and save their customers thousands a year. It's Tap Electric. With their high quality and reliable EV charging equipment and industry leading customer care, you could say they're leading the EV-lution, it's Hydra EVC. Up next, for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian star striker in your Premiership team, it's Lewden Palazzoli. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV-Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables. With an incredible range of equipment from EV charge points through industrial sockets and switches to kit for explosive areas, plus they supplied gear for a Campari factory, so they'll always have a place in my heart, it's Scame. Big thanks to you all. We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news. If you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments. We'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be a winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition supported by Compleo, the complete solution for EV charge point installers. Last week's words were betwixt and helipad. And you've made my winner selection process really easy this week because despite a massive clue where I told you the words were in the same sentence, only one person across all our platforms got it right. That one person was YouTube viewer @jamesreilly8455. Extremely well done to you, James. Make sure you click the Get Involved link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening. And until next time, have a great week. Stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.