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 terror 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 efix 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 nioh 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 sixty 000 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 saint modern 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 efix 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 linen 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 electro technical 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 skullmod'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 gafor 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[Music][Music][Music] at home rewire we never miss a beat when you need to rewire remember home rewire