2005 saw London win Britain’s
2012 Olympic bid, Google announce the launch of its new Google Maps service and a rebooted Dr Who appear on TV for the first time in over 15 years. If you’re
of a certain age, some of these events will feel like they happened yesterday.
Which puts into perspective today’s government announcement on the shift to
electric cars.
To help achieve carbon
emission targets, the government has announced that the ban on the sale of new petrol,
diesel and hybrid powered vehicles will be brought forward from 2040 to 2035, heralding
probably the single biggest change in the history of the UK’s automotive industry
and personal transport.
Environmental campaigners are urging policy makers to make the change even sooner, by 2030. With over 120 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being released each year by the transport sector alone, they’ve got a point. But the real change will be driven by consumers.
As the date of the official ban approaches, people entering their local dealer's gleaming showroom will have one, if not both, eyes on the residual value of any vehicle into which they may be considering an investment of their hard earned cash. There is also a change happening in the public perception of diesel
and petrol. These are increasingly seen as dirty, noisy and, well, a bit last century when compared to the next
generation of nippy, clean and quiet Coulomb Cars. All these elements are pushing to promote
change well before 2035.
The imposition of a complete
ban of emission producing power units in new cars and vans represents, at last, an opportunity
for other technologies to wrestle the limelight from the all-conquering
internal combustion engine. Hydrogen cell vehicles are increasing their presence in Australia, China, Japan and Korea. But there is not doubt that plug-in electric technology will
play a major role and in the UK will be the dominant, clean alternative.
EV (electric vehicle) charging
points are going to become commonplace in domestic, commercial, and
public installations nationwide. And it’ll be the electro-tech professional
from designers to specifiers, engineers to electricians, that will be have to
step up to deliver solutions for our cities, towns and highways.
The electrical industry is
charging ahead (pun intended) with a slew of technical solutions and Regulation.
This week saw the IET release Amendment 1 of the 18th Edition Wiring
Regulations, completely focussed on section 722 which specifies requirements for ensuring the safety and proper
function of EV charging equipment installations.
As ever, what will distinguish
the true electro-tech professional, will be their deeper understanding
of the Regs and knowledge of solutions available to suit the widest range of
customer requirements, situations and applications.
Any electro-tech
professional looking to install EV charging points should seek out a quality
training provider that can offer them, not only a detailed understanding of the
Regs, why and where they apply, but also time & money saving design insights,
and practical installation guidance.
For traditional workshop
courses contact your local approved training centre. Or, for online training, click here for “EVE” the official learninglounge.com electric vehicle equipment installation course from the team you trust.
In summary, many questions remain about how the UK will meet its overall goal of zero nett carbon emission by
2050, not least in terms of electrification of the country’s transport systems. How will electric vehicles and technologies evolve in order to match or improve
upon the current day running cost, practicality and convenience of petrol and diesel
vehicles? What upgrades will be required to the nation’s infrastructure and the
electricity supply system? How will demand for clean renewable electricity
generation be met?
But one question to which we all know the answer is that change, whatever form it takes, will be here sooner than we
think.