Is becoming an electrician appealing to the younger generation?

With every teenager wanting to be a youtuber and some of them actually managing it, what will happen to the skilled tradesmen - like electricians?

Technology IS evolving with electric cars and gas boilers being banned from being installed into new homes in 2025?

What does this mean for the electrical industry?

Are we about to be replaced too?

I decided to look into what electricians can expect in the near future.

Tool Box Talk For Electricians - Helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Hello and welcome back to tool box talk for electricians podcast.

Time goes faster when you get older I know, but technology seems to be going a lot faster too.

You may remember the energy saving lamps that came out. They tool 5 minutes to actually give out a proper light, so many people stuck with the 100 watt light bulb.

Then in 2012 they were no longer produced. They were great because they gave off some good heat too.

So if you were working away in your shed, you had a little heat too.

But this led the way for LED, although they had been around since the early 60s, The LED lamp went mass produced until 2010.

Even then it took people a while to switch, they were 3 times the cost of a normal lamp.

These days everything is LED.

Car lights

Flood lights

Even TV screens.

The designs are always evolving, but can electricians keep up?

When the younger generation who were born using this technology don't want to become electricians, who will keep the electrical installations going?

It's said that there will be a need for 100,000 new electricians by 2032. That's only 8 years away.

To me that's not long at all!

When electric cars require electricians

Internet powered by fibre, require and electrician

Not to mention the wind and solar energy.

Again it's an electrician who wire it all up and makes these things work.

In effect, there being a shortage of skilled electricians could be a good thing for qualified electricians.

Surely it's going to put electricians in high demand. Then high demand means high prices.

Does this mean electricians can sit back and wait for the phone to start ringing continuously and put whatever prices we want?

NO - I wouldn't say that.

By 2030 there will be a ban on diesel and petrol cars.

There will still be plenty of diesel and petrol cars on the road, it's just that manufacturers won't make them new anymore.

I'm sure you have heard the news reports about electric cars, they are terrible.

A new electric car is more likely to need a repair by a qualified electrician a lot sooner than a petrol or diesel one.

So electricians will need to upskill to know how to repair and fault find these cars.

I have been an electrician for 20 years, but wouldn't know where to start with an electric car.

Not to mention all the electric charging points that need installing.

If the UK is going to force people to use electric cars then the demand for charging them is only going to increase.

Most charging points will be full, if they are not out of order - So electric car owners will need to have a charger installed at home.

Another load of work for electricians.

The AA and RAC will need to be trained in electric vehicles too. Or there will be cars broken down causing hazards on the motorways.

Personally I don't see how it's going to work. The technology isn't ready and it's clear we don't have the skilled labour to repair them.

However, with all the training courses giving it the sales pitch that electricians will be inundated with work in the future because of electric cars, that is what all the older guys training to be electricians are aiming for.

With the boom in electrical cars there are people gaining the relevant qualification - Level 3 qualification in EV charge point installation.

You don't even have to be an electrician.

It's a shortcut for a lot of people who want to go out and get working ASAP, and of course where there is training for £200 people are jumping on it.

Unfortunately many chargers are thrown in, possibly installed incorrectly and dangerous to the customers house.

Some of the instals I have seen are unbelievable.

There is another little problem too.

If a whole estate decides to have an electric car with a charger point, each car will need to be synced up to the app on your phone?

Maybe it can tell you when the car is fully charged?

Or maybe to give each car a little charge overnight because the cable underground feeding that estate can't handle the load if everyone charges their car at the same time!

You couldn't make this up if you tried! It's not some conspiracy theory either. This has been reported not just in the UK but all over the work in certain areas.

I really can't see the electric car market being successful. I have spoken to car dealers who say they wouldn't buy a second hand electric car whatever the cost. It's far too much hassle.

That's enough about electric cars, I could go on about them forever. Jump over to the tool box talk for electricians group on facebook and let me know your thoughts.

Green Energy has been a huge thing in the news for a long time.

Reducing our carbon footprint is what we aim to do. You can't miss these dudes on the M25 motorway bridge yelling it.

However this is another upskill for electricians. For many years now homeowners have been having solar panels installed.

Some private so they can get some money back once a year, others owned by a grant so the electricity company owns the panels on the roof of YOUR house.

So many people have been stung with scams on solar, or just not reading the small print and having to shell out when the panels need replacing.

But again the UK government is pushing for them to be installed and have created a quick course to get people qualified.

It's all the promises of earning fantastic money as an electrician that got people interested.

It's like the double glazing business boom in the 1980s.

Everyone had a glass conservatory put on their house that was too hot to use in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.

Then when you did decide to use the room one day, you had to spend the day cleaning the glass roof of all the mould.

This is why it's said there is a shortage of skilled electricians.

I think there are plenty of young apprentices learning the trade, but then get told they can earn good money doing solar or EV chargers.

It probably is good money when you're 20 years old.

It's when it all calms down, or goes tits up it's going to be the problem.

Good electricians who have had to find fault, solve challenges on site and use their electrical knowledge who will be hard to find.

My advice to any electrician or anyone training to be an electrician is to learn as much as you can.

Domestic single phase, industrial 3 phase, smart lighting, solar, EV…….

Then make a plan, a plan to either build a business round or what career path you're going to take in the electrical industry.

It would be a good idea to check out the podcast How To Start Your Own Electrician Business Properly next.

It will give you some ideas for the future.