Page 29 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Jan-Feb 2019
P. 29

the world, with France announcing it will go fully electric by 2040 and Norway aiming for all new cars to be either EVs or PHEVS by 2025.
Even the more old-school India has announced it would like to cease sales of diesel and petrol cars by 2030, while China is already closing in on 1 million EV sales per year.
If you think EVs are some far off tech that you don’t need to worry about, you’re still living in the 1990s. Yes, Aus- tralia is far behind the rest of the world in terms of uptake and demand, but that could change very quickly. Wheels mag- azine has run its first ever multi-car comparison of electric vehicles.
Clearly, this means you should consid- ering installing an electric charger in your workshop, as some businesses al- ready have, but the changes required for dealing with this new motive force are deeper, and arguably more vital than just charging equipment.
Indeed, getting it right could be a mat- ter of life and death.
If you think EVs are some far off tech that
you don’t need to worry about, you’re still living in the 1990s.”
SHOCK TACTICS
While an EV might look fairly similar from a distance, what you’re dealing with - and will increasingly be seeing, as cars like Nissan’s Leaf, Renault’s Zoe and Tesla’s affordable Model 3 start picking up sales - is a very dangerous form of propulsion.
As a spokesman for New Zealand’s Collision Repair Association, Neil Pritchard, has pointed out: "While EVs are touted as having a reduced need for mechanical servicing, when it comes to collision repairs there is a significant in- crease in the risk and repair complexity to get them back on the road.
"Like all alkali metals, lithium is high- ly reactive and flammable and the risk associated with lithium-ion batteries found in EVs adds a high level of com- plexity to the repair process, including potential electrocution of the repairer.”
Safety is obviously the first priority, and companies like Volvo recommend precau- tions like using Class 0 gloves, which are rat- ed at 1500 volts DC maximum use voltage.
I-CAR has developed courses for hy- brids and electric car repairs and will be upgrading these in 2019.
“Some big changes to note, in relation to safety going from a mild hybrid to full electric, are that the voltage levels in full hybrids, PHEVs and pure electrics are substantially higher than a mild hybrid,” I-CAR advises.
“The former will have additional compo- nents and possible systems that leverage greater operating efficiency by utilising HV to operate and equates to more potential for damage affecting the HV system.
“Mild or full, make sure to wear your gloves.”
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