With more electric Class 8 trucks hitting North American roadways each day, ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) is racing to develop ideal safety processes for fleet owners and service shops to use on battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the field.
On Monday at TMC’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, TMC’s Service Provider study group kicked off development of a proposed recommended practice for Safety Aspects for Electric Vehicles.
Chaired by Navistar’s Chas Voyles, the task force hopes to develop a final document within the next two years and bring a fully formed RP to ballot at TMC’s Fall Meeting in 2024. Voyles admits the timeline is accelerated—most RP take twice as long to develop—but says it is necessary. Most technicians in heavy-duty service bays today have never serviced a BEV in any capacity.
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Voyles said, “50 volts can stop a human heart” and added “education is of the upmost importance.”
Most of Monday’s discussion focused on the scope of the RP and what it should focus on. Voyles and his other task force officers shared their initial scope as “to bring knowledge to service providers and fleets by focusing on all aspects of safety when working on an electric vehicle by identifying all safety concerns that could potentially present itself during a service event.”
