Mechanics unfamiliar with electric cars could unwittingly kill themselves or their customers unless action is taken to prevent unqualified technicians servicing them, a motoring organisation has warned.
In the coming weeks, the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) will attempt to persuade the government that new regulations should be introduced to ensure proper training for those working with electric motors.
Electric cars can contain circuits that run at more than three times the 230 volts found in a household mains supply, posing an extreme threat of electrocution unless properly handled.
Three times the voltage of mains supply
Steve Nash, chief executive of the IMI, said that there was an urgent and pressing need to set up some sort of licensing system to ensure electric and hybrid mechanics are properly trained.
He said: “Sooner or later somebody is going to attempt to do something they shouldn’t do and they are going to fry themselves.
“That will either be the person working on it who gets a 600- or 700-volt shock or it might be a member of the public exposed to a fire risk. It’s that serious. It’s not scaremongering. It’s real.”
"It's not scaremongering, it's real"
Currently, there are around 180,000 car mechanics working in the UK, with approximately 45,000 electric cars on the roads but only 1,000 people properly trained to work on them.
With the uptake in electric and hybrid vehicles happening a lot more quickly than forecast, Mr Nash said that as work for traditional mechanics dwindles, the temptation to have a go becomes greater.
“We need people who are at least qualified to the level where they know how to make the car safe before even trying the routine things like working on the brakes,” he added.
Temptation to 'have a go'
There’s already graphic evidence of what happens when electric cars go wrong, for example when a £50,000 Tesla Model S spectacularly burst into flames at a charging station in Norway.
As a result, the IMI has been speaking to ministers about the problem, although it’s claimed that it’s been having trouble persuading Westminster of the need to ensure correct training.
“The unfortunate thing is the electric car looks pretty much like any other car from the outside, but it’s very different under the bonnet,” Mr Nash said.
