Landmines are designed to injure or kill; they are placed to trap the unaware and could be detonated by presence, proximity or direct contact. Electric vehicles may not have landmines fitted, but they can harm if you are in the presence or proximity of the vehicle or by direct contact.
There are four main risks to take account of:
• Chemical
• Electrical
• Fire
• Electromagnetic
All batteries are chemical devices that include an electrolyte, which can cause serious personal damage if it leaks from the battery, the battery module or battery cell. A lead acid (12v) battery will lose all of its electrolyte if damaged. The risk of this acid is well known by vehicle technicians as we have been working with these for well over 120 years.
High voltage batteries have an alkaline electrolyte that can be very harmful to a person’s health if the battery is damaged and electrolyte is leaking. It may only be a small amount of electrolyte as only the damaged cells will leak, but even in very small quantities the electrolyte can be very harmful.
The biggest risk is electric shock – this occurs when a person touches the vehicle and creates a circuit through their body. This could be between two points on the vehicle or between the vehicle and an earth point. The heart is very vulnerable to electric shock and only a small amount of voltage and current is needed to put the heart into ventricular fibrillation, which means that the heart is not pumping blood around the body. Almost all hybrid vehicles and every plug-in vehicle (hybrid or full EV) carry lethal amounts of voltage and current.
The biggest risk is electric shock – this occurs when a person touches the vehicle and creates a circuit through their body.
Fire can happen in any vehicle, it doesn’t matter what type of power source; the risk is that with high voltage vehicles the consequences could be much more severe. An arc flash is where the electricity jumps an air gap – this superheats the air and can seriously burn a technician if they are close to the arc flash. Equally it could ignite substances nearby (fuel vapor from depollution, for example), and explode.
Batteries do catch on fire (although far less than the press reports would have you believe) and they could burn for three to five hours. They need large volumes of high pressure water (over 10,000 liters or 2,500 gallons) that will require the fire services to establish a pump connection to a fire hydrant.
Also, electromagnetic fields in a high voltage system can impact heart pacemakers, so anyone that has one of these fitted should not work on one of these vehicles. These vehicles are perfectly safe to drive, plug in and operate if you have a pacemaker – just do not work on them when they are live.
How do you protect yourself from these electrical landmines? Easy – be trained, have the right HV tools, HV personal protective equipment and follow the manufacturer processes.
Training also is absolutely essential. Vehicle technicians need to use a training provider that is offering accredited and certificated training courses that include awareness of risks, how to work safely, and practical assessments. Without these, the technicians will not have the right awareness, knowledge of how to complete the work, and the confidence to complete high voltage operations.
HV tools range from insulated hand tools, through cat 3, 1000-volt multimeters or voltage detectors and vehicle scan kit.
HV personal protective equipment (PPE) includes class 0, 1000v rated electrician’s safety gloves, 1000v rated safety footwear or rubber mat, face or eye protection, full length overalls, safety rescue hook, and warning signs and barriers. The correct processes can be obtained from the vehicle manufacturer and other sources (see box).
If the technician has been trained, they have the tools, the PPE and they follow the process, then they will be able to avoid the electrical landmines and get home to their families at the end of each working day.
Salvage Wire has developed specific and accredited electric vehicle dismantling training that is available at four levels which equips every person at every recycler with the knowledge, understanding and confidence to work on these vehicles. For more details email training@salvagewire.com.
Resources Most are free-of-charge, some do carry a cost.
Training
• ARA University has online training. Find out more at arauniversity.org
• Salvage Wire complete accredited training at four levels, taking technicians through the process and keeping them safe. Find out more at www.salvagewire.com
• AC/DC does advanced training. Find out more at fixhybrid.com
Education
• The ARA Hybrid Vehicle Technology book is available as a free download from ARA University: arauniversity.org/electric-hybrid-vehicle-technology-guide/
• Electric and Hybrid Technology book: tomdenton.org
Disconnection and Dismantling Processes
• International Dismantling Information Service idis2.com
• Removal Manuals elvsolutions.org/?page_id=1717
• Rescue Sheets http://rescuesheet.info/seite_3.html
• Energy Security Agency https://energysecurityagency.com/erg
• NFPA https://www.nfpa.org/Education-and-Research/Emergency-Response/Emergency-Response-Guides
• EV Fire Safe https://www.evfiresafe.com
Phone and Tablet Apps
• Euro Rescue
• EV Rescue
• Pro-Assist Hybrid
Andy Latham is Managing Director of Salvage Wire. His desire is to highlight the professionalism in the vehicle recycling industry, increase knowledge and understanding, and keep everyone safe, ethical and profitable.
