When Bob Cable retired from collision repairs last year, he thought he was saying goodbye forever to shop work and hello to a relaxing new world of golf, scuba diving and grandkids. Things haven’t quite worked out that way. Instead, Cable fields several calls every month with repairers concerned with repairs on alternative fuel vehicles, specifically hybrids and especially Electric Vehicles (EV).
“I’ve never seen people more anxious about any of the changes I’ve seen in the industry since I started work in the 1970’s.” he says.
Cable’s situation arguably is a bit unique. The 40-year repair veteran lives in Florida, and most of the calls he’s received come from shops dealing with sunshine state tourists who simply don’t have the time to wait for repairs from shops with more experience repairing these vehicles.
“Shop owners want to help these customers and definitely are trying to capture the work, but they have real concerns about what can go wrong working around state of the art, powerful electric powerplants,” he says. Indeed, these businesses should be worried. EVs utilize electric voltage ranging from 400v – 800v (sometimes higher) and hybrids produce nearly 300v, putting shops and techs at significant risk. The danger and challenges these vehicles present don’t simply disappear by flipping a switch that shuts the power off.
Barry Dorn, Vice President of Dorn’s Body and Paint and a past chairman of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), says alternative fuel vehicles present repairers with a bigger jump in changes than unibody construction did. Further, he says shops need to adopt a “cultural change” to properly repair them.
What does that mean for your shop? Training. Lots of training from both OEMs and I-CAR. Along with that, use the following tips to help guide your shop through safety issues during repairs of these evolutionary marvels.
Tip 1. Read all of the OEM instructions.
Sure, you’re already using the OEM repair steps. With all the safety concerns attached to these vehicles, you’ll need to be thorough and review all the warnings and other documentation. Never assume that any repairs for one hybrid or EV mirror another.
“There are significant differences between OEMs and even between brands,” says Dorn. “There is no way to generalize the repairs on these vehicles. You have to go directly to the OEM repairs for the model.”
The differences in repairs begin the moment one of these vehicles comes to your door. Shutting off the power can differ markedly from one vehicle to another. Getting this single area wrong will put your techs and other staff members at risk from active electrical currents. Dorn further notes that powering down an electric system can involve 26 steps in itself – which, again, can differ markedly just between vehicle brands.
Tip 2. Safety is a matter of life and death.
42V – that’s just how little electricity it takes to kill a human being. With hybrids and EVs churning our far more, repairers face significant risks, especially since they can encounter dangerous electrical shocks all over the body of the vehicle and not simply near the orange high-voltage wires. “A tech can touch a fender in the wrong place and receive a shock,” says Dorn.
He goes on, “The shock from theses system isn’t just a jolt. You can cook internal organs in just a matter of seconds. Dorn notes that the OEM training he and his staff receive on electrical systems is “skull and crossbones.” Moreover, training sometimes involves teaching methods to pull staff members away from electrified areas, which potentially can mean breaking a colleague’s arm to remove that person from a deadly situation.
Tip 3. You’ll need a good relationship with dealers.
Some OEMs demand that electrical systems in EVs only be powered off and then back on at a dealer shop. Repairers thus are left with a “dead vehicles” that must be towed to and from a dealer and also placed on skates so it can be moved around the shop for repairs. “This can really affect your cycle times,” says Kye Yeung, president of European Motorworks and a past chairman of the SCRS.
Further, Dorn says some OEMs demand that shops prepare a daily work order that has to be approved by a dealer. Approval is granted via a physical signature, not an electronic version, meaning someone from the shop must make a daily trek to a dealer.
Tip 4. You’ll need to invest in new safety equipment.
Repairing hybrids and EVs means investing in items like special gloves and voltage meters. Dorn says each OEM has its own kit of safety items. Special gloves (similar to the ones used by lineman from your electric utility) used for handling live wires usually must be disposed of after six months. While these gloves are in use, Yeung says they should be tested with special tools to track down deadly pinholes.
Yeung says some OEMs also recommend special non-conductive work pads for techs to stand on while working. Other equipment is required after the vehicle is disassembled. Yeung says the battery packs are fragile and require special OEM benches that both support their weight and prevent internal damage. Each OEM has its own recommended bench.
Tip 5. You’re going to need sufficient space.
Working on vehicles with electric power systems sometimes means placing them in isolation areas to prevent damaged power packs and other issues from starting fires or injuring shop staff. Dorn says these vehicles usually are placed in areas at least 20 feet away from buildings, trees and anything flammable. The area further is set off with yellow tape, pylons, flags and placards warning staff and others to keep their distance.
Yeung explains that even when the power is shut off in these vehicles some deadly active voltage still remains. “A shop can put these vehicles on a lift to perform the damage analysis and leave it there overnight where it can start a fire,” he says.
“It can take thousands of gallons of water to put out electrical fires because these vehicles can keep reigniting them,” says Dorn.
Tip 6. Prepare now to work on these vehicles since you’ll eventually see them.
Dorn reports that alternative fuel vehicles constitute a considerable portion of his business. Yeung too sees them frequently and believes other shops will as well. According to the Department of Energy, close to 5.4 million hybrids and more than 1.4 million EVs have sold since hitting the market in 1999 and 2010. With OEMs needing to raise fuel efficiency standards, consumers increasingly wanting these vehicles and more national infrastructure being added to support them, more hybrids and EVs than ever will be on the streets.
Obviously, you should start now picking up OEM and I-CAR training to handle this growing and dangerous work. What should you do today if a repair opportunity is brought to your doors?
That depends. Neither Dorn nor Yeung would outright discourage shops from taking on work. They say the key point for shops is examining their own capacity – both their ability to take on cutting edge technology and afford any additional tooling and safety equipment. Cable says those shops that reach out to others for consultation are taking a positive first step. “Looking for help shows that they know they have a serious challenge,” he says. “I generally ask them what vehicles they usually service, recent training they have and how quickly their employees can adapt. About 75 percent of the time, they take on the job, and they come away from it with a better appreciation of what they’re going to see in the future.”
Tip 7. Repeat Tip 1.
You need to follow OEM instructions to the letter. And if you’re wondering why you’re seeing the same tip twice, it’s just that important. Repairers already face incredible work hurdles with new vehicle designs showing up every year and issues like sensor calibration and the need to work more closely with OEMs and dealers. But that’s just the nature of today’s repair business. Dorn says repairing alternative fuel vehicles essentially compels shops to become dealer businesses.
That begins with following every part, every step in the OEM repairs. Shops hear this directive all the time. It’s the very basis of correct, safe repair. Hybrids, and especially EVs, make this guidance even more urgent since strictly following OEM repair instructions also is the basis of avoiding a dance with death, significant injury or a disastrous fire.
In short, repairing these vehicles comes down to how you should be operating everyday – as a professional business utilizing up-to-date training, equipment and understanding of current vehicles. Do that, and you should be in business a long time and have your own happy, healthy retirement to look forward to.