ELECTRIC ACCORD
Isn’t it time there was a unified approach to high voltage system isolation. The past decade and a half has been pretty miserable for collision repairers when it comes to where things are located on a vehicle. Just consider the straightforward task of making a vehicle with any system carrying more than 60V safe to process. How do we know the high voltage system needs to be powered down? If the answer is yes, we do, where do we start?
Is the vital isolator in the trunk? If there is one? How about the boot? Is it accessed via a hatch near or under the rear seat base?
Just how much stuff has to come off to reach the isolation “thingy”?
Look behind you! This innocent boot trim access hatch conceals some odd but rather vital “thingies”.
The answer, my friends, is blowing… in the vehicle manufacturers’ information site or the manufacturer information hosted by third parties. Of course.
If a body shop carries a vehicle manufacturer approval there’s a pretty hefty incentive to keep up to speed with the products. Practically, given the number of repairs per day, this can all seem to be a blur – too difficult to remember. Processes can manage the main issue, but where exactly is the “thingy”?
A standard, you say
This may come as quite a shock – there is no UK, EU27, USA or any other standard for automotive high voltage system layouts. Nor is there any agreement on how the high voltage system – especially the battery and system capacitors which could cause serious harm, are made safe. While vehicle manufacturers do publish model specific instructions at considerable expense, there is no agreement.
Ever wondered why headlights, for example, are broadly at the same height from the ground? That’s an example of standard – “type approval”.
Now, there is an organisation which is partly funded by UK interests, is well connected with the FIA, has political connections as well, yet is not a government body. Further, this organisation writes its own standards, with extensive consultation. Who could it be?
Why, Euro NCAP, of course. You see, dear Euro NCAP, this is your time to help save lives of those who work on new cars, and so, in time, those same cars throughout their entire lifecycle.
Motorsport sling-shot
Consider everything from a track day special to F1 has certain standard features, written specifically into the FIA rules. One of those things is a battery isolation switch, with a defined quality, defined function and a location regardless of vehicle layout that can be reached by the driver and if necessary, track marshals from outside the vehicle.
None of this is done by chance. It has taken years of hard work by many, many people to ensure this happens. It saves lives!
Meanwhile for the motoring public and the huge number of people who work to repair or maintain their vehicles, nothing. Almost nothing. True, the vehicle manufacturers try really, really hard, but there is no unified approach. There is no standard.
If you want to see how emotional this can be, check out on the on-going lack of standardisation for recharger-to-vehicle lead plugs. Many solutions, some of them really clever, but very little consensus. If the future really is electric, isn’t it time this was sorted out?
Nothing, nothing, then something
The idea a vehicle manufacturer is still converting old platforms to “electrickery,” and so has to shoe-horn things into all kinds of odd places, does not really wash 15 years after the first Nissan Leaf. If an independent body such as Euro NCAP was to undertake this life-saving work, it would take years to produce a standard, and probably a few more years after the publication to start seeing the result.
The automotive industry is highly adaptable and agile, with one recent trend we need to consider. Way back in 1997 when Toyota built the very first Prius hybrid, to isolate the high voltage system just disconnect the 12V battery, clever, simple, straight forward.
Since then, all vehicles have become much, much more sophisticated. Now we see the 12V battery can either be charged by or assist in-charging the high voltage battery. Two-way charging, on board. Disconnect the 12V battery without the right process and all sorts of trouble will follow.
There’s more. The vehicle manufacturer’s engineers know what is required to ensure a high voltage system and especially the battery, are kept in the best condition after collision. That includes managing the core temperature.
To finish we have to start somewhere
The utter chaos will continue without any consensus unless standards emerge which define how a high voltage system, can be quickly isolated, how it can be equally quickly re-instated if required, and typical access requirements.
The longer this is left open, the more vehicles with electrified powertrains will join, the greater the scale of chaos. What could a “good” solution look like? An isolation switch next to the charge port. Sure, that only addresses PHEV and BEV, but it could be built.
By Andrew Marsh
