After the recent Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in California, it would be easy to think every groundbreaking technology debuting in the trucking space this year as advancements for electric trucks.
That’s not the case. Electric vehicle (EV) research and development has become a major business unit for North American OEMs (and new industry players), but those efforts still represent a focus on the future rather than a necessity for today. And on Monday at ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Fall Meeting in Cleveland, TMC’s Automated and Electric Vehicles study group got in on the future planning.
Over the next few years, TMC’s study group intends to develop a recommended practice for Electric Vehicle Technician Training. During Monday’s exploratory session, most of the discussion focused on how fundamentally different EV operation is from conventional diesel engines, and how all service shops (fleets, dealers, independent service providers, etc.) will need to invest heavily in training to ensure their employees can correctly and safely perform EV service.
Kevin Otto, formerly with Cummins, led the discussion.
In opening the task force meeting, Otto said he estimates nearly every diesel technician working in trucking today will require substantial education on electrical systems to even approach working on EVs, let alone become an expert. Because today’s Class 8 trucks run almost entirely on 12-volt DC power — alternators use AC power within a closed system — most technicians have no experience working on or around higher voltage equipment.
Otto said obviously that will need to change. The electrical power running through a conventional Class 8 truck is dangerous enough. But in a vehicle fully run by batteries? Otto said untrained technicians attempting to service an EV tractor could put themselves in serious danger.
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