victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

6.3 SOCIAL IMPACTS6.3.1 How is community safetybeing protected as part of theelectric vehicle roll-out?The safety of the Victorian communityis being ensured through the creationand application of a technical standardsframework and accredited trainingcourses for technicians. Theseinitiatives streamline the existing,individual approaches being taken byelectric vehicle market participants.Electric vehicle technology must bedesigned and deployed to cope withthe enormous range of scenarioswhich could result in a safety risk.Figure 54 illustrates just one suchscenario, where an electric vehiclehas been left to charge prior to a thickblanket of snow falling. Equipmentsuppliers and operators must preemptthese scenarios in their design,manufacture and deployment ofequipment so as to ensure communitysafety is maintained.Regulators must verify that equipmentsuppliers and operators have takenthe necessary measures as part oftheir due diligence when reviewing/approving deployment proposals.Technical standards are peer-reviewed,consensus-backed rules relating tothe design and operation of productsand work practices. They draw uponexpertise from all relevant stakeholdersto ensure consistency with existingpractices and management ofemerging issues. While communitysafety is likely to be maintainedthrough the individual efforts of variouscompanies and regulators, standardssupport harmonisation of these effortsand avoid individual entities fromhaving to ‘reinvent the wheel’ at greatcost in both time and resources.In 2009, the Victorian Governmentcommissioned a scoping study for anational electric vehicle standardsframework (Standards Australia2010). An agreed work-plan wasdeveloped, following which the firstphase of the technical standardsdevelopment was initiated under theumbrella of the trial. The project willultimately deliver a comprehensivetechnical standards framework thatwill help electric vehicle marketparticipants harmonise their approachto ensuring community safety.Separately accredited training courseproviders are addressing the knowledgegaps within workforce training forelectric vehicle technologies. Throughthe systematic deployment of trainingalongside the arrival of EV technologyin the market, workplace safety willbe maintained and the community canbe confident in the work practices thatkeep their vehicles on the roads.Figure 54. Electric vehicle charging in the New York winter (photo by A.Rogers – used with permission).CREATING A MARKET 109