By Jenny Conrad from Conrad's Auto Salvage;

We had the privilege of sending three of our employees to the Iowa Auto Recyclers certfication course on safe handling of electric & hybrid vehicles taught by Andy Lathem. Thank you to Iowa for holding and opening up this certfication to anyone that wanted to atend.

Although the classroom portion is always “boring” to sit through not only did they learn how to properly handle these vehicles they did they did come away with some tidbits that they thought were interesting.

It takes 2600 gallons of high pressure water for 1 hour to put out an electric car fire. That water is now polluted because of the toxic chemicals that come off the burning battery.

Even when the fire seems to be out it can reignite several days later.

The smoke from these vehicles contains flammable and toxic chemicals A fire extinguisher does not extinguish these fires. You can get fire blankets in single use or one for up to 30 fires.

Free website for dismantlers to confirm process to safely disconnect & remove HV batery…www.IDIS2.com

Proper PPE is a must for EVERYONE’s safety. The orange wire means hire than 70v. Keys should be treated like a lockout/tagout situation. ARA website has a FREE dismantle download available for everyone – no need to be a member!

The afternoon session was looking and learning with a Tesla. They learned how first responders disconnect the battery vs those that have more time to disconnect the battery. They talked about the first responders procedures. Unfortunately first responders are expected to figure it out and do not get much training on procedures for these vehicles.