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Course: Inspecting High-Voltage Electric-Drive Commercial Motor Vehicles

Screenshot of the introduction to the course.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in partnership with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), has developed a training course on inspecting high-voltage electric drive commercial motor vehicles (CMVs).

High voltage systems are not currently inspected as part of the North American Standard (NAS) inspection procedures for CMVs. NAS inspection procedures do not include review of any high-voltage component. However, high-voltage systems can still pose serious, even life-threatening risks. This training is meant to raise awareness on the risks associated with high voltage systems and enable CMV inspectors to conduct supplemental inspections on high-voltage components. While designed for inspectors, this course could be useful to owners, operators, or anyone else who may be exposed to these vehicles.

The course covers:

  1. An Introduction to High-Voltage Electric-Drive Vehicles
  2. Identifying High-Voltage CMVs
  3. Types of Electric-Drive CMVs
  4. High-Voltage Hazards
  5. Low and High-Voltage Systems
  6. Dangers of High-Voltage

This course, available here, is approximately 1 hour in length and includes six modules with content, graphic displays, and a video demonstration of how a hybrid electric vehicle operates. There will be knowledge checks throughout the training. Additionally, the end of the course contains an examination which covers topics from throughout the entirety of the course. A certificate section is provided for when the examination has been passed. A text-only version of the course may be found here.

NOTE: This training application functions optimally when viewed in Google Chrome. Certain functionalities related to the interactive knowledge checks, post-quiz review, and training certification generation may be limited in Internet Explorer or Firefox.