To provide safety guidelines to commercial vehicle enforcement officers and inspectors when examining electric and hybrid-electric commercial vehicles for compliance.

Electric and hybrid-electric commercial vehicles have been in use for over a decade. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), the North American Standard (NAS) inspection procedures, and the out-of-service (OOS) criteria have not kept up with this new technology. The most important aspect of this project is to provide safety guidelines to commercial vehicle enforcement officers and inspectors when examining such vehicles for compliance. Some of the hazards that such vehicles pose that are not present include serious injury (e.g., electrocution) from high voltage systems, quietness of approach, and “stranded energy.”

This project was predicated on the findings and recommendations of another project, “Electric Drive Vehicle Systems: Suggested Changes to Large Truck and Motorcoach Regulations and Inspection Procedures.” An online training course was developed to instruct inspectors how to safely inspect high-voltage electric-drive vehicles.

One-hour, online training course.

October 2015: Kick-off meeting and project plan review
January 2016: Training analysis report
January 2016: Detailed outline for instructional design guide
April 2016: Presentation of the outline to Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Vehicle and Training Committees for review and concurrence
September 2016: Implementation of Phase II of contract, course was piloted at CVSA Annual Meeting in Little Rock, and review comments were received from the CVSA Vehicle Committee.
June 2017: Final 1-hour, online training due

FY 2015: $127,464.38
FY 2016: $12,376.61

Complete—the training is published and available at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/research-and-analysis/technology/course-inspecting-high-voltage-electric-drive-commercial-motor.

EnDyna, Inc., and M.J. Bradley and Associates