CIECA has announced the formation of a new Standards Development Committee focused on Electric Vehicles (EVs) and electric batteries. The committee will be chaired by Frank Phillips, senior manager-Certified Collision North America for Rivian, Jake Rodenroth, North American Body Repair Program operations manager for Lucid Motors, and Ginny Whelan, senior consultant for the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA).
The first meeting is Wednesday, March 1. All industry stakeholders, including CIECA and non-CIECA members, are invited to join.
In 2022, CIECA’s Recycled Parts and Inventory Committee, chaired by Whelan, was discussing recycled EV parts and found that questions kept arising about how an EV’s lifecycle and batteries would impact recycled parts. As a result, the EV Committee was formed.
The committee will bring together companies and individuals from all industry segments to discuss how EVs will change the current business workflows and data. Committee members will identify new data sources, access and sharing requirements, connectivity methodologies, workflows and terminology.
“The goal is to create new workflows that will show the lifecycle of an EV and its battery,” said Paulette Reed, CIECA’s technical project manager. “The workflows will then be used to generate new messages and data elements so the industry will be able to continue sharing data electronically.”
Whelan foresees the committee will address the safe handling of an EV, the impact of parts and materials on the collision repair process, and the availability of charging stations. She said the committee will also likely discuss EV battery issues, such as mining, manufacturing and battery strength.
“I think the safety component is definitely something worth spotlighting and ensuring that the industry has a good understanding of,” said Phillips. “We want the industry to have the proper knowledge and understand what it takes to repair these vehicles.”
“I think the message is market readiness,” said Rodenroth. “We want to ensure all entities of the industry are ready and understand the lifecycle of the EV, what they are working on and how to work on it.”
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