Symposium “Safety of high-voltage vehicles”
On 22 and 23 November 2011, the UDV (German Insurers Accident Research) held a symposium in Berlin that included three workshops at which over 100 experts discussed operational safety, crash safety and accident rescue services and made recommendations.
The interrelationships between all the safety aspects – from operation and protection of passengers and other road users to rescue – present a particular challenge in the context of the introduction of high-voltage motor vehicles. The participants expressed a desire for regular opportunities to have this kind of interdisciplinary exchange in order to be able to monitor the wide variety of standardization activities in the relevant fields. The issue of how to safely transport a high-voltage battery is still unresolved, however. Existing regulations are not fit for purpose and need to be adapted.
There is still much work to do to explain to all concerned exactly what risks do and do not exist with high-voltage vehicles.