SPECIFIC SAFETY ASPECTS OF ELECTRIC ROAD VEHICLE TRACTION SYSTEMS

Due to their beneficial effect on environment in urban traffic, electr ic vehicles are an important factor for the improvement of traffic and more particularly for a healthier living environment. Electric vehicl es however represent a completely different technology compared with i nternal combustion engines. This means that new safety hazards, mainly related to the characteristics of high-power electric equipment, may be present. The electric vehicle system will be designed to operate sa fely in all conditions; a number of specific problems will be treated, concentrating on aspects of vehicle behaviour which are typical for e lectric vehicles. At this moment the standards and official regulation s concerning electric road vehicles are not very clearly defined. The existing documents and standards are far from harmonised, and they cov er a vehicle in full technological evolution. Another aspect is the ps ychological awareness of these ''new'' risks: the presence of high vol tages or of battery chemicals may be used as an argument against elect ric vehicles; the fact that internal-combustion-engined vehicles prese nt large risks too is often overlooked, since people get accustomed to the danger.