Electric Vehicle Charging Safety Shifts to the Fore-Front, as Cities Evaluate their Infrastructure.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Oct. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Greenstar Concepts LLC, a Louisville-Kentucky based company, has been the sole voice of electric vehicle charging safety and are staunch advocates of electric vehicle safety. Greenstar has focused on education, and providing specialized training to meet the needs of emergency and first responders across the county, because they lack the training needed to prepare them for responding to catastrophic accidents and incidents involving electric vehicle charging stations. The deployment of public charging points for electric vehicles is expected to increase substantially over the next few years; because of the expected increase, there is a growing concern with electric vehicle charging safety.

The responsibility for ensuring that funding is made available for specialized training on new technologies such as electric vehicle charging stations, fall squarely on the shoulders of the public sector (government). It is ironic that both city and state governments have a major role in the deployment of charging stations throughout their communities, and also own many of these devices. First responders have unknowingly become stake-holders in the electric vehicle program, as they are tasked with responding to and successfully mitigating catastrophic accidents and incidents involving electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging stations. “It is not uncommon for safety to take a back seat when new technologies are introduced to the market place; the public sector gets excited about the benefits these new technologies offer, but forget to address the inherent dangers that may accompany them”, says Robert Wright, Partner of Greenstar Concepts, LLC.

Concerns have been expressed by insurance companies that provide liability coverage for the public sector, and by the Risk Managers who manage exposure to those risks involving government-owned property; overall their concerns with electric vehicle charging stations continue to be raised because these devices have been installed in public places without an emergency plan, trained first responders, or periodic inspection programs in place to ensure these devices remain safe for use by the general public. These concerns are viable; any accident or incident involving an electric vehicle charging station may result in loss of property, injury, or death.  EVSE Training Chief and Retired Fire Chief Randy Lawson of Jeffersontown Fire Department, Louisville,  Kentucky  said, " As a result of the failure to address safety issues associated with these new technologies, first responders many times find themselves at risk trying to mitigate an unfamiliar hazard."

Greenstar Concepts, LLC recently partnered with LithFireX, LLC of Detroit-Michigan. This partnership expands our current safety-program to include training on battery fire extinguishing/suppression in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, and in energy storage facilities where batteries are used to store energy generated by solar, wind, and other devices.

Greenstar Concepts currently employs 3 safety instructors with goals set to hire 10 additional Instructors and 100 safety inspectors by year 2015. "We support this industry and will continue to push for safety, education programs for the public, and training for emergency/first responders" said James Maddox, Partner of Greenstar Concepts, LLC.

In order for the EV and EVSE program to thrive,  stakeholders  must continue to bring safety to the forefront and more importantly think of the general public that uses these high voltage devices and the emergency responders who may encounter these devices.

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