Maintenance of electric cars: How is it different from the combustion engine and what new opportunities does it bring us?

According to information from the Automotive Association of Peru (AAP), until last year in Peru there were some 78,000 mechanical workshops for a fleet of 2.9 million vehicles. In Lima alone, there were 38,000 workshops, with one or two mechanics specialized in internal combustion vehicles, but without experience in electrified models, whether hybrid or 100% electric. That is, it is obvious that there is a pending problem.

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For Rodrigo Salcedo, Corporate Leader of Electromobility at EMASA – a leading company in the auto parts, industrial and automotive equipment market in Peru, Chile and Colombia – it is a race against time and a possibility. “There is a great opportunity, especially in Latin America, to learn before this technology becomes widespread”he said from Chile, in dialogue with Trade. And it is that electromobility also opens up the possibilities of developing new capacities, but which are currently on hold.

“If in a country I don’t have technicians who can perform a diagnosis, repair, maintenance, I don’t have rescue teams that are trained, I don’t have education centers that are teaching and practicing this, it is very difficult for a manufacturer to say ‘You know what , I’m going to send all my electric models’”Salcedo said.

And there are many aspects behind an electric car. But what is certain is that the world is turning towards a change in the mode of transport and Peru runs the risk of being left behind.

electrical vs. Combustion

The first thing to understand is the difference between an electric car and a combustion car, and this starts with the number and quality of pieces and parts that make the vehicle work.

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“We are talking about a combustion vehicle that has around 2,000 moving parts and pieces that need maintenance (from spark plugs, engine seals, internal connections, filters), versus an electric vehicle that can have around 40 moving parts and pieces ( be it the engine, the battery and the different computers that control the vehicle to function properly)”explained Salcedo, who will be one of the international speakers at the III International Congress of New Automotive Technologies organized by the AAP, from August 23 to 25.

There is also a difference in structure. In the case of electric cars, the battery is located in the lower part of the vehicle, and in the case of buses and trucks, it is usually found on the roof.

And this contrast between electric and combustion vehicles also produces a difference in work routines. In the case of electrical, the diagnosis made by a specialist is made through a computer system, hardware or an application. This offers greater precision, she explained. And, in this sense, he compared the maintenance of an electric vehicle with a computer where “the RAM card or the hard disk is changed”, depending on the type of failure.

That is, “a component is diagnosed as having a fault and the entire part is changed”. But, on the other hand, there are parts in common with a combustion car, such as the use of tires, brakes, suspension, among other details.

There is also a difference in the number of times you need technical support. “In the Tesla, in the first 100 thousand kilometers it receives 6 or 7 diagnostic checks”Salcedo said. On the other hand, a combustion vehicle every 10,000 or 15,000 requires changing the belt, the oil, the brake pads, among other details. For this reason, an electric car ends up being more profitable.

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change the business

At the beginning of this note, the number of mechanical workshops in Peru was discussed, and one of the effects that is expected with the arrival of electric cars is the change in the business model of the workshops.

For Luis Quispe Candia, president of Luz Ambar, the change will be gradual since today there are not enough electric vehicles and the workshops serve some 4 million vehicles (including motorcycles) throughout the country, compared to 3,800 hybrid vehicles. and electrical. This change would also motivate the training of technicians.

“Generally this occurs with the exercise of the free market. There is demand and then there is also supply. That is what is going to happen over time, and it depends on the number of vehicles that we can begin to have. If the State gives incentives, it could soon be in three to five years and the change in the energy matrix could already begin. At the moment there are not enough incentives for the purchase, ”he said in dialogue with this Daily.

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But, what will this change be like in the workshops? Salcedo explains to us that “they are going to become more electronic than mechanical and the workshops are also going to specialize”, a specialization that would be according to the parts of the car.

“In 10 more years there will be specialists in hardware repair, in everything that is power electronics, in repair of (electric) motors, in the diagnosis of the connectivity of all components, telemetry. All this is far from what combustion is. This is very far from the reality of workshops today”, commented the Emasa specialist. Likewise, he also stressed that there must be a change in the work routines of the workshops, especially in safety, since they work with high voltage, enough to supply energy to a house for three days.

Another important detail is the restriction of some parts, in the same style as Apple. It has been known about the difficulty to open and repair the new Tesla batteries. A case that recalls the lack of homologation between manufacturers and the exclusivity of their products. This would affect the knowledge of technicians in workshops, but for Salcedo this situation “is going to be released as manufacturers realize that there is adequate training in the countries to deal with this technology.”

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Training in Peru: the technician of the future

Our country is a little late to the energy change in transport. Just this 2022, in his message of July 28, President Pedro Castillo announced tax incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. On the other hand, already in 2018 an opportunity arose, during the government of Martín Vizcarra, to train technicians. The Ministry of Production announced a training program for Mypes around the assembly of electric vehicles, and that it should have started in 2019, as reported by the Andina agency at the time. We consulted said ministerial portfolio and they answered us that “no training related to electromobility has been carried out”.

But on the other side are the educational institutions. “I know that UNI and SENATI have already begun to train people in electromobility, but it is still very incipient, as is the beginning of the installation of electric buses and electric vehicles, in general,” said Quispe Candia , and also considered that “there is not yet a market nor is there a sufficient supply of training”.

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Along these lines, Salcedo considers that having trained technicians could take about five years, but it is not a simple and cheap process, which is why he described this process as a race, taking into account that electromobility is a technology in full swing. change.

“First, the education center has to buy equipment and technology to train the technicians. There is already an investment there. Two, that the educational or thematic curricula have to be validated by a Ministry of Education, and there is also a time there. And with that you also have to wait for a student to enter and leave as a technician. If one is not so pessimistic, I predict that in four or five more years we could have technicians making the comparison to the world of combustion”, commented the specialist, about the training of what he calls the technician of the future.

But there is still some time. It only depends on the authorities to create the conditions so that the technicians are prepared to serve an industry that is already beginning to expand in the world.

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