Legal loophole allows mechanics to work on electric cars without being qualified

Despite electric vehicles using fundamentally different powertrains, mechanics are able to carry out service and repair work on electric cars without specific qualifications due to slow Government support in helping workshops get the training they need.

At present, a technician who is otherwise legally qualified to carry out work on internal combustion-engined (ICE) cars can undertake servicing and repairs on electric vehicles without any additional training – even though there is a huge safety risk in doing so due, in part, to the large voltage involved.

Drive understands that while it’s “not a free for all” with mechanics going rogue doing work they don’t know how to do, only New South Wales and Western Australia have their own licensing schemes to prevent this from happening – the other states and territories don’t have any rules in place.

One mechanic told Drive that “there's not really anything that we are not allowed to do because there's nothing legislated with what sort of qualifications you need to be able to work on them”. 

“Anything that can be done on a Tesla or a BYD, technically we can do it. It's only the knowledge base of the information you don’t have that [morally] prevents you from doing it, because there's nothing legislated where you have to have a qualification,” they told us.

“It's not like some industries where you have to have an industry ticket or you an NBIA (National Business Institute of Australia) licence. There's nothing like that in the EV industry at the moment. So technically we can do anything. It's just a knowledge thing that stops you or the customer not bringing the car in in the first place.”

Another, however, said most mechanics would “farm out” any work they didn’t know how to do to someone who does.

“Repair shops don't take on work that they don't understand and aren't skilled to do. They'll farm it out to someone who can, but the problem is there's not enough of those at the moment,” they told Drive.

Whether or not there are other laws which prevent working on an electric vehicle without the appropriate training is a bit of a grey area, with sources telling Drive different things.

Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), in any industry, you’re not allowed to undertake a job you don’t have the right training or equipment to complete. 

“The ACL is a bit of a red herring,” one industry insider told us. “I don't believe that there's anything in the ACL that talks about [needing to have certain] qualifications, but if you're not qualified and you break it, then yeah, the ACL will whack you. They've got a claim against you in the tribunals that you broke the car further. 

“In New South Wales, there is a licensing range where people have to be qualified to work on any car. But if you are a mechanic and haven't done a EV-ready course, which is the whole safety and de-powering and re-powering thing, then I don't believe in other states that there's anything that stops you from working on them. It's just not a very good idea.”

Additionally, an amendment to the Australian Competition Act in 2022, which brought in a mandated requirement for car manufacturers to share all repair and service information with workshops, includes a provision that if you're accessing any technical information related to an electric or hybrid vehicle you must have the necessary safety training.

Some elements of electric vehicle training include, for instance, learning how to safely power down and re-power them because they've got high voltage –  there's a procedure to drain them completely of power before you carry out work on them, and also how to meet the Australian standard for setting up an EV bay in a workshop.

At present, there is no nationally-consistent training available for the more than 70,000 automotive technicians working in Australia to learn how to look after electric vehicles. 

And there are other major barriers too, including cost and availability in rural areas, and wider industry problems such as a skills shortage are making things worse.

Many voices are calling on the Federal Government to take action to help service and repair workshops to be equipped ahead of mass adoption because the focus up until now has been too much on getting people into electric cars with “no consideration of the downstream impacts”.

According to Matthew Hobbs, CEO of the Motors Trades Association of Australia (MTAA), more needs to be done to get the existing technicians upskilled, more apprentices, and increased numbers of qualified workers from overseas.

“As the Government looks to accelerate the uptake of EVs and hybrids and more fuel-efficient cars through its new fuel-efficiency standard, the industry is working to ensure that we have the people with the right skills who can make sure that consumers can always get their cars fixed,” he said.

Stuart Charity, CEO of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAA) said inaction could mean people end up buying electric cars but have nowhere to charge them due to the slow rollout of charging infrastructure in Australia, and then also can’t service or repair them because mechanics don’t have the right training.

“We see a lot of financial support targeted to the purchase of EVs and while this is important, there is not enough thought to the ownership experience. Charging, service, repair, modification and parts supply are issues that owners will have for the life of the car and they can’t be an afterthought by government,” he said.

“EV servicing requires a significant investment by workshop owners in tools, equipment and training. Given the small current car park share of EVs, combined with the lack of availability of training providers, this is creating a barrier for many workshops to invest in EV servicing, particularly in rural and regional areas where infrastructure and training accessibility remain limited.

“A wholistic EV transition approach needs to be implemented to ensure that someone’s first EV purchase is not their last.”

The cost to a workshop, many of which are small businesses, varies massively. Although the actual training component generally costs in the low thousands, when combining that with other factors such as travel, accommodation, time away from the job, multiple people needing to be trained etc – it can add up to as much as $20,000 in some cases.

Additionally, Mr Charity says workshops also have to factor in the cost of re-tooling with some of the different equipment that’s needed to work on electric vehicles costing as much as $30-40,000 saying it’s a “huge commitment”.

“At the moment, the market demand just isn’t there – there’s not enough vehicles on the road to justify that sort of investment,” he told Drive.

“We’ve got a chicken and egg thing where the Government's pushing everyone into EVs as quickly as possible, and there's no thought or programmes to train up the existing workforce. So that's a real problem. 

“If you push people into electric vehicles and they can't charge them and they can't get serviced and prepared in a timely manner, then you're not going to buy another one. Then they're going to lose confidence in the technology.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations told Drive that it is working with bodies such as the Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance (AUSMASA), as well as regulators, to ensure nationally-recognised training packages reflect work health and safety requirements for electric vehicle operations, maintenance and repair as they do for existing standards.

However, it acknowledged that licensing, legislative and occupational certification processes vary between the states and territories.

“Under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations, employers must manage electrical risks at the workplace. Specific regulations may apply when a worker is doing electrical work,” the spokesperson said. 

“There are also licensing requirements, managed separately in each state and territory, for electrical work. Employers and workers should check with the WHS regulator in their jurisdiction what rules apply to them.

“The Government has supported the development of resources to assist training providers and the uptake of existing training packages in electric vehicles, renewables and hydrogen.

“Subject matter experts and Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance (AUSMASA) have been involved in the development of such resources. These resources cover personal safety in the workplace, and sourcing and interpreting technical information. These resources will be available to training providers later this year.”

Geoff Gwilym, CEO of the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) said the Federal Government’s upcoming emissions regulations, due to come into effect next year, have changed things for the aftermarket industry very quickly with previously low sales numbers for electric vehicles meaning it wasn’t a priority for many small businesses.

“One of the challenges for us is that prior to the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) coming through, there was no compelling reason for a lot of workshops to train in electric vehicles since they weren't getting a lot of [electric cars] through the door,” he told Drive.

“The Government needs to make sure that funding's there not just for TAFE institutes, but also for private training organisations and industry associations that deliver training. We need to make sure that there's enough support from them to encourage people to undertake it.

“But it’s also a decision that individual workshops, depending on the work they get, need to make for themselves. How much training do I need in my workshop? 

“Everybody should be trained in basic safety, but we’ve got some workshops that will make some analysis of EVs, but wouldn't go into major repairs, then we’ve got others that will. 

“I've also had some workshops that have said to me, ‘we'll stay with internal combustion engines – we don't want to work on EVs’, and that's okay. They could be 55 years-old and planning to retire in 10 years, and think ‘this is not worth it for me’. That will determine the type of training that's needed.”

New research conducted by the AAAA shows that 10 per cent of aftermarket workshops are already marketing that they have the expertise to service EVs, with an additional 24 per cent planning to do so within the next two years, however, more needs to be done to support the transition. 

The Australian Government says it is investing $9.7 million through the National Skills Agreement, to be matched with $9.7 million by the Australian Capital Territory Government, to establish Australia’s first TAFE Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT).

In May, the Federal Government made a U-turn on the strict criteria apprentice mechanics needed to meet to work on electric vehicles following mounting pressure from the car industry.

Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen announced changes to the New Energy Apprenticeships Program aimed at accelerating the number of apprentices who can service, maintain and repair electrics cars.

From 1 July 2024, prospective auto apprentices will be given $10,000 each to join up based on three criteria – the workshop they are employed works on electric vehicles (EVs), it has the tools to do so, and someone there is already trained in how to deal with them.

Previously the bar set for an apprentice to access the $10,000 was extremely high because the Government had decreed that 80 per cent of the cars the business worked on had to be electric – an almost impossible level to meet when uptake of such technology in Australia is still relatively low.

Brad Martin, Franchisee at Jax Tyres and Auto, in Phillip, ACT, is one business owner keen to jump on getting his staff trained early, ready for when there are more electric vehicles on our roads.

One of his mechanics has completed two out of three modules he needs to upskill, while plans for another to do so – plus his two apprentices – are in the pipeline. 

“It was something that I wanted to commit to with going EV-ready for when it came down that line,” Mr Martin told Drive. We've been doing a fair bit with the Tesla Owners’ Club and things like that to try and push ourselves forward in the EV market, so we are pretty well there. I've just got to wait for the final courses to be developed to be able to get fully trained up.”

However, Mr Martin said that initially, trying to figure out where to start to get his staff trained was not at all clear.

“The training is a little bit vague, I don't believe anybody fully understands the full extent of what it takes to become fully-qualified. There's no Australian standard, it's all separate entities creating these courses,” he said.

“When you Google it, there's not a heap available. So unless you're a member of some of things like MTA it's not that easy to track it down.”

While the costs so far haven’t been too extensive, the franchisee said it’s still prohibitive for many small entities when the cost of living is so high.

“It's not a good time to be trying to do extra training at the moment with the cost of living and interest rates and so on. Everyone's filling the pinch of that, including small business. It's a difficult thing to start looking at committing people to the training when some of the costs sale still a bit vague.

“I think the Government needs to look at fee-free training for EV courses. It is the Government that is really driving and pushing the EV market, so I think because of the massive cost involved in places trying to get EV-ready, it'd be nice if they fully subsidised the training – even if they had a cut-off.”

Although the ACT-based workshop does currently work on EVs doing things like wheel alignments, Mr Martin believes it will still be 5-10 years until it has these kinds of vehicles coming through its doors en-masse due to owners initially taking their cars back to the manufacturer for service and repairs during the warranty period – as most people do with ICE models.