Las roadside assistance companies They have been the business sector that maintains a large part of road safety in Spain for years. With the increase in electric vehicles (EVs), this role is becoming more demanding and dangerous every day, but with unsustainable economic compensation.
It is not an exaggeration because EV interventions require more resourcesmore time and specific procedures that increase both the economic cost and the risk for the rescue workers who go to the scene of the accident or breakdown.
A fire or accident with an EV is not a minor problem. Traction batteries can go into thermal runaway, releasing toxic gases and causing reignitions hours or even days after the intervention.
Its effective cooling requires volumes of water much higher than those of a combustion vehicle (with recommendations that place an approximate minimum of 4,000 liters and there have been real cases that have required up to 100,000 liters), in addition to prolonged thermal monitoring and “isolation and quarantine” spaces for the vehicle. This implies many hours of work, heavy equipment and logistics that make assistance extremely expensive.
Added to this is the need for protocols and specific training. Although, according to its manufacturers, the risk of direct electrocution is described as “minimal or none” If proper procedures are followed, the reality is that you must always treat the vehicle as an energized object, use personal protective equipment (PPE) suitable for electrical risks and avoid cuts or manipulation of high-voltage components.
Roadside assistance companies are assuming higher costs
In practice, many insurers and assistance platforms require that the rescue workers who intervene have training in electrical risk prevention, which makes each assistance a matter that requires not only mechanical knowledge but also competencies of an “electrician” in terms of preventive responsibility.
This means more costs, more time per operation, and, in certain incidents, the need to mobilize two people to guarantee security and complicated regulatory compliance.
This is where economic injustice appears. Roadside assistance companies are assuming higher costs (materials, hours, travel with platforms, thermal and self-contained breathing equipment when there is a risk of gases, etc.) and assume higher professional risks due to the nature of the accident.
However, the remuneration for the rates set by insurance companies, their scales and policies, has not been adapted and they treat these claims indifferently to the rates designed for combustion cars, which provide for standard response times and prices designed in a reality prior to the EV.
This is causing many assists go “at a loss” or that, sometimes, less professional companies do them with the minimum admissible security to “fit” the intervention into the prices imposed by insurers, assistance platforms or automobile clubs, which manage the roadside assistance services provided by the wrecker tow trucks.
The DGT can and must coordinate emergency services, manufacturers and relief companies so that there are minimum obligations
The practical consequence is twofold. On the one hand, they have the real cost for the companies that provide assistance (and, therefore, risk of abandonment of specialized services), and, on the other, less security for users and operators if the pressure to reduce time and expenses takes precedence over good practices.
Be careful, it is not a dilemma in the abstract. We are talking about lives, about fires that can be reactivated and about personnel who, if they lack adequate training or if they do not have experience in uWith a sufficient number of interventions, you can face critical situations.
The most serious thing is that there is another actor who has been conspicuous by his absence on this stage. And it is none other than the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). It is not about asking for symbolic gestures, but rather a public intervention is needed that homogenizes action protocols.
The DGT can and must coordinate emergency services, manufacturers and relief companies so that there are minimum obligations that reflect the new technological reality and protect both citizens and road workers, since this concerns Road Safety, which is its main competence. Without that leadership, we will continue to rely on technical guides, good practices and the good will of companies that, day after day, give their all for low rates and little recognition.
Firstly, it is inexcusable that insurers, assistance platforms and automobile clubs recognize the greater complexity of EV interventions and review and update their rates, remunerating these services according to the time, means and real risks. And secondly, there must be official recognition of specific training (and support for its financing) so that the requirement for occupational prevention against electrical risks is not an unfair economic burden for the operator or his company.
Administrations and insurers cannot continue looking the other way while sales of electric vehicles multiply
Finally, it is necessary to draft joint protocols with the DGT and the EV manufacturing brands that define responsibilities in assistance, towing, storage and post-incident surveillance, as well as establishing an effective communication channel for extreme cases – vehicles with thermal leak, need for immersion or long periods of surveillance – where public intervention and private resources are coordinated and, where appropriate, financed according to the real risk.
Correctly valuing and rewarding roadside assistance is not only a matter of economic justice, it is an investment in road safety, public health and the peace of mind of millions of drivers.
Those who preach a transition towards responsible and safe electric mobility cannot leave those who act on the front lines without a response. The wrecking companies should be part of the service, not a hidden cost.
The bill should not be paid by the roadside assistance company or the person who suffers the incident, but by the system that has decided that safety depends on brave but underpaid hands.
Administrations and insurers cannot continue looking the other way while sales of electric vehicles multiply. It is time to address this issue now or we will regret it as a society.
*** Emilio Domínguez del Valle is a lawyer, expert in mobility and transportation.