Garage Equipment For Electric Vehicles | EV Workshop Advice

In May 2023, it was estimated that the UK alone was home to more than 1.2 million plug-in cars. This figure was then broken down into 780,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and 500,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs.)

Its becomming even more important to consider to consider what you need for servicing Electric Vehicles. There are considerations to be take when looking to gear-up towards electric or hybrid vehicle servicing:

Vehicle lifts:

• Wider than normal
• Clear floor
• Low profile arms - avoid scissor lifts
• Supplemental vehicle securing by means of straps recommended when removing significant loads from a vehicle.
• Ensure the lift provides the greatest amount of access to the underside of a vehicle.

We recommend the Space SDE 2357EV 2-Post lift with special articulated pad ends for EV vehicles.

Battery Lifting Tables:

A key addition to a workshop with an Electric Vehicle Bay will be a lifting table. With battery maintenance being a key part of the service of an electric vehicle, due to the battery being the largest and most expensive single component. A robust lift table for battery management will be required. There are a number on the market ranging significantly in price depending upon whether you want manual operation, electric operation, your capacity requirements, lift speed and lifting height considerations, considerations as well as key Health and Safety considerations.

Tyre & Wheel Equipment:

Proper wheel alignment is a critical maintenance factor for EVs, ensuring optimal performance, safety, and longevity. Whilst the requirements for tyre and wheel equipment on electric vehicles are no different than Petrol and Diesel vehicles, it is important to consider that due to the fact that electric cars weight 20-30% more and usually deliver significantly more torque, this has an impact on tyre wear. Therefore tyre sales and fitting play a significant part to EV vehicle support.

We manufacture and service Supertracker wheel alignment laser and computer systems. For a system able to cope with the demands of an Electric Vehicle, look no further than the STR420 8 sensor wheel aligner, as EVs typically have adjustable rear axis, the 8 sensor system can measure the adjustable rear axle and you are able to make adjustments as required before referencing the alignment of the front wheels. We also have 3-point clamps available for larger tyres.

We also supply and install Beissbarth wheel alignment systems, including the innovative Q.Lign. We also have a range of suitable wheel balancing, wheel alignment and tyre changers available from HPA-Faip.

Fume Extraction:

Ensuring fume extraction is in place for Electric battery changing is important by installing to the correct specification, different to exhaust extraction for ICEs. To speak to our knowledgeable teams about our fume extraction options, you can contact us on 01909 480055.

Other Considerations:

There are also a range of other considerations to ensure you are ready for servicing electric vehicles, including power supply, barriers, defibrillators, signage, workbench solutions, insulated tools and accessories. Which we can advise on and supply.

For garages are workshops who are developing new workshops, we recommend speaking to knowledgeable installation planning teams, who can advise you on the right design and layout of your workshop to ensure maximum efficiency for servicing electric cars.

Here at Straightset we have over 38 years experience in the design, supply and installation of garage equipment. With this knowledge and our ability to constantly evolve, bring our customers the latest innovations, bespoke technology and solutions, you can rely on Straightset for all your garage equipment needs and to have the in-house skills to keep you operating. See our latest case study where we helped a training college update their workshop into an EV training school.