Page 215 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Orhan Topal

Introduction

In accordance with the EU Regulation (2019/631), it is stated that average
emission value for newly manufactured cars will be 95 g CO /km starting
2
from 2020, this value is aimed to be gradually reduced to lower levels in line
with 100% zero emission targets for the years 2030 and 2050 (Europäische
Kommission, 2018). This leads to a growing interest in electric vehicles. Even,
for the first time in 2022, there have been some predictions that sales value of
electric vehicles in Europe may exceed the sales value of internal combustion
engine vehicles (Miller, 2022). Anadolu Agency has published that electric
car sales increased by 237.2% compared to the previous year which reached
to 2.846 in quantity and hybrid car sales increased by 105.1% to 49.493 in
quantity according to the official records of 2021 in Türkiye (AA, 2022; Turkey
Energy Outlook, 2021).
The fuel/energy sources used for vehicles produced in the automotive sector
depending on the type of vehicle. Vehicle manufacturers can offer the same
vehicle model to the market as conventional, hybrid or fully electric models
with the same platform. Although they have the same appearance with the
differentiation of the propulsion system and its related components, which are
the basis of the vehicle design, due to the types of fuel used, they have different
approaches in the emergency response requirements to be carried out.
In order to contribute to emergency response services, in traffic accidents
involving electric & hybrid vehicles, especially in the case of serious damage,
and sometimes in the case of fires occurring after the accident, the current
studies carried out by German and Swedish fire departments. Important
studies are carried out, were examined. based on good practice and related
resources, the main approach to this study is presented. (Wisch vd., 2015)
Moreover, a general application procedure which bases on the emergency
response activities has been introduced for the accidents involving electrical
and hybrid vehicles in Türkiye, on the basis of emergency documents obtained
from electric vehicle manufacturers and interviews with fire departments of
some metropolitan municipalities from Türkiye.
When considering electrical systems for the automotive sector, the concept
of high voltage is defined as >60 V to ≤ 1500 V for DC systems and >30 V to
≤1000 V for AC systems (UNECE, 2021: Regulation No. 12; DGUV Information
8686). For electric & hybrid vehicles, the system level voltage value is mostly
designed in the range of 400 V DC to 800 V DC (Suarez and Martinez, 2019).
The increased voltage level in the system designs for electric vehicles
minimises energy losses and allows the power levels used from charging
systems to be increased to higher values. Therefore, it becomes possible to
charge the electric vehicles in the shorter periods. Porsche’s Taycan 4S and

200 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate