ELVES, Ireland’s End-of-Life Vehicle compliance scheme, has welcomed Minister Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy to Plunket College, Dublin, to celebrate the success of the Electric ELVES training programme for Authorised Treatments Facilities, (ATFs or permitted scrapyards) who are involved in the collection and recycling of electric vehicle batteries.  

The Electric ELVES programme was developed by ELVES and has been running since 2018. Electric ELVES provides free collection and recycling of electric vehicle batteries from all Authorised Treatment Facilities in Ireland, as well as information supports and free training on the safe handling of electric vehicles when they reach their end-of-life.

A key success of the Electric ELVES training programme has been ELVES’ ability to offer free training to ATF personnel from all around the country in 10 locations so far: Dublin, Naas, Galway, Monaghan, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Athlone, and Sligo, with more being planned. This has been made possible due to the enthusiastic support of a number of different training establishments.

Minister Smyth together with Fiacra Quinn, CEO of ELVES, personally thanked representatives of the training venues who have supported and hosted the Electric ELVES programme since its inception. Minister Smyth also presented specialised electric vehicle toolkits to representatives of these training venues, as a small token of ELVES’ thanks for their support.

At the event, the Minister was provided with a short demonstration of ATF training by trainer Andy Latham of Salvage Wire Ltd.

Minister Ossian Smyth commented, “to see the Electric ELVES programme go from strength to strength is a reflection of the enthusiasm for upskilling to meet the fast-changing requirements of this industry as well as an obvious industry commitment to the sound environmental management of these emerging battery technologies.  To see the support that ELVES has received from the host venues underscores how a programme can grow with cross community and multi-agency involvement.”

Fiacra Quinn, CEO of ELVES added, “ELVES really appreciates the support that the training venues have given to the Electric ELVES programme. When we initiated the programme in 2018, there was nothing like this in Ireland. In 2019, we implemented the training aspect of the programme with the primary objective of ensuring the safety of all ATF operators handling electrified vehicles. While this objective continues to be our top priority, we can see that the programme is delivering so much more: it has added value to ATFs‘ activities and conferred recognised qualifications on all participants. However, for the broader future, not only is it set up to meet the requirements of the forthcoming Batteries Regulation, but it is also well placed to drive the Circular Economy forward for EV batteries.”

The training venues who have participated in the Electric ELVES programme to date include Munster Technological University, Rally School Ireland, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board, Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Longford Westmeath Education and Training Board, Waterford Wexford Training Services, Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board, Plunket College of Further Education, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board Hospital Campus, Nissan Academy, and the Atlantic Technological University.