How can I navigate regulations and standards related to alternative fuel vehicles in the US?
It seems like regulations related to EVs and alternative fuel vehicles are constantly changing — every few months, every few weeks, even every few days sometimes. How do you stay on top of all of them when your work requires it?
Some organizations assign that task to one person who is responsible for it all. Of course, that can work — if the person never takes a vacation, or is never sick for an extended period, or never has a personal emergency that takes some time. Perhaps the task can be divided up between people to reduce the dependency on one person.
It’s also possible to use an AI platform that constantly kept up to date by a group of Automotive Industry professionals.
Either way, what should you be thinking about?
Federal Regulations: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulations are good places to start. It’s important to understand not just what these federal regulations cover, but what standards are proposed — and what standards are already in place.
State Regulations: There are state and regional incentives in place intended to reduce the number of fossil fuel-burning vehicles on the roads. You can track Zero-Emission Vehicles incentives and the like by monitoring sites like the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some areas have regional initiatives like the Transportation and Climate Initiative to reduce emissions and promote alternative fuels. There are a LOT of sites out there to monitor, but it can be done. Once you have a list, it is a lot easier to check them regularly to see if anything has changed.
Industry Standards: There are several standards organizations that cater to the Automotive Industry including SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) that focus on safety, performance, energy management, and alternative fuel technologies. Bookmarking those and adhering to those standards is important when working nationally or internationally.
It’s important to keep up to date with technological enhancements; these can impact regulations and standards too. Battery technologies, hydrogen fuel cell advancements, biofuels, synthetic fuels, EV charging stations, and Hydrogen refueling stations can drastically impact regulatory landscapes. If you have time, you can follow industry publications, attend webinars, or go to conferences to stay up to date.
If you are going to accomplish this on your own, you will probably need to create a monitoring and reporting system so that you can keep track of updates and changes to regulations and standards. A spreadsheet might be a good place to start, but eventually a relational database might be a better choice to stay organized. Make sure you subscribe to the relevant government agencies, industry newsletters, and news alerts so that you can maintain the spreadsheet or database. You’ll also want to establish a way to communicate changes to all stakeholders who need to know what’s taken place.
Once stakeholders are in the know and have been notified of any changes, they can bring regulatory insights into the product development lifecycle with ease.
Or — you can hire an AI to do this work for you. This could be a prime example of something that’s easy for a machine to do and painfully tedious for a human to do.
Do you agree? Why or why not?
Carolyn Peer
CEO/Co-founder Humaxa
