Can I put an electric car through a car wash?

Don’t laugh, that’s a legit question. I bet that a lot of you played Pokémon in your life, right? If you did, you should know that water and electricity aren’t best friends (I hope you know it even without playing Pokémon). Jokes aside, Go Ultra Low, a UK industry and government campaign created to promote the use of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, stated that 42 percent of the British population don’t know if it’s possible to put an electric car in an automated car wash without damaging it.

Yet, reality tells us that washing your electric or hybrid car is perfectly safe. Every electric component is isolated and tested over and over again to guarantee that nothing happens. Some of the most common tests for electric cars are indeed the “soak tests”, where the car must face incredibly strong environmental situations, like ultra-high or ultra-low temperatures, rains and even some small floods. If your car can pass these tests, it can survive some shampoo, too.

Here’s an example of a soak test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9pfYXIDufU

Of course, this means that your car can be driven under heavy rain without any hesitation. By the way, you should try to avoid extreme situations… like this one.

Should I be aware of something particular before washing my EV – PHEV?

Don’t worry, the answer is no. To be more precise, you shouldn’t do anything more that you wouldn’t do to your petrol – diesel car. Every high-voltage component is hidden within the body of your car and the batteries are hyper-protected by some strong armor. Just remember to fold the mirrors, as usual.