This is a question that has arisen for some time and that we think it was clear: is it dangerous for a person who uses a heart stimulator to recharge an electric car? In question, electromagnetic fields that emanate from high -power load infrastructure that could interrupt the type of pacemaker equipment. Excess of prudence or real danger, Volvo prefers not to advise this practice in the use manual of your ex30, as she saw The point.
“Ask another person to recharge your car”
On the vehicle screen, but also online on the official website of the Swedish brand, we can read in the part dedicated to recharge: “The recharge can affect the operation of your heart stimulator. Anyone who uses a heart stimulator or a generator of impulse of biantular stimulation without defibrillation should refrain from recharging the car for yourself.”
For interested persons, it is advisable to “ask another person to recharge your car.”
“It must also be kept away from loaders and load cables when it recharges the car,” Volvo also advises.
Studies but quite reassuring
Volvo would therefore be one of the first manufacturers to take the initiative of this risk. Logic when he knows that the brand that belongs to the Chinese group Geely has always opted for security. However, if traveling aboard an electric car or recharging it, studies conducted so far are quite reassuring. In particular, that of the German Coeur Center in Munich (Deutsches HernelGentrum), cited by Le Point, and which is quite clear on the subject:
“The carriers of a heart stimulator or an implantable automatic defibrillator (DAI) can recharge their electric car of a fast charging station (BRR) on the highway without risk of altering its device,” said this study published in 2023.
To reach this conclusion, 130 patients with heart simulators recharged different models of electric cars in terminals capable of delivering up to 350 kW, with the positioned cable “on the shoulder so that they are directly above the cardiac or DAI.” A “worst scenario” that has not caused “clinically significant interference or dysfunction of the devices,” says Dr. Carsten Lennerz, the main author of this study.
The amounts of energy delivered by these rapid load stations require that the “strongly isolated and partially cool.
The intensity of the magnetic field measured by the researchers would reach a maximum of 80-90 µT (microtesla), less than in a home recharge terminal, less powerful but less isolated, at 150-180 µt. However, it would be 300 µT that seems like a risk of interference with established cardiac stimulation systems. During driving, the electromagnetic field of high voltage batteries is also isolated, “even if it is only to avoid interference with automobile electrical systems.”
A certain precaution to adopt, also with the “hands -free” key
In conclusion, Dr. Carsten Lennerz prefers to remain cautious, however, when recommending “not to place the load cable directly on the cardiac device and maintain a certain distance from the load elements”, the terminal or the recharge of the vehicle. In general, charges operators or car manufacturers recommend asking with a medical team or the manufacturer of the heart stimulator to know the potential risks. This is what we find doing a quick search, which refers to other manuals of electric vehicles such as Nissan Ariya.
But it is in the Toyota APM manual, an electric vehicle designed to transport people with reduced mobility, especially during important events such as the Olympic Games, which we find the strictest instructions, as in Volvo:
“If you have a pacemaker (implanted cardiac device, biventricular heart stimulator, stimulation pulse generator), do not try to load the battery yourself. Ask for another person to do this,” he has been able to read.
A document that also requires not “approaching the charger or the load cable” or “not to remain in the vehicle” during a load.
In Hyundai, we also find this recommendation applied to recharge, but also to the hands -free key: “People with medical devices such as a heart stimulator or an implanted cardiac defibrillator should not transport the intelligent key near the heart. The intelligent key system can interrupt the functioning of these implanted medical devices,” says an English manual.
Still in these waves emitted by the keys of modern cars, the Chinese manufacturer Nio advises against the pacemakers who approach less than 22 centimeters from the inner Bluetooth antennas when giving a plan of its location on board.
Source: BFM TV
