COVID-19 cleaning for EVs

Your steering wheel, charging cable handles and other most touched parts of your EV and charging infrastructure should be sanitised both before and after use.

That’s the advice doing the rounds in the COVID-19 pandemic environment, presuming your EV isn’t just parked up for any lockdown situation and you use public charging stations – ensuring you wipe the most handled bits of the latter too.

Cleaning suggestions include using a fresh cloth or disposable wipes each time to avoid cross contamination, using an appropriate cleaning solution for the surface to be disinfected and closely following the instructions.

Wear disposable gloves or at least wash your hands thoroughly before and after, even if wearing gloves.

Hot, soapy water is best for many surfaces (other than electrical), or use a spray solution containing at least 60% alcohol, a 0.5% hydrogen peroxide bleach or standard household bleach which has more than 0.1% sodium hypochlorite. Use a household cleaner if there’s nothing else – but check whether any of these are suitable for the surface intended and to see whether they say they are anti-viral.

For the more organically minded, vinegar (5% acetic acid) is known to kill viruses and can be diluted slightly with hot water for best results.

Coronaviruses may survive on many surfaces for anything from a couple of hours to about a week – the latter especially so for hard plastics and steel.

But health experts say the COVID-19 virus is easy to kill on surfaces with proper disinfection.

Key suggestions include wiping frequently touched (by others) surfaces with soap and hot water then using a diluted bleach, vinegar or other similar cleaner, wearing disposable gloves, correctly washing hands often, and cleaning smartphones or other devices with a dry cloth like the ones used on prescription glasses.

And remember to wash your hands properly – again.