A federal government plan is coming together to mandate Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems, aka AVAS, for zero emissions heavy vehicles from November 2025.
The move comes after a Department of Transport draft impact analysis which evaluated the costs of adopting AVAS for all electric, hydrogen and hybrid heavy vehicles.
While the full analysis has not been finalised yet, the department has sent an exposure draft and explanatory statement to HVIA.
HVIA now has until December 22, 2023 to provide comment to the Department of Transport.
The draft specifies that all electrified passenger (M Category) and goods carrying (N category) vehicles that can be propelled in the normal mode, in reverse or at least one forward drive gear, without an internal combustion engine operating, must be fitted with an AVAS that produces an audible signal that meets the ADR requirements.
The federal government says the mandate will be to protect vulnerable road users, ensuring they are aware of the presence of a moving vehicle.
Vehicles moving slower than 20 km/h must provide a minimum level of sound, and the proposed AVAS mandate will have the sound change frequency when vehicles are accelerating or decelerating.
You can find more information here on the HVIA website.