Parkland preparing future auto techs for an electric vehicle future

By DEBRA PRESSEY dpressey@news-gazette.com

CHAMPAIGN — With the use of electric vehicles poised to grow, Parkland College is preparing future automotive technicians to be ready.

Parkland’s automotive training program has purchased a new Mustang Mach E electric SUV, to be used to give students hands-on technical experience, according to David Charney, director of the Ford ASSET (Automotive Student Service Education Training) program at Parkland.

Launching this additional training is important because many big manufacturers have committed to going electric for most of their fleet by 2030 to 2035, and students need to be prepared for both current and future industry needs, Charney said.

“That’s not a lot of time,” he said.

According to KPMG’s 22nd Annual Global Automotive Executive Survey last year, executives expect the electric vehicle market share to grow dramatically, but there isn’t a consensus on how much of the market share electric vehicles will capture.

Though training in electric and hybrid vehicles isn’t limited to students in the Ford ASSET program, ASSET students will particularly benefit from having the new vehicle available, according to Parkland.

Those students will be able to earn additional Ford certifications in hybrid and electric vehicles.

The ASSET program is a two-year Ford technical career entry program that includes a paid internship, with students graduating with an associate’s degree and ready to enter the workforce with certifications from Ford.

Parkland will have 24 students in this program for the fall semester, Charney said.

Each student in the ASSET program is sponsored by a Ford dealership, and spends eight weeks of learning at Parkland and eight weeks at their sponsoring dealerships on a rotating basis throughout the two years, he said.

The upcoming semester will be the first time true all-electric/hybrid technology will be implemented into the course work, Charney said.

When graduates are fully certified, those working in a large city, such as Indianapolis, can start out earning $25-$30 an hour, he said, and newly-certified graduates working in rural areas of Illinois can start out earning about $20 an hour.

Parkland used a Perkins grant to purchase the Mach E from Shields Auto Center, Rantoul.

Along with gaining experience with the characteristics of a battery electric vehicle and learning to safely remove and replace high-voltage batteries, students will be using new kinds of training aids based in virtual reality software, according to Parkland.