Updated technician training crucial with new vehicles on horizon

As auto companies ramp up plans for more electric vehicles, the schools training the technicians who will work on these vehicles are shifting gears to prepare them for a world of electrification.

Preparing a new cohort of technicians for an industry that will be dominated by EVs, however, won't be as simple as flipping a switch.

Student technicians and apprentices will still need to know the fundamentals of auto repair and how to work on internal-combustion engines. Moreover, "electrification" at some manufacturers will mean more hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles in the near term instead of a slew of battery EVs. And the number of EVs coming into dealerships for service will be relatively small for at least the next few years, so most of that work will be done by seasoned master technicians.

The tech of the future, though, will need a solid foundation in electricity and electronics, be as comfortable working with both a laptop and a wrench, and be able to follow complex diagnostic charts to find and fix problems in EVs.

"They're going to have to be really strong in electrical hard-wired systems but also in electronics, understanding module communication, wireless communication, Bluetooth and training in full-electric [vehicles]," Justin Morgan, chairman of the automotive tech program at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, told Fixed Ops Journal.

Sinclair, which offers manufacturer-sponsored technician training programs with General Motors, Honda, Mopar and Tesla, plans to adjust its course offerings in the next few years to keep up with the trend to electrification. Students typically split time between the classroom and working at a dealership in these programs.

"We have two electrical classes right now, and I would say we could potentially have a Level III class that talks about more advanced electrical and electronics, such as radar systems or electric-drive units or motors," he says.

Sinclair has offered a hybrid electric vehicle class for more than 10 years, and Morgan expects the college will reduce the time devoted to hybrids so it can add new material on EVs. He envisions the EV component focusing on safety with high-voltage systems and diagnosis, and servicing of batteries and electric-drive units.

The manufacturer-sponsored programs at colleges are structured so what students learn in class matches the duties they perform at dealerships. Morgan says work on advanced technology, hybrids and EVs in dealer service departments is usually reserved for master technicians, but students need opportunities, too.

"I think they need to start having students exposed in programs like ours to be prepared to service those vehicles four or five years from now," he says.

After students graduate and go to work full time, they often start on the express service lane changing oil, rotating tires and performing light maintenance. That is a mistake, say Joe Myers, technician development manager at Toyota, and Eric Kenar, manager of technician environment and the Service Technical College at GM.

Myers says Toyota has "been continually working with our dealers to correct that," but when dealers need to replace express service techs, they put beginners in that role, not master techs.

Kenar says GM encourages the mentoring of new technicians by more experienced ones to put them on a steady career path.

"If a dealership is going to leave a well-trained ASEP student on the lube rack, that is a downfall of that organization," he says, referring to GM's Automotive Service Educational Program.

Mark Hankins, an auto tech professor at Shoreline Community College in the Seattle area, says the college is looking at what it can cut in order to incorporate more hybrid and EV training into its program. Shoreline has manufacturer-specific training programs with GM, Honda, Mopar, Toyota and Tesla, and partners with Nissan and Subaru in its general service technician program.

"At some point, we're going to have to look at what to subtract, like tearing down engines and transmissions," Hankins says. "How much of that is really done in the industry anymore?"

As the type of work in dealerships changes, so will aspiring technicians, who will have to adapt to an industry that requires more analytical and diagnostic skills and less wrench-turning.

"When you talk to a dealer, 10 years ago 70 percent of their warranty claims were engine or transmission related, and 30 percent were electrical," Hankins says. "Now, it's the other way around. There's a [negative] attitude among the traditional automotive students about electric cars, so I think the culture will have to change.

"They're going to have to embrace electric cars and hybrids because they're coming whether they like them or not."