By Ashley Silver, Government Technology The Tribune Content Agency
A new initiative is powering up electric vehicle (EV) training for public-sector mechanics and technicians in several northeastern states.
Advanced Vehicle Technology Group (AVTG) is partnering with regional Clean Cities coalitions to address the pressing need for skilled EV technicians in municipal fleets within disadvantaged communities.
"This initiative represents a unique collaboration between training providers like us and Clean Cities coalitions across the Northeast," Dave Macholz, president and CEO of AVTG, told Government Technology. "Over the next three years, we'll deliver two-day seminars to upskill technicians and launch boot camps for community college and vocational instructors to ensure a sustainable training model."
The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, includes Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine as key participants.
The initiative, Macholz said, will center on localized, equity-focused training, featuring immersive three-day programs designed to equip automotive instructors with hands-on certifications and knowledge they can pass on to students.
"As part of our outreach, there was a big effort to reach disadvantaged communities," he said. "So, we looked at basically each community, and identified what they call Justice40 areas to look at where the communities of need might be, and then focused the localized training in proximity to those areas." Per the U.S. Department of Energy, federally covered Justice40 initiatives, generally, include investments that can benefit disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities in any of seven areas including clean energy and energy efficiency, and clean transit.
Paul Wessel, director of the Clean Transportation Communities of Southern Connecticut, described a knowledge gap their collaboration with AVTG aims to fill.
"Public-sector technicians often miss out on the training that private-sector mechanics receive from manufacturers," he said. "I recall one Vermont municipality technician mentioning this was his first formal training in 12 years."
Roughly 80 Clean Cities coalitions throughout the country promote the use of fuels other than petroleum-based fuels, focusing on energy independence, Wessel said. They also promote cleaner air and cleaner water, and work to protect the public against storm impacts from carbon emissions.
The coalitions work with governments to help accelerate the transition to newer technologies that are less polluting. Auto dealers receive manufacturer-provided training on EVs, but public-sector mechanics and techs, including those employed by local and state governments, often lack similar opportunities, he said: "That's the gap we're trying to fill here."
The program focuses on the Northeast, but AVTG is interested in scaling it nationwide.
"We're in discussions with other states and welcome inquiries from those interested in bringing this training to their region," Macholz said.
Training rollouts will vary by state, based on needs and responses, Wessel said; for Connecticut, officials will begin promoting the training resources in mid-2025, to drive awareness.
"We'll cast a wide net, do a series of one-hour webinars on the problem that we're looking to solve and the opportunities that the training will provide as a way of marketing the program and assessing who's interested," he said.
Training in Connecticut should begin to roll out in late 2025 for "technicians in general, with a focus on disadvantaged, low-income communities." A second phase, likely to begin in 2026, Wessel said, will involve working with high schools, community and technical college systems "to help develop or buttress their work around electric vehicle training."
The state, Wessel said, is facing a challenge within its automotive technician workforce; he noted that 75 percent of the state's current technicians are expected to retire within the next five years. This training initiative is intended to meet that challenge head-on.
"We often focus on acquiring new vehicles but overlook what's needed to maintain them," he said. "This program fills a need and will essentially help create a knowledgeable EV workforce for the future."