Training Techs for EV Duty

Lincoln Tech, the vocational education company, recently opened a new Tesla Training Center at Lincoln’s Columbia, MD campus to train technicians to work on Tesla EVs at Tesla’s expense – part of an industrywide increase in training EV-qualified technicians.

“EVs are different, even though they still have a lot of the same components as internal-combustion-engine cars,” says Scott Shaw, president and CEO of Lincoln Tech, Parsippany, NJ.

Around the service department, safety hazards associated with EVs include electric shock, extra weight compared with ICE vehicles and the possibility of fires involving the batteries.

Working on the high-voltage batteries in particular requires  extensive, specialized personal protective equipment to guard against potentially lethal shocks, including arcs that can occur in midair without even touching the electrical components directly.

Trainers and analysts say some OEMs don’t even allow dealership technicians to work on the batteries, restricting that work to the OEMs’ own technicians.

“There are safety concerns around handling the batteries. They are huge and heavy. There’s a lot of feeling of the unknown from the technicians,” says Meredith Collins, managing director for research and consulting firm Ducker Carlisle.

In a 2022 auto technician survey, she says only around 25% of respondents said they have had a “significant amount of EV training.” That statement is not further defined in the survey, and it undoubtedly varies a lot by brand, Collins says.

 Trainers tell WardsAuto that EV training for technicians typically starts with basic safety precautions. Far fewer technicians have the additional training needed to actually work on the battery and electric-motor drivetrain.

Lincoln Tech is formally called  Lincoln Educational Services Corp.  The company already has another Tesla Training Center, in Denver. The Maryland Tesla Training Center is aimed at increasing the capacity of the program and making it more convenient for East Coast trainees, says Shaw.

Trainees for the Tesla program are recruited from graduates of other Lincoln Tech automotive courses, the CEO says.

The 16-week program is offered at no cost to accepted students. Students in the program also receive an hourly stipend from Tesla throughout their training. Successful graduates of the program are guaranteed a job at a Tesla service center or as a mobile technician.

Across the industry, trainers are gearing up for EV market share to grow by adding EV-oriented training.

George Arrants, vice president of the ASE Education Foundation, says even entry-level technicians need at least basic EV familiarization. “The entry level needs to know the safety aspect and awareness around the vehicle if they’re going to be in the workplace,” he tells WardsAuto.

ASE stands for the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, Leesburg, VA. It offers training and certification programs for auto technicians.

In a workshop presentation at the recent NADA Show in Las Vegas, Corey Glassman, an EV consultant for ASE, says that in addition to technicians, there’s a long list of dealership employees who should have at least basic EV familiarization, which ASE defines as “Level One” certification.

Those include service manager, service adviser, parts manager, parts specialists, parts driver, collision repair estimator, sales staff, cashiers, facility maintenance staff, warehouse staff and porters, according to the presenters.

Meanwhile, Cox Automotive’s Manheim, the wholesale, used-car auction firm, is including a strong dose of EV training to the Auto Technician Training Centers it is adding around the country.

Alan Lang, division vice president for Manheim’s physical auctions, says Manheim sold about 48,000 used EVs in 2023, a 58% year-over-year increase. “We feel like we are the tip of the spear in the used space,” he says.

Marty D’Amato, vice president of vehicle services for Manheim, says Manheim has about 1,200 of its own technicians who work to recondition used vehicles, including EVs. He says it can take six months to a year of advanced training to get high-level certification for complicated diagnostics and repairs on EVs.

Manheim is opening an Auto Technician Training Center in Chicago for its reconditioning technicians later this year. It will be the company’s fifth training center opened since 2022.

EV training is a “focus” for the new centers, as are hybrid vehicles and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, says Manny Mendivil, director of vehicle services training for Manheim.

“As an industry as a whole, there’s a decreasing candidate pool of general technicians, and even more so of the EV kind,” he says. “We are developing that curriculum.”