Ford is another mainstream brand being proactive with EV certification. As with different dealerships, Ford franchisees have to be EV-certified earlier than promoting and servicing EV fashions.
“The coaching is particular to the battery and the high-voltage elements of the battery, and that is why we’re requiring that certification, mentioned Elizabeth Tarquinto, supervisor of technical help operations at Ford.
“If they’re going to have the ability to do any work on the battery itself, they need to take this class. It is from a security perspective, primarily,” she mentioned.
This system entails a combination of web-based and classroom classes at certainly one of 40 Ford coaching facilities throughout the nation.
“We would like them to have hands-on expertise with the battery,” Tarquinto mentioned. “We’re even using some augmented actuality expertise to do a few of this coaching. From there, technicians can transfer to superior electronics and high-voltage coaching.”
Ford maintains 10 technical help operation managers throughout the U.S. to help discipline service engineers and its coaching division.
Because the rollout of EVs hasn’t been as fluid as hoped due to provide chain points plaguing practically all producers, servicing has taken a slower strategy.
“We’ll modify it to our quantity, however proper now, we’re requiring a minimum of one licensed technician per dealership that sells our EVs,” Tarquinto mentioned. “After all, in case you are servicing tons of {of electrical} autos, you have to multiple technician.”
Hernandez, the Hyundai service tech, mentioned there will probably be increasingly more EVs on the streets within the coming months and years, and a few of these autos will come to his service bay.
“Engaged on these autos would require extra expertise due to the electrical energy concerned,” he mentioned. “I by no means thought that to be an automotive tech, I would want to coach like an influence firm lineman.”