An important part of Centennial College’s education is that we keep our programs cutting-edge and relevant with the latest learning in whatever field you’re pursuing. Another one is that as a school dedicated to making a positive impact on the world, we invest in clean energy, and focus on going green. Both those initiatives have come together when it comes to educating people on electric vehicles (or EVs). If you drive an electric car, it’s not that different from a gasoline vehicle. But pop open the hood, and it’s a bit different. The same goes for emergency vehicles, construction vehicles, and any other mode of transportation that’s ditching the gas. And that’s where Centennial College comes in. We’ve made great strides in upgrading many programs at our School of Transportation to include learning on Electric Vehicles, and one initiative is a series of part-time programs that helps educate you on what makes this cleaner form of vehicle tick. We spoke to Janna Erichsen, who administers these programs.
Centennial College has gone all-in on Electric Vehicles
“Eight years ago, I became Chair of part time learning for the School of Transportation,” Janna says. “So now our department basically runs all employer-based training, part-time offerings and government funded specialized training. That’s pre-apprenticeship programs, and anything else that falls outside of the normal post-secondary or apprenticeship stream. And since then, we have really taken off when it comes to electric vehicles. I would say 60 per cent, maybe even more of my portfolio is completely dedicated to EV.” These part-time programs are aimed at upgrading technicians that need to learn about electric vehicles, but one big reason the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Certification Program was created was to help independent auto mechanics and service fleets who may need to service electric vehicles.
“If you work at a dealership, any new vehicles that come through, the company will send in their own trainers to train technicians on that vehicle,” Janna explains. “But there's also a huge aftermarket. So, we've got the local guys, the Canadian Tires, the local independently owned shop, all of these technicians, with a skill gap. Who’s training them? Because once an electric vehicle comes off of warranty, drivers might start going to them. That's where this program comes in.” Because so many students are seasoned mechanics with full-time jobs, the courses in this program are designed with flexible schedules, and don’t have to be taken in a row, either.
“What we've done is broken it up into chunks,” Janna says, “because different employees or employers and different learners may need different training at different times, depending on where things are at.”
“Those first two courses, High Voltage Safety and Hybrid Vehicle Systems, and an Introduction to Electric Vehicles, are the ones that we do probably 90 per cent of the time,” Janna says. “They’re an overview, and great starting point for technicians to be introduced to this technology. The first course, High Voltage safety can be taken by anyone, I can take it, you could take it, it would just give us a really good understanding of the safety aspects when it comes to electric vehicles. After that, the following courses are designated towards people who are already licensed technicians or apprentices, so there's an understanding going into this training that we you know how to fix a car.”
“Our program is really to help everybody get up to the same level,” she says, “so that when the training becomes more in depth and more specific, they're ready to go.”
Bringing the Learning to You
One thing that makes Centennial’s learning stand out is how much effort has been put towards acquiring the vehicles themselves, so students can learn off of them. Recent acquisitions include a Chevrolet BOLT plug-in EV, a Ford Lightning Pickup, and two plug-in Toyota Hybrid Prius vehicles, all of which are here to be worked on, and learned from by students, in addition to various other donated EVs.
“A key thing with Centennial is that we have really spent a lot of time, money and resources on building the infrastructure,” she says. “Although electric technology is not really ‘new,’ it's almost like a moving target, and the technology is constantly changing.”
“As far as public access to electric vehicle training, there's not a lot of colleges that we know of that have the capacity to do what we do,” she says. “And that's where we really filled the gap.”
One result of the College’s unique programming is that the Electric Vehicle programs frequently go on the road, and bring the learning to where the students are. In fact, that’s become the way they’re taught most of the time, and instructors travel far, even across provinces.
“We travel a lot,” Janna says. “But this is a road show, man. If you want us to come to Brampton and teach you EV, our professors will come. They bring the electric vehicle, they bring all their tools, they bring all their stuff, because you might go to a shop where they have nothing for EVs, they’re just trying to get it figured out.”
“I would say close to 80 per cent of the time we're on the road,” she says. “For example, I have an instructor who's in Edmonton right now, and I have one going to Victoria next week. I have one going to London the next week, I've got one going to Ottawa. And it's really because that's what the employers need. Particularly in Ontario, you can see that there aren't a lot of colleges that are able to offer this service.”
Electric Vehicles Keep the World Running
More and more essential vehicle-based services are going electric, so an important part of Centennial’s learning is on helping those services learn about their vehicles, through programs like Hybrid and Electric Bus Certification, or more general Corporate Training.
“A huge majority of the work we're doing, even more than aftermarket, is fleets,” Janna says. “So, the cities of Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, London, you name it, all of these municipalities, all of these government agencies are starting to purchase electric vehicles. And their technicians and mechanics have to be trained on them.”
“We have a contract where we are training all Canada Post technicians across Canada, they're all going through all six modules,” she says, proudly. “And so, I have professors who are flying all over the country right now. We've also worked with City of Toronto, and we work with all the major municipalities, we've got all the way up to Sudbury, we've been in Quebec, we've been in Winnipeg.”
“We're training the paramedics who fix the vehicles,” she says. “And we have trained actual firefighters on EV safety, and a general introductory to EV, so that if they are on site, in an accident situation, and it's a fully electrified vehicle, they at least have an understanding of how this vehicle works from a safety perspective.”
Making way for a Greener Now
Ultimately, these programs are important, because electric vehicles are here to stay, and those that know how to maintain and fix them are ahead of the curve.
“People used to say that it’s the future,” Janna says about Electric Vehicles. “Well, it isn't the future, it's now the present. You have to be able to, as a technician, service whatever comes to your bay, and whatever comes to your bay may be an electric vehicle. So that's why there's such a push.”
“It's a moving target, but we're really enjoying it,” she says about the College’s continued adoption of EVs. “And I can say this with all confidence, we've gotten nothing but incredible feedback from employers and students alike, just saying thank you, we really needed this, it's been a big difference. So, we're really proud of it.”
“And that's the whole point of this,” she says, “to make sure that technicians get the education that we need and that we are here as the largest school of transportation in the country. I think it's it says a lot that we're taking a lead on this.”
Written by: Anthony Geremia