Amping Up Today’s Electric Drive Automotive Education - AMPED Technology Certification: Advanced Modules in Powered Electric Drive Technology Certification

Hybrid and electric vehicles currently represent 10 percent of the total market share of all vehicles on the road in the United States. The past twenty years have seen remarkable growth in this industry with expansion not only in the number of electric vehicles, but also the variety of engine types which include hybrid, fully electric, and plug-in electric.

This rapid growth has created a need for trained automotive technicians in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) platform technologies. Minnesota State Community and Technical College will meet this need by creating Open Educational Resources (OER) and two new stackable certificates that will enable current students, past graduates, and current industry technicians to advance their knowledge and capabilities to diagnose, service, repair, replace, and maintain these technologies.

The college will create two new academic certificates and recruit current students and recent graduates from the Automotive Technology program. These certificates represent the kind of specialized training that regional employers have been seeking for their technicians.

Minnesota State Community and Technical College will align their current program offerings to address trends in regional training and make them more accessible by creating Open Education Resources. In partnership with the Midwest Teachers of Technical and Industrial Areas (MTTIA), the team will provide training to secondary and post-secondary instructors in Hybrid and Electric Plug-In Technologies.

The classes that support these new certificates will be developed at Minnesota State Community and Technical College and will be expanded to include Riverland College as a model for widespread dissemination. Equipment from this program includes a 125-kilowatt capable charging station that will simultaneously support public infrastructure and student training.

Community based “Ride and Drive” events will be organized by students as community-based education events that will empower students to become ambassadors for the electric car revolution. An evaluation plan will measure the project’s ability to design and disseminate certificates that meet the needs of industry and provide a path to employment for students.

This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the Nation's economy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.