NEVTEX Next

The fast pace of Electric Vehicle (EV) transition throughout the nation has prompted the need for thousands of EV technicians for every category of transportation. As of 2021, sales of EV vehicles surpassed 10% of light duty vehicles sold nationally. By 2030, EV sales are expected to increase to between 17% and 36% of national market share.

With the proliferation of EV sales, an educated technician workforce is needed to service these vehicles. The national standards, certification, and curriculum developed with a prior award will inform this project to take the next step of expanding EV technician training to 15 two-year college automotive programs across the U.S. Implementing EV technician programs at two-year colleges not only addresses a critical workforce need for the EV industry, but it also provides low-barrier access to high-quality jobs for underserved populations.

Many of the 15 two-year colleges who will develop EV programs as part of this project serve large numbers of minority students, female students, low-income students and rural students, and four colleges are designated as Minority Serving Institutions.

The NEVTEX Next consortium will create and test a model for addressing the need to educate the EV skilled technician workforce through four objectives: 1) 15 new 2-year college EV technician programs will be started and certified by providing professional development for instructors, providing industry-vetted EV curriculum and industry-recognized credentials, and supplying necessary testing equipment. 2) An advisory group will promote and sustain a national, industry-recognized EV certification for educators and technicians to advance standards-based EV certifications at 2-year colleges and in the EV workforce. 3) Five college automotive instructors will gain the EV technology knowledge and skills required to be certified in the national EVPro+ training and testing standards, and equipment will be provided at their colleges to establish five authorized EVPro+ certification testing sites. 4) Consortium-wide training based on proven and successful strategies will enable automotive faculty to develop effective student recruitment and retention strategies to increase diversity in their programs by attracting and retaining women and underserved minorities. EV programs launched at 15 geographically and demographically diverse 2-year colleges will help broaden the EV workforce for national impact.

These capacity-building strategies will create a sustainable pipeline of diverse, certified EV technicians to more quickly grow an EV workforce and address the growing national need. 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.