Goochland County Chamber of Commerce

J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College has been awarded a $720,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant for the development of a new Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Career Studies Certificate. The new program will focus on electric vehicles; plug in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles.

Today’s vehicles are increasingly complex, as manufacturers design them to operate with sophisticated electric drive systems that provide for increased energy efficiency and employ “green” technology. As these new systems are incorporated into vehicles, service facilities must deal with developing and maintaining a supply of qualified techni-cians. Unfortunately, traditional college automotive programs do not cover these emerging technologies. Some manufacturer training exists in these areas, but it is limited in scope and not available to independent repair facilities. This new program will provide a source of trained tech-nicians in addition to providing educational opportunities in these new technologies for existing technicians.

“This grant will allow JSRCC to maintain its position of pro-viding leading edge automotive technology to our students. As manufac-tures move toward electric propulsion vehicles, JSRCC will be able to provide highly qualified graduates for these emerging technologies. By providing the courses in a distance learning format, the reach of the pro-gram will be national in scope,” said Bob Heinz, Ph.D., JSRCC Dean of the School of Business and Engineering Technologies.

In addition to including instruction on electric vehicles, plug in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles, the program will offer an advanced electronics course focusing on electronic control sys-tems for electric drive vehicles.