At Open House in October, NAIT's biggest recruitment event, the Automotive Service Technician program revealed the latest - and unprecedented - additions to the roughly 60 vehicles it keeps for students to work and learn on. They were the program's first all-electric vehicles: a sky-blue Chevrolet Blazer EV, charcoal Nissan Leaf and an icy grey Kia EV6.
"The response was overwhelmingly positive," says program chair Dustin Gagnon (class of '18), even if a few unconvinced tirekickers were in attendance. "Either way, it gets people talking."
The vehicles are part of NAIT's response to a call by Apprenticeship and Industry Training, the government body that oversees trades education in Alberta, for post-secondaries to update their automotive curriculum. The new guidelines didn't require having EVs on site.
"We went above and beyond," says Gagnon (pictured below). "We pride ourselves on being an institute that offers hands-on learning." Besides, no matter the opinions about EVs, the need for knowledge about them will likely only increase, Gagnon adds. "They're not going away."
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