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Wlaf1450TCAT Jacksboro first in state to purchase electric vehicle (EV) training vehicle
A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- The Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Jacksboro took a leap into the future of the automotive repair industry last week with cutting-edge technology training on Electric Vehicle (EV) repair and maintenance. The technical college has acquired funding through a Perkins READI Grant, a Tesla car trainer, which will allow the campus to provide state-of-the-art training to students with the most recent EV maintenance and repair technology. TCAT Jacksboro is the first in the state to have this technology and to soon be offering this training for its students.
“This will bring our automotive students and their training into the future of the EV world and allows us to add that component to the curriculum,” said TCAT Jacksboro President Debbie Petree. This will make TCAT Jacksboro students “more marketable” in this fast-paced and growing industry.
The increase in electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads shows the need for education and training opportunities for technicians. As the automotive industry continues towards “electric drivetrains, technicians must acquire new skills to effectively service these vehicles especially with high voltage HV systems.”
“Up until this point, we have not had the resources of trainers to assist students into the EV world, and this will give them more marketability in that arena,” Petree said.
The purchase of the car came with two days of rigorous training provided to TCAT Jacksboro’s new Automotive Technology Instructor Adam Hatmaker and Automotive Technology Assistant instructor Teresa Phillips. Dave Giles with ConsuLab out of Quebec, Canada, conducted the training.
Mark Jones with Georgia Educational Solutions based in Atlanta and Giles were on site on Tuesday and Wednesday to provide that training.
“We have an amazing new piece of equipment here, called the IDEV. It’s an EV601 IDEV, or Interactive Demonstrative Electric Vehicle. With that, we have pulled 400 volts out and resupplied it with 120-volt, 15-amp energy from the local shop and put in a series of driving modes, via a tablet, to demonstrate all kinds of scenarios from hot to cold, to low power to AC issues across a range of EV technology scenarios, and we have chosen the Tesla Model 3 in this case because it is so prolific, it is easy to obtain and easy to retrofit, so we chose this particular vehicle to go with. These same principles will apply to other EV vehicles as well,” Jones said, adding that this “will allow students to learn electric vehicle technology from the ground up.”
As the demand for electric vehicles by consumers continue to grow, the demand for technicians to work on those EVs will rise as well and TCAT Jacksboro will be leading its students by providing this training.
The battery is removed, but since it is hooked up to a standard 120 volt, the car is still functional as a training tool.
“This car is 100% safe, that’s what is so critical about this group called ConsuLab, they are committed to putting out safe, quality, educational resources,” Jones said.
“It doesn’t have a battery, but it still works and functions as a normal vehicle, it is very safe for students, they can do poke something, they can’t hurt it, they can’t damage it, it’s very safe,” Giles said.
With an EV certificate program in the works at TCAT Jacksboro, acquiring the EV Tesla trainer was an integral part to getting the program up and running.
“The READI grant allowed us to take some of the wish list training materials from different programs, and this was one that recently retired automotive instructor Charles Clair and assistant-instructor Teresa Phillips wanted to have available to students,” President Petree said.
According to President Petree, now that TCAT Jacksboro has the EV Trainer, the school will be working towards establishing the program in automotive technology.
EV curriculum should include battery systems, electric drivetrains, HVIL, power flow, tools and components as well their operation and diagnostics. Hands-on training with real world safe high voltage testing and diagnostics on EVs will be crucial to ensure technicians gain practical experience and proficiency in servicing these vehicles safely and efficiently.
The full Perkins READI grant the college received was $500,000, with it benefiting multiple programs at the college, including automotive, welding, Residential, Commercial and Industrial Electricity, Machine and Tool, among others. The Tesla EV trainer was the most expensive purchase with the grant at around $132,000
The Perkins READI grant was a collaborative group effort at the school.
The grant was originally begun by former TCAT Jacksboro vice president Tim Smith, who “had the vision”. After Smith left to work at TCAT Oneida, TCAT Jacksboro’s new VP Jada Stanley took over in the paper-work arena, while TCAT Jacksboro’s Human Resources and Fiscal Coordinator April Harmon played a “huge role” in the procurement process and worked closely with Jones at Georgia Educational Solutions on getting the equipment, as well as with assistance of Brandi Haskill at TCAT Jacksboro.
“Tim saw the vision with the help of the automotive department advisory committee and April made it happen, she had to put a lot of work into making this happen and we really appreciate that,” said TCAT Jacksboro Vice President Jada Stanley.
Automotive instructors said the training was eye-opening and that it would benefit the students, the school and the community.
“It’s showing where this industry is going in the future,” said Adam Hatmaker, TCAT Jacksboro Automotive instructor. “It will be a real benefit to not only our students but also our community with teaching our local technicians how to safely maintain these cars.”
The Tesla trainer was equipped with LED lights showing the flow of electricity from the battery to all electrical systems on the vehicle. Beside each car part that received electricity was a screen displaying the voltage numbers.
TCAT Vice President Jada Stanley stopped by to check out some of the bells and whistles, on the new EV trainer.
“This is going to bring out TCAT Jacksboro students into the future and bring us up to date and keep us on track for what lies ahead,” Stanley said.
A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
For bookings, email Olivia Lobertini at ohlobertini03@gmail.com. Check on avails HERE.
(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-06/23/2025-6AM)