Our Contractor, Luke, on His EV Training Journey

Our Contractor, Luke, on His EV Training Journey

This article was originally published on 15 March 2021

Last year, we pledged to invest £170k in upskilling our network of temporary vehicle technicians and MOT testers. Here, Luke, a vehicle technician who has been part of our contractor network for two years, describes the training journey that he has been on with us.

Luke during his EV training

Our training investment included access to an exclusive online training portal through OurVirtualAcademy.com, free MOT tester training, and electric/hybrid vehicle training. The latter is part of our commitment to ensuring our contractor network is qualified to a minimum Level 2 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle, IMI standard, by the end of 2021, securing their safety and enhancing employability.

Opening of EV Training Suite

As part of this investment, in January, we opened our EV Training Suite at our Milton Keynes headquarters. While open to the entire automotive industry, and any business looking to equip their staff with the necessary skills and qualifications around electric/hybrid vehicles, we have also been upskilling our contractors.

Autotech Recruit contractor training

Luke, a vehicle technician who has been part of our contractor network for two years, has described the training journey has been on with us:

"In the two years I have worked with Autotech Recruit I have been offered training twice. Firstly, I was given the opportunity to go on a course with a dealer group as part of Autotech Recruit’s Manufacturer Led Programme (MLP) and, for Christmas 2020, I received a gift voucher for the full amount of the IMI - Level 3 Hybrid and Electric Vehicle training course.

"Even before I received the gift voucher, myself and all the other contractors who work with Autotech Recruit were given access to up-to-date online training software, providing basic vehicle courses all the way up to advanced diagnostics courses. All of this was totally free of charge as Autotech Recruit values training, knowledge, and quality with the vehicle technicians and MOT testers they work with. Providing a free online system for vehicle technicians to use in their own time is incredible, and something I have never received in my 14 years as a vehicle technician/engineer, only the usual mandatory courses set out by manufacturers when you have to attend training sites."

EV training

Prior to attending the electric/hybrid vehicle training course, which is carried out at Autotech Training’s brand-new training facility in Milton Keynes, Luke undertook the online training for Hybrid, PHEV & EV. While he was able to do this in his own time, this course also gave him the essentials right through to the physics of EVs.

"The EV training suite is the size of a classroom that easily fits a vehicle, tools, and diagnostic equipment, with space to work freely around the car. The Level 2 course is completed first, covering the fundamentals of Hybrids and EVs. Learning the physics of an electric vehicle is key to understanding how the battery technology which powers your mobile phone, now powers a car. This course breaks down each section of makes, models, and types of Hybrid, PHEV & EV, and the systems they use, and also the seven-step safety procedures which enable technicians to carry out the work safely. The teaching is split between classwork, and on the EV itself to apply the theoretical knowledge.

"The Level 3 course focuses on in-depth diagnostic of the systems within an EV. For instance, most people won’t know that there are two different electric circuits inside an EV, a 12volt and a high voltage circuit. So, understanding the volts and amps we are testing and how to diagnose them correctly and safely is key to moving from Level 2 to Level 3. The course showed me how to read the information from the vehicle sensors and ECU to confidently ensure that the vehicle has been repaired correctly first time. Level 3 also includes being able to safely isolate the high voltage system from the rest of the vehicle, and correctly re-instate the high voltage system, and check its functioning using the diagnostic equipment. It also covers, in detail, how electrical circuits operate, and how the high voltage and low voltage circuits interact with each other."

"Having the chance to do a course as in-depth as this one has been very rewarding, not only giving me an industry-standard qualification but also adding another string to my bow for future contracts with Autotech Recruit", Luke concluded.

If you would like to become an Autotech Recruit contractor and, like Luke, benefits from our extensive free training, please get in touch via our website.

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