Heartland EV Open House and EV Infrastructure Installer/Technician Training Program
Creation Date: 09/28/2023
Heartland Community College, in Normal, IL, is home to the nation’s first Associate of Applied Science degree in Electric Vehicle (EV) Technology. In June 2023, Heartland hosted an EV Open House for employers, Illinois automotive technology faculty, and state agency representatives. The event included an EV employer panel, a discussion of collaborating to scale EV programs across the state, and exercises to identify top priorities for an emerging collaboration.
Following the open house, five institutions joined efforts to pursue a 2-year, $1.5 million U.S. Department of Energy Ride and Drive workforce development grant, with Governors State University as the project lead. The resulting Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Workforce and Education Exchange (EVIWEX) will develop a short-term EV Infrastructure Installer/Technician (EVIIT) training program. The training initially developed at Heartland Community College—in collaboration with the NSF ATE Center for Renewable Energy Education (CREATE) at Madison Area Technical College (WI) and the NSF ATE National Electric Vehicle Consortium (NEVC) at Indian River State College (FL) — will be adapted through additional collaboration with industry and project partners and scaled to collaborator institutions. The training will meet the Illinois Commerce Commission requirements and satisfy the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Standards and Requirements. The installer training program will also be available as a 1-year construction laborer U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship.
The EVIIT training program will build a diverse, highly skilled talent pipeline to the Illinois workforce that installs, maintains, and operates EV charging infrastructure under the supervision of qualified journey electricians. Individuals who complete the EVIIT training will be positioned to meet entry criteria to upskill in three-year journey electrician apprenticeships or academic programs.