American River College Highlights Green Auto Shop Courses

We’re excited to read in the student newspaper published at American River College an article highlighting the green auto shop courses being offered to students in 2014-2015.  After meeting their instructors over the summer for their Electric Auto Shop training, and interacting with them on Twitter, it’s no wonder that green technologies are that latest buzz on campus. The video above includes interviews with ARC instructors from the recent training.  Check out the article at The Current:

@electricshop @TustinTTech @Switch_Vehicles @FormulaStudent – hey, that looks like a few ARC faculty! 🚗🚐🚘

— ARC News (@ARCNewsToday) August 29, 2014

[VIDEO] Crowdfunding Teaches Kids about Government

Hey, teachers! Crowdfunding is becoming an alternative source of funding for educational projects, like building electric cars, but it can also teach kids about taking initiative and responsibility for their own education.  Check out the video below, a news story about how crowdfunding helps kids learn about government.  Contact us if you would like assistance in crowdfunding your next EV project.

• SOURCE: ABC Australia

PODCAST 127: Team Captain of Formula Hybrid Winner, Dartmouth’s Eric Din

Formula Hybrid Winners: Top row, left to right: Paul Hogan, Christopher Rhoades, Eric Din, William Jewett; Bottom row, left to right: Arthur Bledsoe, Erik Skarin (driver), Sean Hammett

Our latest Podcast is with Eric Leung Din, Captain of the Dartmouth Formula Racing Team. Dartmouth recently won the Electric Division of the 2014 Formula Hybrid Competition. PODCAST: LISTEN NOW

If you’re wondering about the secret behind Dartmouth’s win, Eric Din dishes out some juicy details on the Podcast, like who supplied the motor/controller, who supplied the battery management, and why the car is named Shona. Of course, Dartmouth had home field advantage as host for the competition along with the Thayer School of Engineering.

PG&E Grant for High School Electric Auto Shop

High School students from Stockton enjoyed a week of special electric car assembly training in Sebastopol this March as part of a grant program from PG&E to help young people find careers in green energy.

The overall idea of the pilot program is to provide a practical, hands-on project for high school students to stimulate their interest in math and science-based careers. The $20,000 grant from PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric Company) was used in the development of an advanced curriculum for green energy technologies along with an internship for previously graduated students. It includes an electric vehicle kit along with all the coursework and videos for a 16-week course in the classroom and auto shop.

Car News Cafe: Video of La Mirada High School EV Project

(Car News Cafe) We love when electric vehicles (EV) and education go hand in hand.  We couldn’t miss the opportunity to film the La Mirada High School in California receiving an electric vehicle from the Electric Auto Shop for its own auto shop class.

When Michael Mack approached us about his shop delivering an EV for the La Mirada High School, we thought it was the best thing that could happen to education.  What is there not to like about a company giving a $25,000 electric vehicle to a high school so that its students can learn to build it and take it down for the next wave the following year? Continue Reading

La Mirada High School EV Project in Local Newspaper

Chassislab Electric Car Kit from Electric Auto Shop (http://www.electricautoshop.com) delivered to La Mirada High School on September 10. (WhittierDailyNews)

LA MIRADA (WhittierDailyNews) >> Members of the La Mirada High School Energy Engineering and Technology Academy (EETA) turned on “the switch” Tuesday as part of the school’s Green Jobs Project.

Officials unveiled to sponsors and supporters of the academy a highway-ready electric vehicle, known as, “the switch,” and designed by Electric Auto Shop.

“The Chassis Lab is a step-by-step curriculum for teaching electric vehicle technology,” said Michael Mack, of the Forestville, Calif.-based company. “We provide a 16-week program for schools that bring alternative fuel transportation to classrooms.”

La Mirada is the ninth campus in California to enact this program, which allows the school’s students to work on the car and get it running. Continue Reading at Whittier Daily News

Business Journal: Switch, Electric Auto Shop Team on Electric Car Instructor Training

Tustin High School built an electric go kart with a course purchased from Electric Auto Shop.

SEBASTOPOL and FORESTVILLE – There are plenty of folks who believe the future of driving belongs to electric cars. There are others who are sure of it.

Electric Auto Shop is the brainchild of Michael Mack, a long-time electric car professional – he’s held positions at CPI International, US Electricar and Zap Power Systems.

“Electric cars are taking off, and there are plenty of designers, but where are the service and repair people? There will be a real need for technicians, and high school is the place to train them,” he said.

He devised courses converting a Chevy truck to an electric vehicle.  While showcasing his offerings at the Educating for Career Conference in Sacramento Mr. Mack met Switch Vehicle partner Peter Oliver. Read More

EV Assembly Lab Course Instructor Training July 22-26

Looking forward to the Electric Auto Shop EV Assembly Lab next week, July 22-26, onsite training for students and instructors.  The course is an intensive five day session at our northern California production facility.  The training is ideal pre-instruction for educators planning to use the Electric Auto Shop classroom curricula at their schools.

Electric Auto Shop provides training on how to build the electric vehicle. During this intensive five-day clinic, attendees gain hands-on experience by installing EV drive train components and building the Chassis Lab Switch. Participants will actually work on an electric and one of our pre-fabricated kits. During the five-day training attendees experience everything required to install all electronics in the car, program the various electronic components to function properly and test drive an EV.

Upon completion, attendees will program, test drive, alter the programming and re-test to see the effect of changes on the performance of the drive train. Completed projects can be shipped home from our facility (additional shipping charges will apply). Shop fee and additional materials fee required if you chose to have your vehicle completed through our training program.

Additional time is spent on review of the course materials; interfacing with Switch Vehicles and Electric Auto Shop; practicing the course exercises in preparation for teaching the proper methods and the use of our online documentation and user instruction manuals.

Electric Auto Shop

• Onsite Training
• Educational Courses

Ashington Pupils Ready to Race Electric Go-kart

Pupils from an Ashington school have been working on an engineering challenge to build and race their own electric go-kart.

Stockfield-based IHC Engineering Business invited a group of 11 pupils and four teachers from Ashington Central First School to build the vehicle in preparation for a go-kart race organised by the Greenpower Education Trust, which aims to advance education and interest in sustainable engineering and technology.

Electrified, Student-Built Karmann Ghia Runs on Tweets

A group of Kansas City high school students and their mentors have electrified a Karmann Ghia, modifying it so that it will only run when it gets mentioned in social media. If that sounds like a publicity stunt, that’s because it is. And it’s for a good cause.

Minddrive has taken kids who have fallen through the cracks and developed an after-school program that matches them with mentors and gets them excited about learning through hands-on automotive work. Each year, the students’ final project is a road trip in the car they built.

“We want them to say, when it’s all over, ‘I can’t believe we did something like this,’” said Steve Rees, the program’s director. “It gives them the sense of being able to go back to school and do anything.”

This year, the team put an electric drivetrain in a 1967 Karmann Ghia. Next week, they’re driving it from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. for a chance to meet elected officials and raise awareness about education. To make sure their voices are heard, they’ve attached an Arduino to the electric drivetrain and programmed it to let the car move forward only when there’s social media buzz about the project. Minddrive calls it “social fuel,” and it provides an important lesson for students: If you want people to care about what you’re doing, you have to make sure they know about it.

Read More at Wired.com