Metro Mayor Dan Norris has met apprentices learning how to service the electric vehicles of the future. They discussed how training was the solution to remove roadblocks to the plan to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030. This is a vital part of the West of England’s ambitious plan for net zero by the same year.
The Mayor found out how currently there is a lack of mechanics trained to work with electric vehicles as he toured S&B Automotive, a training centre which also employs apprentices, based in Bedminster.
The Institute of the Motor Industry says that just 5% of garage and dealer technicians are appropriately trained to work on electric cars. There are currently between 13,000 and 20,000 technicians qualified to service and repair the approximately 380,000 plug-in electric or hybrid cars on UK roads.
But we will need at least 75,000 EV-trained technicians to meet the number of hybrids and electric cars and vans expected to be sold in 2030.
Dan Norris said: “It is clear that if the take up of electric cars is really going to accelerate, we need a whole generation of people qualified to work on them. I was delighted to meet the apprentices working on a great scheme at S&B Automotive which is enabling them to keep pace with advancing technologies.“