Scottsdale Community College EVent
Scottsdale EVA held an event with Scottsdale Community College (SCC) on February 16. It was a career/business opportunity event called, “Get into EVs.” Here is all about it and how it came to be:
I initially reached out to SCC in late September through their website to the Dean of Instruction about starting an EV Club on Campus. The Dean referred me to an Engineering Professor, who arranged a meeting with another STEM (Math) professor. At the meeting, the two profs suggested that clubs are difficult to maintain due to the Associate Degree program is just a 2-year degree, but that they would be interested in a presentation on Careers and Business Opportunities in EVs. I told them that I would be happy to put this together for them.
I said I could find some expert speakers and could also do a car show. I reached out to Elaine and asked if EVA could provide a free one-year membership of all students of any age who attended, and she made that accommodation.
We had 50 to 60 attendees, including students, faculty, and administrators.
Here are the 4 speakers I invited, each with experience in different aspects of the EV industry:
· Kathy Knoop, Manager of Vehicle Grid Integration Solutions for General Motors. Kathy is highly focused on the increased adoption of electric vehicles in Arizona, utility grid impacts and EV technology innovation. Expertise in workplace charging development, L2 EVSE deployment and DC fast charging as well as public advocacy for the increased adoption of electric transportation. I met Kathy when I served on the Arizona Statewide Transportation Electrification Plan, a collaboration of stakeholders for electric vehicle infrastructure planning.
· Peter Gruber, CEO of Gruber Motors, the first commercial independent Tesla service organization providing engineering and aftermarket support. I first met Pete when my original Tesla Roadster experienced a coolant leak the night before it was to be sold at the Barrett-Jackson Auction. Pete sent out his son to make the repair at 9:00 PM. Now THAT is customer service! Subsequently, Pete appeared in the film, “Workforce Rising,” produced by the American Resilience Project, on which I served as an Executive Producer.
· Baily Soto, a Curriculum Specialist at Legacy EV who has been instrumental in establishing multiple career and technical education programs in public schools in the US, has played an integral role in teaching, curriculum design, and coaching teachers. LegacyEV offers fully integrated EV systems from top manufacturers, certified EV technician training programs, and EV design consultation for businesses around the world. I met Baily in the process of working on another project to engage the Conversion EV community in our work.
· Tudor Melville, CEO of Suntech Circuits, a company that manufactures printed circuit boards that are essential to EV operation. I have known Tudor the longest. We met in the various local Tesla Groups with which we have been associated over the past 10 years.
The speakers were well received and there were lots of questions. One speaker I will invite next time will be an EV battery expert, as there many questions the panelists could not answer, though I was able to provide some information.
The EV Car Show after the speaker part of the program, included:
Chevrolet Bolt EUV
Ford F-150 Lightning
Ford Mustang Mach-E
Rivian R1T
Lucid Air
Tesla Model S Performance
Tesla Model 3 Long Range
Tesla Model 3 Performance (-)
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range
Tesla Model X
Tesla Model Y
Tesla Original Roadster
Kia EV6
Electra Meccanica Solo
1972 E Camino EV Conversion
1966 Cadillac Coupe de Ville EV Conversion
E Rod EV Conversion
1950 Ford F-150 EV Conversion
The event was marketed to the entirety of the Maricopa Community College District through a newsletter article and webpage. The webpage included links to some films: “Who Killed the Electric Car,” an EVA presentation on EV History, and “Workforce Rising,” by the American Resilience Project, to prepare attendees for the event.
Next Steps: We are taking this to the next level, discussing a possible DEED event in April.
