Kaskaskia College has received a $525,000 state grant to support the growing electric vehicle industry in Illinois.
The money is part of $ 9.4 million being awarded to 25 community colleges in a competitive grant program intended to support the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act which established Illinois policy to equitably transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
The Dean of Career and Technical Education at Kaskaskia College Traci Masau says the grant and their work together with the other community colleges will expand upon their electric vehicle training certification program which is in its first year.
“With the construction that is already going on with our automotive classroom and shop, this is going to help us be a more state-of-the-art training facility. We will purchase an electric vehicle and components. We are going to purchase a separate battery pack for example and students will really get to see the inner workings of that. And through the electric vehicle they will see how it is installed and how it works.”
Masau says they will also target emergency medical personnel with training.
“One of the initiatives with this grant is working with first responders to see what kind of training they would need if they come upon an incident with an electric or hybrid vehicle with electric batteries.”
Masau says a trip to New Zealand is being planned for this summer to provide faculty with training at an EV state-of-the-art facility.
Automotive Work Based Learning Coordinator Kevin Wheeler says they want to make sure students are safe entering the industry.
“We are going to emphasize with this program how to diagnose these things properly and how to work on these things correctly.”
For now, the EV training program will be a separate certification from the regular automotive program, but within five years the training will probably merge into one. Wheeler says students who have completed the regular automotive program or some ASE-certified mechanics who want to learn EV technology are currently eligible for the EV program.
The grant begins January 15th and provides funding through June 30th, 2025.
Rend Lake College was also funded. They will receive $273,898.
