VIU Receives Funding for new EV Skills Training Program

Five people pose around an electric vehicle

Bruce Ralston, BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, and Adam Walker, Parksville-Qualicum MLA, visited VIU on March 21 to showcase the expansion of BC’s EV Maintenance Training program.

March 21, 2022 - 10:30pm

Minister Bruce Ralston visited VIU on March 21 to learn more about the new program.

Automotive technicians will soon be able to upgrade their skills to work on electric vehicles (EVs) at Vancouver Island University (VIU), thanks to funding from the provincial government.

The EV Maintenance Training program will be offered starting in January 2023, with a pilot in September 2022. The program, launched in partnership with Trades Training BC, aligns with the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, which details a range of expanded actions to accelerate the transition to a net-zero future and to achieve BC’s legislated greenhouse gas emissions targets.

“We’re supporting the growing popularity of electric vehicles by helping automotive technicians develop the skills they need to work on EVs in service centers across BC,” says Bruce Ralston, BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, in a news release announcing the funding. “The expansion of the EV Maintenance Training program will help grow our EV sector and make it even easier for British Columbians to make the switch to an EV, putting us on the road to a cleaner, better future.”

The two-week program will provide Red Seal automotive technicians with the skills they need to work on EVs. It includes a week of online training and a week of hands-on training in VIU’s automotive shop.

More information on the program is available on the Government of British Columbia’s website.