Five hybrid vehicles from a variety of automobile manufacturers were delivered to the Automotive Technology Department at Arapahoe Community College on Monday, and a sixth hybrid vehicle arrives today. The vehicles will be used for intensive training in hybrid conversion and hybrid technology repair. The Burt Automotive Group assisted ACC in the purchase of the vehicles as a part of a grant project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In August 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Colorado State University had been selected for a $5 million grant to educate the public and train the workforce and emergency responders about the inner workings of hybrid and electric vehicles. Arapahoe Community College is partnering in this effort with CSU Ventures; the Douglas County School District; the Burt Automotive network; Georgia Institute of Technology; K Share; Ricardo, a provider of technology and product innovation for the vehicle industry; and Motion Reality Inc., a pioneer in 3-D real time engineering analysis and computer graphics.

The grant is one of 48 advanced battery and electric drive projects announced by President Barack Obama as part of the $2.4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. It will help create an innovative and integrated education program that ties community outreach with secondary school awareness, technician and first responder training, and college and post-graduate level education in electric vehicles and their support systems.

The five hybrid vehicles delivered to ACC Monday were a 2009 Yukon four-wheel drive, a 2010 Ford Escape, a 2010 Honda Insight, a 2009 Chevy Malibu and a 2010 Toyota Prius II. A Chevy Tahoe was delivered in 2009, and a 2010 Nissan Altima arrives today. In addition to assisting ACC in obtaining the vehicles, Burt Automotive will provide an off-site location for storage of the vehicles and equipment necessary for training.

The hybrid vehicles will be used to enhance awareness of automotive technology students and to train automotive technologists for hybrid conversion and hybrid technology repair. The vehicles also will be used to train first responders and to expose ACC’s Emergency Medical Services students to basic hybrid vehicle safety.

“We’re going to re-educate automotive technicians so they can safely diagnose and repair hybrid vehicles,” said Jerry Viola, director of Automotive Technology at ACC. “They will be able to convert the vehicle to a plug-in connection, and you will be able to plug the car into the house and recharge. We’re going to incorporate an advanced technology certificate into the program. We will be in the forefront and on the cutting edge of the auto tech field.”

The Auto Tech Department is located in the Annex on the ACC Main Campus at 5900 S. Santa Fe Drive. The ACC Auto Tech Department has been listed as one of the top 20 auto tech training programs in the nation for the past four years in Tomorrow’s Technician/Chicago Pneumatic School of the Year competition. For more information about the Auto Tech program at ACC call Jerry Viola at 303.797.5992 or HYPERLINK "mailto:jerry.viola@arapahoe.edu" jerry.viola@arapahoe.edu, or go to http://www.arapahoe.edu/departments-and-programs/a-z-offerings/automotive-technology.

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