Suffolk Community College offers electric vehicle maintenance course featured on CBS News

By Carolyn Gusoff Updated on: January 19, 2024 / 6:26 PM EST / CBS New York

SELDEN, N.Y. — Suffolk County Community College is offering a new course teaching auto mechanics how to pivot to electric vehicles.

Rosemary Mascali charges up her EV with a regular wall outlet. As a founder of Drive Electric Long Island, she leads the charge to make driving cleaner and greener.

“We hit 50,000 EVs on the road on Long Island, which is a great milestone. We have the most EVs in our region as anywhere in New York state,” she said.

That steady growth is sending some auto mechanics back to school.

Suffolk Community College has partnered with PSEG Long Island to offer a two-day introductory course in EV and plug-in hybrid maintenance and safety.

“Most obviously, there’s no engine there, right? There is a whole lot more in terms of wiring and electronics, so there is a whole skill set for technicians to learn to competently work on these vehicles,” EV course instructor and Campus Assistant Dean of Transportation Programs Dave Macholz said.

In a session CBS New York’s Carolyn Gusoff attended, the students were mostly PSEG Long Island auto mechanics. In five years, the utility’s entire 500 light duty fleet will be fully electric.

“The regular ICE vehicles — internal combustion engine vehicles — we’re all familiar with, we’ve been working on for almost 100 years now. This is a complete change,” PSEG Long Island fleet manager Thomas Stagnitta said. “It’s already happening, so we have to get ahead of the curve.”

Students have come from school districts, municipalities and dealerships. The goal is to support the state’s climate goals to reduce emissions.

“All new vehicle sales in New York state are going to be fully electric by 2035, and medium heavy duty vehicles will be fully electric sales by 2045,” said Paul DiBenedetto, with the PSEG Long Island EV program.

But EV sales far outpace the number of mechanics.

“Frankly, the marketplace is not ready for it from a technical perspective. A lot of technicians out there that need some training to know how to handle these vehicles for maintenance, for repair, diagnostic work,” EV course instructor Michael Scamardella ’03 said. “If you can excel at that, you can write your own ticket.”

What’s also needed are more charging stations. This week, New York was awarded another $15 million in federal funds.

Long Island’s rapid growth is due in part to so many single-family homes.

“The average range on cars today is plenty for our day-to-day driving needs, and we can charge conveniently at home,” Mascali said.

Drive Electric Long Island is celebrating the 50,000-car milestone with an EV parade next Wednesday to the LIE Welcome Center. For more information on the event, click here.

According to the National Auto Dealers Association, more than 1 million EVs were sold last year in the United States. That’s over a 50% increase over 2022.

Source: © 2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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