BMW Invests in Training Centers for Electric Vehicles
BMW has stated that they intend to expand their production into electric cars and to back up the assertion, the company has invested in U training centers for EV technicians. The company claims that by 2023, they intend to have as much as twenty-five (25) new models on the road. The German automaker is planning to invest $56 million into support infrastructure for this expected expansion into electric vehicle manufacture.
The company announced that it would be erecting two new technician training centers – one in Ontario, California and the other in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – to provide hands-on training to technicians for dealing with servicing the company’s EV models. The training methodology is expected to cover everything from electric drivetrain maintenance to dealing with infotainment center issues in a consumer-facing role.
Dealing with a Shortage of Trained Personnel
The creation of the training facilities is not an unexpected development. With BMW’s increased investment into the production of electric vehicles for sale to the American market and the creation of its 53,000 square-foot facilities in Atlanta, the demand for trained professionals to work on BMW electric vehicles is high. The investment into the training center is expected to boost the automaker’s training capacity by as much as 50%.
Vehicle electrification is adding to the woes of auto dealerships that also need to stock trained personnel for non-EV models as well. With both EV technology and traditional combustion engine technology both in rotation at the same time, dealerships have extra pressure put on them to be able to provide for all users. The investment in training for EV technicians is a forward-thinking development, but it does nothing to address the current need for non-EV personnel that will continue to exist until the technology is phased out and replaced with EV systems completely. The rate of change of the automobile industry is slow, and this may be a decade in the works before the final internal combustion vehicle is produced.
