Driving into the Future: How mechanic training is evolving

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Auto technician training is changing as more and more people accelerate towards electric vehicles or hybrids.

Experts say a new challenge has emerged: a shortage of qualified hybrid and EV mechanics.

That shortage is resulting in high labor costs with fewer professionals available and longer wait times to get EVs and hybrids fixed.

"Forty years ago, when you were working on vehicles, you could kind of just pop under the hood and every car had a this or, you know, whatever. Now everything is different," said Tom Palermo with Preferred Automotive in Oxford Circle. "All these manufacturers do things in a little bit different ways."

Palermo said businesses like his are more of a practice than a trade these days because his mechanics can't know everything.

"OK, so you have to be able to know how to find the information," he said. "Have the tools to be able to do it, and then have the knowledge be able to apply that to fix it."

"The reality is that people who are coming into this field are the same people who might be going into engineering because that's what it takes," said Ivan Anderson with Brookdale Community College. "It's not all nuts and bolts. It's a lot of diagnostics with computers."

Anderson is among those training the next generation of mechanics. Working on EVs and hybrids requires different equipment, other safety measures and the ability to find information, diagnose and repair.

Brookdale Community College recently received a $560,000 federal grant to help fund that training.

"Part of our grant is developed around recruiting women into our program, bringing them into automotive technology, so we're hiring one of our graduates as our outreach coordinator," he said.

And our experts stress that if you go to a mechanic, make sure they have ASE-certified technicians, which stands for Automotive Service Excellence.