Students Fred Salianga, from left, Nate Jalbert and Aaron Jamison check the battery of a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E4X at Southern Maine Community College’s Automotive Technology Center. The training is designed for technicians who work at auto repair shops, auto dealers and other vehicle-related businesses, and teaches them to diagnose and service electric and hybrid vehicles. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

SOUTH PORTLAND — A cavernous garage with cars hoisted on lifts on a recent weekday afternoon could be any auto repair shop.

This is different. The Southern Maine Community College building, just steps from Casco Bay with a sea breeze blowing through large open doorways, is a classroom for students learning how to repair electric vehicles.

On this particular day, they and their teacher, Ruth Morrison, were stress-testing the lithium batteries that power EVs, technologically advanced machines that present different challenges from what mechanics face while peering under the hood of gas-powered vehicles. Students were monitoring data on a laptop connected by a cable to a box next to the dashboard of a Chevy Blazer EV, recording the lowest and highest cell voltage, state of charge and other information.

“It’s a brand-new world,” said Cory McCulloch, a student who is a mechanic at a Kia dealership. The 16-week course from August to December is an opportunity to take “any chance I can get to understand” the technology, he said. McCulloch is one of six in the class that draws engineering students, mechanics sent by dealerships and others interested in learning advanced car repair.

Billy Kwizera, center, and Cory McCulloch test the battery in a 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid during a class at Southern Maine Community College’s Automotive Technology Center. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Fred Salianga, an IT specialist with an associate’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, said he’s looking to eventually design software for automobile robotics. “I wanted to learn this part of electric engineering,” he said.

For Aaron Jamison, an automotive technician at VIP Tires and Service in Lewiston, the decision to take the EV course was made for him. “The boss came in and said, ‘You’re going,'” he said.

Robert Kaffel, director of operations at VIP, said of 22 technicians at three shops in Lewiston and Auburn, four are qualified to repair EVs. As many as 200 employees across VIP’s 74 locations in New England go through other training courses, he said.

EVs comprise a tiny share – less than 2% – of the cars on Maine’s roads that are dominated by vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. However, the number is growing in response to state and federal subsidies and efforts to build a network of EV chargers. It’s all part of broader goals to reduce climate risks, in this case taking out of circulation gas-powered cars with their dirty tailpipes that contribute nearly half of greenhouse gas emissions in Maine, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Ruth Morrison looks under the hood of a 2024 Chevy Blazer EV while teaching a class at Southern Maine Community College. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The SMCC course was the first of its kind in Maine when it launched in 2021. Students learn to perform predictive maintenance, diagnose and repair hybrid and electric vehicles and are prepared to take the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence certification test for light-duty hybrid and electric vehicle specialists.

EV repair courses started being offered at Washington County Community College in Calais in June 2022 and at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor last fall, said Dan Belyea, chief workforce development officer at the Maine Community College System. Currently, 69 students are enrolled at the three schools, he said.

Morrison said 20 to 25 students have taken the course at Southern Maine Community College since its start in 2021.

The EV repair training at Eastern Maine Community College recently ran for seven months, with 16 students who completed the training, said Michelle Bladen, senior administrative coordinator at the Maine Community College System. At Washington County Community College, 24 students completed a nearly two-year training, she said.

Instruction is free to students, Belyea said. The state Community College System is spending $308,000 from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, which applied for funding from the pandemic-era federal American Rescue Plan, for equipment and salaries, he said. “The skin in the game is the student’s time,” he said.

Ernie Gray reads diagnostic information on the battery of a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E4X at Southern Maine Community College. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Costs are for vehicles, instructors’ tools and classroom materials.

The workings of EVs also are taught at the high school level, but it’s limited. Mid-Maine Technical Center in Waterville offers to high school juniors and seniors a two-year automotive service program, with EV repair classes in the second year, instructor Craig Smiley said. Lessons don’t delve deeply into EVs for several reasons, he said. Students for the most part are not interested in EVs or hybrid technology. “They all want a vehicle that’s loud and burns gas or diesel,” Smiley said.

“The general population we get could care less about anything EV-related or hybrid-related,” he said. “It’s out of their budget anyway. Up here the hybrid and EV market is small.”

Adam D. Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls, said dealers who sell EVs must have a certified technician or they won’t sell the cars. Car manufacturers require employees to complete a course of training, and they are better trained if they’ve already been introduced to EV repairs with a community college education, he said.

Students perform a test on a 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Technicians who can work on any vehicle – EV, diesel, four-, six- or eight-cylinder – are in short supply, Lee said. “Almost any dealer is happy to hire someone who has training,” he said.

A little more than 16,000 battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs are on the road in Maine, according to the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicle Registration. That’s more than double from 7,738 in December 2021, but just 1.3% of light-duty vehicles on the road. “There’s not enough EVs that support a lot of technicians,” Lee said.

In the U.S., 3.3 million EVs comprised 1.1% of the 292 million cars on the road in 2023, according to Edmunds, which cited an Experian report. EV sales accounted for nearly 17.5% of sales between January and May, it said.

Sales are incentivized by state subsidies of up to $7,500 depending on income and a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 if the buyer meets income limits, the vehicle is made or assembled in North America and if the cost complies with certain limits.

Although EVs avoid the gritty demands of gas-powered cars such as regular oil changes or exhaust system repairs, they still have brakes, steering, suspension and tires, said Morrison, the SMCC instructor. “All need work at some point,” she said. And hybrid vehicles have an engine that requires a knowledgeable mechanic to make repairs.

Cory McCulloch tests the battery in a 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

A vehicle with an internal combustion engine can have 100 times as many moving parts in its drivetrain as an electric car, according to Edmunds. All need to be fixed or maintained, including regular oil changes and servicing of belts, timing chains, spark plugs and other parts.

The U.S. Department of Energy determined that an EV costs an average 4 cents less per mile to maintain if all scheduled services are factored in, adding up to $4,000 in savings for an EV with 100,000 miles, Edmunds said. However, a 100,000-mile service and other repairs and maintenance issues for gas-powered cars can be costly. Replacing a catalytic converter can cost about $1,300, ignition coils and spark plugs at about $400 and a fuel injector for nearly $450, according to CarMD.

For EVs, a battery replacement is costly. EV batteries must be warranted for a minimum of eight years or 100,000 miles, according to federal rules. Some manufacturers offer greater warranties, up to 10 years and 150,000 miles, according to Edmunds. Replacing a battery pack after many years of service and several hundred thousand miles costs between $5,000 and $15,000 and is comparable to an engine or transmission replacement in a gas car, Consumer Reports said.

Ruth Morrison directs students while running tests on a 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Morrison, who studied at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., took an interest in working on cars with a 1974 Cadillac given to her. “I’d rather work with my hands than get a liberal arts degree,” she said. “I think I found my niche in the EV field.”