Punjab’s EV push: Technical education department starts electric vehicle service technician course at ITIs in state

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, August 19

Anticipating a future demand for electric vehicle (EV) service technicians due to the Centre’s push for electric vehicles, Punjab’s Technical Education and Industrial Training Department has started EV mechanic course at 8 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).

The course is already catching attention of the students during the ongoing admission session at the government run-ITIs. The department has reserved 384 seats for the course at the eight designated institutes.

“The focus is on industry driven courses and preparing students for radically changed skill sets. With this in mind, we are striving to make the ITIs resource centres for providing industry-relevant skilled workforce to various trades,” said Amit Talwar, director, Technical Education.

The department is associating with vehicle manufacturers like Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki to invest in infrastructure upgrading at the ITIs under the central government scheme to skill youth in collaboration with the industry. Through the scheme announced in the Union Budget this year, the department is eyeing Rs 8 crore infrastructure push from the electric vehicle manufacturers.

“The focus is on the outcome and quality of skilling, with course content and design aligned to the needs of the industry. The Centre is working on creating a favourable regulatory framework to support EV innovation and development of electric vehicles, the demand for skilled EV technicians is set to increasing in future”, said officials handling the project in the department.

Quoting data, officials said the EV industry is expected to create around 20 million jobs by 2030, increasing the demand for in-house specialists such as EV technicians. There would be about a 40 per cent increase in demand for EV-related skills.

The EV technician course is among 31 new courses introduced in selected 20 it is during the current academic session. Other courses include solar technician, multimedia animation effects, fibre-to-home technician, smartphone technician-cum-app tester, drone service technician, radiology technician, 5G technicians, system architects, additive manufacturing and industrial robotics technician.

Electric Vehicles sales across different categories

Note: The data does not include Low Speed (Below 40 km per hour) two wheelers Sales

Source: Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles