Automotive Engineering - May 2023 - 19

COVER STORY
Frank Menchaca
leads SAE's new SMS
'innovation unit.'
" Think of SMS as a group that 'plugs in' wherever there is a
solution to be created. "
experience consortium that's being set up with the
U.S. national labs and the joint office of the U.S. departments
of Energy and Transportation (sidebar).
Having endured the widely criticized, sketchy public
charging network as an EV owner himself, Menchaca is
an activist for an effective series of standards, now in
development, related to improving charging reliability.
Professional Development for all facets of the EV
ecosystem " is maybe one of the biggest opportunities,
and challenges, we [industry] face in sustainability, "
Menchaca asserted. " Finding, training and enabling
people to do the new work of the industry is, I
think, one of the biggest things in front of us. " He
cited as an example the estimated 300,000 new jobs
that experts believe will be needed to generate lithium-ion
EV batteries in the U.S. " About 25 percent of
those people can be retrained from ICE work; maybe
another 10-15 percent can come from associated industries, "
he noted. " The rest are going to have to be
found and trained. "
It's a significant opportunity for people who are interested
in green-tech jobs, which are emerging faster
than they can be filled. For employers desperately in
need of training support in their " human infrastructure, "
help is available from the SMS, Menchaca noted.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
For example, the acute need for technicians in the EV-charging
field prompted SMS and the SAE affiliate Probitas Authentication
(part of SAE's Industry Technologies Consortium-ITC) to create a certification
program for technicians. Service techs who complete training
courses at specialist firms such as ChargerHelp! then take the
SAE exam. Those who complete it are certified by SAE as possessing
the requisite skills and competencies required to do EVSE maintenance,
operations and diagnostic work. In the future, SAE may develop
its own professional-development courses in this growing area.
There will be long-term demand for filling the EV, battery and electric-grid
technology jobs. It's important, Menchaca said, to prepare
not only the current generation of workers but also their successors.
" We have to embed interest, enthusiasm, and an understanding of
the opportunities at a much earlier age, " he said. " So, SMS fits beautifully
with SAE's long history of programs like A World in Motion
[AWIM], " which teach the basics of movement and transportation to
children as young as kindergarten age.
" I think we're at an inflection point, as a culture and a country, " he
observed. " We need the next generation of workers that are going to
go into these roles to see STEM jobs as a reality for themselves. The
way children see themselves, many of them don't have a sense that
they can actually go out and get these [green tech] jobs. Exposure to
the importance of STEM-oriented work in secondary schools also is
hugely important. SAE has been doing that for a long time and we
need to continue doing it. "
May 2023 19
SAE
https://www.sae.org/attend/electric-vehicle-charging-infrastructure-conference
Automotive Engineering - May 2023

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