- Slug: CN2Go.
- Runtime: 6:38.
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TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY IS TRANSITIONING TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES. AND SO DID ONE OF THE VALLEY’S HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS. TODAY WE ARE BRINGING YOU A STORY ABOUT AN AUTO TECH CLASS WHERE HIGH SCHOOLERS BUILD A ROAD-WORTHY EV FROM SCRATCH.
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I’M KENNETH RASMUSSEN ( go to story )
HOST INTRO
ELECTRIC VEHICLES ARE THE FUTURE…AND CACTUS HIGH SCHOOL IN GLENDALE IS ONE OF FIRST HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA TO IMPLEMENT AN EV CURRICULUM INTO THEIR AUTOMOTIVE PROGRAM.
CRONKITE NEWS’ AUTRIYA MANESHNI HAS MORE ABOUT THIS UNIQUE PROGRAM AND WHAT THE STUDENTS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR.
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FOR MOST HIGHSCHOOLERS, A SCHOOL DAY BEGINS BEHIND THE DESK. BUT STUDENTS IN FELIX RAMIREZ’S AUTOMOTIVE CLASS
START THEIR DAY FROM WORKING ON ELECTRIC CARS.
THEY ARE LEARNING HOW TO BUILD AN EV FROM SCRATCH
“Right. Now we’ve got all of the suspension done, we’ve got the motor in, we have the wiring harnesses for the electric motor, and we’re working now on the battery compartment side of it. And that will be a little bit more in depth because that takes a lot of units into it.”
THE VEHICLE THAT RAMIREZ IS TALKING ABOUT COMES FROM THE COMPANY CALLED SWITCH VEHICLES.
ITS SWITCH LAB PROGRAM PROVIDES SCHOOLS WITH A BUILD-IT-YOURSELF EV KIT THAT STUDENTS WORK ON FOR THE SEMESTER. THE END GOAL FOR THE STUDENTS IS TO CREATE A ROAD-WORTHY ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND EARN THEIR AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE EXCELLENCE CERTIFICATION, BETTER KNOWN AS ASE.
“They will also be taking the ASE test certification at the student level, in brakes, electrical steering suspension, and they’re supposed to be having one and they’re not quite done with it, an EV one too, but we’re paying for the test. And the kids will graduate with at least three or four ASE certs when they’re done with this program.”
RAMIREZ HAS BEEN TEACHING FOR 36 YEARS…AND HAS SPENT 23 OF THOSE YEARS AT CACTUS HIGH SCHOOL. HE LOVES INTERACTING WITH HIS AUTOMOTIVE STUDENTS.
“Basically, when you work on an electric vehicle, you have to have a lot of patience when you do because a lot of wiring, so you have to go and connect to it. And another thing is, it’s nothing like gas vehicles is way different than electric vehicles.”
THAT’S ABEL GRABER, ONE OF RAMIREZ’S 105 STUDENTS. GRABER WORKED ON DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE CAR SUCH AS THE CONTROLLERS, AND RESOLVED THE COMPLEX WIRING.
AIDEN BRATTON IS RAMIREZ’S STUDENT TOO. HE’S BEEN VERY INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF ASSEMBLING THE ELECTRIC CAR.
“A success was getting the steering finally put together and working because that took me forever. I probably put 48 hours under the steering because I couldn’t get it fixed.”
AND I’LL SAY THIS…AS A NON-CAR PERSON MYSELF, IT WAS FASCINATING TO HEAR HIM DESCRIBE THEIR PROGRESS SO FAR. I NEVER KNEW JUST HOW MUCH WORK GOES INTO BUILDING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE.
“In the last few weeks, we’ve gotten this wiring harness put together. So this month, at least, steering was fixed. The rear wiring harness was built, the motor was installed pretty much about a month ago, none of this stuff was on it.”
THE CAR IS SMALL — NOT THE TYPICAL SIZE OF A SEDAN. IT’S A TWO-SEATER WITH THREE WHEELS. WHEN I SAT IN THE CAR, IT FELT A LOT LIKE A BIG GO-KART.
“So this is actually gonna have full body panels on it. So it’s going to look a lot more closed. There’s obviously no doors, but you just climb them through the window. Basically, there’s going to be a front windshield, she’s going to be a hood. It’s going to be powered by two really big batteries.”
TOOLS LIKE WHEEL BALANCERS, WRENCHES AND RATCHETS ARE LINED UP AGAINST THE WALLS AND SPREAD OUT IN THE MANY DRAWERS ACROSS THE AUTO LAB. THE STUDENTS FIRST COME IN TO CLASS, WORK ON SOME BELL WORK AND THEN GET DIVIDED INTO DIFFERENT WORK STATIONS. SOME STUDENTS ARE WORKING ON GAS CARS WHILE OTHERS GET TO WORK ON THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE.
TO KEEP ALL OF THIS ORGANIZED, RAMIREZ GETS HELP FROM HIS INTERNS — LIKE BRYANNA (Bree-Awnaw) FERGUSON, WHO COMES FROM A FAMILY OF CAR LOVERS.
“My father did some drag racing for a while, he had his own car and everything. And family friend also does the same thing and still does it today. And both my parents had just been around in the automotive side of things. My mom used to work on my computer all day. And my dad used to work in a parts department. So I kind of get both sides of everything. And that’s how I kind of got into it. It’s just being around it all the time. It’s awesome.”
RAMIREZ’S INTERNS HAVE COMPLETED ALL OF THE AUTO CLASSES – AUTO TECH ONE THROUGH FOUR. FERGUSON COMES INTO THE LAB BRIGHT AND EARLY RIGHT WHEN SCHOOL STARTS. THEY HELP THE STUDENTS AS NEEDED AND ALSO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE VEHICLE PARTS ARE ACCESSIBLE AND ORGANIZED.
“With the electric vehicle, I help them make sure that they kind of have everything they need, or at least try to make sure they have everything they need. So that’s kind of a lot of the stuff that I’ve been doing right now. But it’s kind of chill for now.”
FERGUSON HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE AUTOMOTIVE CLASSES SINCE FRESHMAN YEAR. THEY ENJOY SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH ALL STUDENTS.
“Favorite thing? I’d have to say a lot of the just showing the new people that are coming in, especially when they have the days where it’s like my life day, or just days where underclassmen are coming in and looking at all the classes, and you get to talk about your experience and have them join in, as well.”
LIKE MANY OF RAMIREZ’S STUDENTS, FERGUSON AND GRABER WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY SOME DAY. FERGUSON BELIEVES THE AUTO INDUSTRY WILL KEEP GETTING BIGGER.
“It’s a good thing that I’m starting now, before I graduate high school. That way, I have a little bit of experience in it when I go into college and do that kind of stuff. So working with the electric vehicles and the regular vehicles is good, because you get both experiences that way. It’s not just a one sided thing.”
SEEING HIS STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS IS WHAT MAKES RAMIREZ’S JOB REWARDING.
“My goal is to get these kids in the industry, and to get them to start doing things or go to a college. If you look around my classroom, I have names of kids that have finished off. And where they went to a trade school. They went to the military. I have a girl, this nuclear engineer four-year auto student in the Navy. So I want them to do something and then I’ve done my job.”
AUTRIYA MANESHNI, CRONKITE NEWS.
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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM AUTRIYA MANESHNI AND DAMON FAIRALL.
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YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG.
THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M KENNETH RAUSMUSSEN
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