Portland observer., May 16, 2012, Page 12, Image 12

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Jarliani» (Obstruer______________________ May i6,2012
Training Center for Green Cars
PCC out front in
hybrid, electric
car technology
A service repair on an internal
combustible engine vehicle can cost
hundreds of dollars. The replace­
ment of a battery for a hybrid or
electric car will cost thousands.
Portland Community College's
Automotive Service Technology
Program at its Sylvania Campus in
southwest Portland is developing
curriculum out of hybrid and elec­
tric car battery research to create a
template for industry techs on how
to service them more affordably.
According to PCC auto service
instructors, they see the need be­
cause the industry is reporting more
battery wear-and-tear stemming
from the original hybrids that are
more than a decade old. When
trouble strikes, technicians typically
just replace the battery pack, which
costs the consumer roughly $2,000,
rather than trouble-shooting the
cause.
"The reality is that these vehicles
are starting to get to the point where
they are having component failure
in the battery packs, the inverters
and electric machines," said Russ
Jones, PCC Automotive Service
Technology instructor and the lead
on the program's hybrid training.
"The industry has not been very
good at training technicians on how
to deal with these cars safely as well
as make diagnostic repairs. We've
recognized the need to provide train­
ing for working technicians," Jones
said.
Through the program's own re­
search, PCC technicians have re­
conditioned batteries for two Honda
Civic Hybrids, improving engine
performance and fuel economy.
Kim Kittinger, Automotive Ser­
vice Technology instructor, said she
and her students break the battery
packs down, taking out individual
modules and test how strong they
are. They do that by seeing how
long the power supply goes for by
dropping the power down to their
dead cells and then bringing them
back up and maxing them out with
energy. They repeat the process
over and over.
"It's like when we exercise and
Portland Community College Automotive Service Technology instructor Russ Jones shows students the Toyota Prius mock up, which is
stripped of its body so PCC can use it for demonstrations.
A Toyota Prius battery pack contains many small batteries that each must be worked on during the
re-conditioning process for electric cars.
push ourselves, we get stronger,"
Kittinger said. "Not all of them, but
many of the batteries we can bring
back to life. It's really cool. Then we
put them into the packs and back
into the cars. We end up buying
more time and more life for these cians, fellow community colleges
packs. It's vehicle maintenance re­ and businesses across the Pacific
ally; the new form of it.”
Northwest and beyond.
The aim is to massage this re­
The program, which is develop­
search into PCC’s curriculum to ing a 30-credit hybrid-training cer­
share with students, local techni- tificate, has partnered with two local
rep air shops, H aw thorne Auto
Clinic in Southeast Portland and
Todd's Import Automotive in Lake
Grove, to look at how they can pro­
vide better and more affordable re­
pair work for hybrid and electric
cärs.
"It gives us more validity of what
we are doing by seeing how this
works on a real-world customer's
car," Jones said of using the repair
shops in their research.
Jim H o u ser, c o -o w n e r o f
Hawthorne, said his company has
had a longstanding relationship
with PCC.
"We had also decided to focus
on hybrid repair, but there's a lim ­
ited am ount o f inform ation avail­
able to independent repair shops
and even dealerships have ju st
one or two people fully up to date
on them ," said H ouser, whose
shop has been repairing hybrids
sin ce 2002. "M istakes can be
costly. If you do something you
shouldn't it will cost the shop owner
a lot of money. For us it's been a
really good partnership with PCC
and has given us the skills and con­
fidence to go deeper than we would
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