With hundreds of thousands of hybrids set to be produced yearly, and with automakers showing off alternative-energy concepts that run on everything from hydrogen to Ethanol to Red Hots candies, the demand for mechanics familiar with advanced systems will surely outstrip supply in the near future. The Detroit News reports on the first school in the nation that will provide skilled hybrid techs to meet that demand, Macomb County Community College in the Detroit suburbs. Sounds pretty innocuous, no? But check out the last sentence of the News piece: "Hybrid makers have allowed Macomb instructors to sit in on training classes, but are "guarded" about disclosing some of the technology, he said." If these schools are in the position to expose hybrid makers' highly classified systems to competitors, a situation that's causing carmakers to be "guarded" about disclosing some of the technology, does that mean students are only getting rudimentary training in hybrid operations, not actual systems? Could it ultimately mean a shortage of qualified hybrid mechanics if companies aren't aggressive about training their own techs? Hmm.
School is among the first to train hybrid mechanics [The Detroit News]
Related:
More on hybrids [internal]