PORT ANGELES — Nineteen automotive trainers were enrolled in Peninsula College’s Train the Trainer courses for hybrid and electrical vehicle class instructors earlier this month.
The courses, which have been offered for three years, draw students from all over the United States and Canada to the community college’s Port Angeles campus each July.
This year, the training was held July 9-20.
“We’re one of only a very few colleges in the country to offer this kind of in-depth training to other instructors,” said Mike Hansen, college automotive instructor.
“The fact that we are drawing students from as far away as Hawaii and North Carolina and as close as Skagit Valley speaks to the need for this type of instruction,” he added.
57 hybrids on market
“Currently, there are 57 hybrids on the market, and that number is expected to triple in just five years, meaning this type of training will be even more essential,” Hansen said.
The 12-day training — which concentrates on the intricacies of hybrid and electrical vehicles, predictive maintenance and high-voltage battery rebuilding and reconditioning — is taught in three separate courses by Mark Quarto.
Quarto is engineering group manager for advanced PowerTrain technology systems for General Motors Corp. Global Aftermarket Engineering.
He has been engineering, managing and teaching electric and hybrid-electric vehicle systems for 26 years and has a patent pending for a hybrid-electric vehicle power-generating system.
He received his doctorate in technical education from Nova Southeastern University, specializing in designing and developing learning systems for hybrid-electric vehicles — or HEVs— and high-voltage energy and propulsion systems.
“We’re particularly pleased that we have someone of Dr. Quarto’s caliber to be our instructor,” Hansen said.
“His expertise ensures that our students are getting the best and most up-to-date training possible.”
For more information, phone Hansen at 360-417-6540.
