Inside the Auto Repair Shops of the Electric Age
– One of the crowd favorites is the Tesla-powered
Porsche 912. We've been doing EV
conversions for 10, 15 years. And still, if I tell
someone what I do, they're just like, didn't
even know it was possible, didn't even know it existed. – As countries around the world race to meet
decarbonization targets, electric vehicles,
also known as EVs, are selling at record highs. But by replacing grease and
gas with code and batteries, yesterday's mechanics need to become the EV technicians of tomorrow. – This is the whole motor section here. It would behoove someone, if
they're thinking about making that change, to kind of
think about it quickly because it's gonna be a
lot of demand, really fast.
Take me to the market,
Mr. David. It's fascinating to be in this as there's this shift happening 'cause you feel like you're
a little part of history. – Once again, technology is changing work as we know it. Are you ready? These are the blue, white,
and no collar jobs of today and the future. – All right, here we are
at Zelectric. This is the front office
of Zelectric, and in back, you see all
these fine German cars.
This is where I spend about
two, three days a week, just helping with the conversion process, training people, doing
hands-on labor, and even some CAD
design stuff. – You've probably never seen an auto shop quite like this one: It specializes in converting
classic, gas-powered cars into electric vehicles, making Trent Wonsley a
rare breed of mechanic. – I went to school to
be a mechanical engineer and have always been just
fascinated with cars. I would say professionally,
I've been doing conversions and electric powertrain
stuff for eight years.
People want that
electric drivetrain, but in something that's
very unique. – There's a good chance over the past year, you've been noticing more
and more EVs on the road. In 2021, EV sales grew by
85% in the U.S. While these classic car
conversions are a bit niche, it gives us a window into
what the future of auto repair shops
will look like. – Right now, I need to
solder in a resistor across what's called the
‘CAN bus network.’ Being an EV tech is
a lot cleaner. You're not dealing with as much
grease and fluids and fumes and all those things. – Electric vehicles also have
a lot less parts. Tesla's drivetrain has
about 17 parts, whereas most gas-powered
cars have about 200. – Let's see what some of
the hard data looks like coming through here.
– But their complexities lie in the
software and the battery system. – We're not adding a lot of
complexity to these cars. But if you accidentally touch
a couple big cables together, you could absolutely kill
a $20,000 battery pack. We'll say a little minor fire. There's really good financial
stability in the EV market as a technician. – Though, you may need some extra electrical education, currently, an EV tech
in California can make up to
$75,000 per year. – When I got outta school
and started doing this thing, there was no handbook to converting EVs.
Every single car that we
do, we try to make steps so the next one is easier,
quicker to assemble, less wiring, more simple. We're getting closer to where
it's accessible for everyone. The history of this car, I kind of started building
it eight years ago. From there, I've just been
iterating this car constantly. And that means going from a
gas engine to an electric motor, which is a Tesla motor
in back, out of a Model S. What's gonna really explode
the EV technician industry, I think, is just the oncoming
of bigger market share of EVs out of all cars. You're gonna need
automotive shops that work on EVs specifically, and there's not a lot
of trained technicians out there at the moment.
– For example, a recent study in the U.K. revealed that only 11% of their
mechanics were qualified to work on EVs. – A lot of shops don't take
on that work because it's still a
little bit mysterious. So, what I do is a lot of
education and some training. Hey Kurt, what's up? So this is, this is Kurt. He's kind of getting trained
up right now for some of the
EV technician stuff.
Anyone that has any kind
of background mechanical is already so well set
up to do this. – A typical path towards becoming an EV technician includes completing a certificate program at a vocational or trade school, followed by an internship
to get hands-on experience before attaining
full-time employment. – All these get tapped M6, and then we just run the
bolts through the lid. We need more people,
more workforce to kind of attack all
the demand. You can always take your
car to a dealer, but people are gonna
want competitive rates. So that's where it'll
be a serious industry. You gotta innovate every day. All of us are kind of trying to share, get problems solved, and move the industry forward. This is just gonna
keep growing. – There is a long history of people tinkering with electric cars. And more recently, the
price of the technology that powers them has
gone way down. – So, now you have more people that want to get into it. – The United States set a goal to make 50% of all new car
sales electric by 2030, sending a clear signal that
the automotive industry is entering into a new era.
– I like being on the
bleeding edge of the development
of this technology. It happened a little faster
than I thought it would. The development is
just going so fast, and we're seeing it, we're seeing the uptick every single day. It's almost exponential..
