In http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3933-xm3500#comment-25874 Mik said something I want to call attention to... (NOTE: You'll have to go to page 2 and then scroll down a ways.. sorry)
Essentially that to get EV's to wide acceptance it's clearly going to require a slew of EV technicians. This is a business thing.. that to have these vehicles successfully in the hands of the public, well, there's some lessons we can learn from the current state of affairs isn't there?
a) the vehicles don't always live up to expectations
b) the vehicles break down occasionally
c) there's a desire for "MORE" which leads to tweaks and improvements and rewirings
In gas vehicles there are a large array of shops for those needs. For EV's there will need to be a similar array of shops and services.
I guess one of the hopes around EV's is that because the motors are typically highly reliable that there'd be little need for service. But reality is different, right?
True, imagine if you didn't know what a capacitor was and one popped in your shiny new curtis controller, LOL!
Keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.
I did a bit of research on this tonight and found a few existing training programs.
Posted here: http://www.7gen.com/blog/20081014/24952-electric-vehicles
BTW I came across a real interesting job listing in Sacramento -- doing test work on advanced battery packs. It's listed on craigslist in Sacramento if you search NOW for "Electric Vehicle Technician" it'll come up in the first couple pages. It's a real interesting job posting to read but of course since it's craigslist the listing will disappear soon. One of the qualifications is to be able to lift 50 lb objects 100 times a day (can you say "Battery"?).
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki