Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
All right, lots of news to cover today on automotive repair news today. Thanks for listening. I'm Braxton Critcher. Brookdale Community College in Middletown, New Jersey got some great news this past week. They received a $560,000 grant from the National Science foundation to help integrate electric vehicle repair and maintenance into its automotive courses. Big, big news. The funding supports the electric vehicle education for New Jersey project, hoping to train technicians for EV servicing. And beginning this July, Brookdale Community College will include EV technology in their curriculum.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:47]:
Also to be noted, Brookdale is now the first community college in the state of New Jersey to offer EV technology in its courses. Good stuff. Ridgeway has just released a new survey covering all things diesel technicians. Findings from the survey ranged from things like job satisfaction to demographics and the overall health of the industry. A few of the highlights that are worth noting were that the average age of a diesel technician is 42, with 95% of the texts being male. That number is certainly not shocking, but one that maybe does surprise is that 92% would like to have paid training by their employer. Nearly 70% are satisfied with their job and don't plan on changing jobs or careers anytime soon. Also in the survey, when diesel technicians were asked about the industry technical shortage, 46% said that they believe the best way to fix the issue would be for shops to provide tools for techs.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:54]:
If youd like to download the full survey and read it for yourself, visit the link in the podcast description below. United States small businesses, including independent repair shops, thrived last year in 2023. But if you looked at the economy on paper, you wouldnt think that would be possible. According to an article posted by Motor last week, interest rates rose the most in 15 years nationwide. Yet many repair shops, maybe yours, closed the year with economic growth, most seeing very low unemployment. In fact, the auto industry as a whole thrived, reporting as one of the strongest sectors in the nation. Last year, however, the signs of finance driven growth limits emerged, and new car prices fell last year for the first time in over a decade, and personal debt in consumers led to a slowdown in discretionary spending on vehicle repair last year as well. For the rest of this year, 2024, the automotive industry new car sales are expected to stabilize as high interest rates dampen growth.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:05]:
This also could benefit auto repair shops as consumers may opt to maintain older vehicles instead of trading them in, causing more more possibilities for repairs. Toyota has opened a north american hydrogen headquarters named H two HQ. Love the name H two HQ. It's located in Toyota's Los Angeles research and Development Office, H two HQ will focus on various hydrogen projects in North America, including stationary fuel cell, power generation, port vehicle applications, and light and heavy duty fuel cell research. The new facility will also listen to this house, a microgrid expected to be operational in 2026, just a few years from now. And the facility will enable Toyota to operate completely off the grid and generate its own sustainable power. And finally today on automotive repair news. Today, across the entire repair industry, there is a needle for young technicians.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:11]:
Maybe you're experiencing that too, in your shop and tech force. They're looking to help out. They've launched a survey you might be interested in called text talk to help owners better understand the need of younger technicians. The survey hopes to gather insights into entry level technicians experiences and young technicians top priorities as they get their feet wet in the industry. So far, many young tech cite training costs, tool expenses, compensation concerns, work life balance, and others as their main concerns. Want to take the survey or know someone who would? Click the link in the podcast description for more. All right, that does it for this week's automotive repair news Today. Thank you so much for listening.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:57]:
Be sure to follow us on all your favorite social media platforms for more news throughout the week. Also, other exclusive interviews and videos. And if you know news that you'd like shared on next week's episode, please reach out to me by emailing me at braxton@automotiverepairnews.com that's braxton@automotiverepairnews.com and thanks again for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair News Today.