Roll Call: Alternative Fuel Vehicle Technician Certification Programs On the Rise

As the natural gas vehicle industry grows, more institutions are offering technician certification courses to meet growing student demand. These courses are designed to teach experienced automotive technicians to service and repair natural gas vehicles (NGVs).

Different jurisdictions have varying requirements for alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) technicians. The State of Oklahoma, for instance, stipulates that technicians who work on alternate fuel vehicles need to pass the Oklahoma State Certification Test to be certified as an alternative fuels equipment technician.

Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) has been offering courses in both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the past four years to prepare technicians to pass the state exam. The Professional Development Institute within the college offers a three-day program which has graduated about 450 people to date.  Six students take the $500 course each week, year round.

Shane Snyder is an automotive technician at Fowler Honda in Norman, Oklahoma. He recently completed OCCC’s course.

“It covers all of the bases in a short amount of time,” Shane said. “They teach a lot about natural gas vehicle laws and safety – once you know the information it’s much easier to work on the vehicles. I’m a lot more comfortable after taking the class.”

Shane said his peers work in the areas of fleet services, government fleets, and private dealerships, among others.

John Vanhook, Director of OCCC’s Professional Development Institute, said students receive training in safety, fuel characteristics, system descriptions and operation, fuel line bending, system diagnosis, system inspection and regulations. They have to pass five physical tests during the course where they ‘debug’ problems in a hands-on environment.

“We’ve achieved the state-level support that is needed,” John said. “We get inquiries from across the United States almost every day about this program.”

According to the Atlanta-based Natural Gas Vehicle Institute, NGV safety is a critical responsibility for every fleet manager operating CNG vehicles or liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles. The website states there are four key factors vital to safe NGV fleet operations:

• Safe driving 
• Safe fueling 
• Safe maintenance 
• Standardized fuel system inspections 

The demand for training in this area continues to grow, and in August Linn Benton College announced a $1.5 million award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help fund a 10,000 square foot alternative fuels training center in Lebanon, Oregon to train automotive, trucking and heavy equipment technicians, scheduled to open in 2014.

Check out these resources for more information on natural gas vehicle training and certification:

United States
(General): http://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/technician_training.html
Oklahoma: http://www.occc.edu/
(The Oklahoma Division of Capital Assets Management in Oklahoma also offers a map which identifies alternative fuels technicians and/or companies who have been state-certified.)
Atlanta: http://www.ngvi.com/ngv_safety.html
West Virginia: http://naftc.wvu.edu/course_workshop_information/training_schedule
Oregon: https://www.linnbenton.edu/

Canada
(General): http://www.gowithnaturalgas.ca/getting-started/training/
Toronto: http://db2.centennialcollege.ca/ce/coursedetail.php?CourseCode=CEAF-804

Westport Works With Volvo To Make One Of Sweden’s Safest and Most Environmentally Friendly Cars

Last week, the news wires and cyber space in Sweden were buzzing with the release of Folksam’s 2012 list of the country’s safest vehicles. Included was the Volvo V70 Bi-Fuel Wagon, powered by Alternative Fuel Vehicle Sweden AB (AFV), a division of Westport LD.

For the past 15 years, Folksam, a respected insurance company in Sweden, has produced a list of the cars it considers safest and most environmentally friendly, and its list is well-recognized by the media and the public. For 2012, Folksam chose the most efficient cars in each size class from a list of 56 approved models.

Introduced to the market in 2010, the Volvo V70 Bi-Fuel was included on this year’s list as the only Swedish-produced passenger vehicle, and was praised for its combination of safety and environmental benefits.

The V70 Bi-Fuel features a natural gas engine that runs on bio-methane produced by manure or landfill gases, making it the most environmentally friendly gas that a car can use for fuel.

Westport acquired AFV last year. AFV is the sole supplier of natural gas fuel systems to Volvo Car Company (VCC), and actually installs the natural gas systems at facilities located inside VCC’s main production center in Gothenburg.

The Volvo V70 Bi-Fuel vehicle is a popular option for Swedish businesses as drivers can fill up at more than one hundred public natural gas filling stations across the country.

Along with the safety and emissions benefits, corporate and private customers are eligible for tax incentives in Sweden that make natural gas even more economical. The Volvo V70 Bi-Fuel is the second-biggest selling car in its class in Sweden.