NAIT brings all-electric vehicles to Automotive Service Technician program

"This is the way the future is moving”

At Open House in October, NAIT’s biggest recruitment event, the Automotive Service Technician program revealed the latest – and unprecedented – additions to the roughly 60 vehicles it keeps for students to work and learn on. They were the program's first all-electric vehicles: a sky-blue Chevrolet Blazer EV, charcoal Nissan Leaf and an icy grey Kia EV6.

“The response was overwhelmingly positive,” says program chair Dustin Gagnon (class of ’18), even if a few unconvinced tirekickers were in attendance. “Either way, it gets people talking.”

The vehicles are part of NAIT’s response to a call by Apprenticeship and Industry Training, the government body that oversees trades education in Alberta, for post-secondaries to update their automotive curriculum. The new guidelines didn't require having EVs on site.

“We went above and beyond,” says Gagnon (pictured below). “We pride ourselves on being an institute that offers hands-on learning.” Besides, no matter the opinions about EVs, the need for knowledge about them will likely only increase, Gagnon adds. “They’re not going away.”

Learn more about NAIT’s Automotive Service Technician program

Seizing an opportunity

Data drives that message home. From 2020 to 2024, zero-emission vehicles (all-electrics and hybrids) saw rising market share in Alberta, from 1.64% to 2.79%. In November 2025, that spiked to 7.4%, representing, if not a sustained upswing, a jump in EVs travelling Alberta roads and, like any vehicle, eventually hitting local auto shops.

Those percentages, though seemingly small, represent thousands of vehicles. They also rank the province fourth in Canada for uptake of the technology.

Curt Schiller sees that as an opportunity, though one just out of reach. Schiller is assistant manager at Girard Tirecraft, a full-service mechanic shop on Edmonton’s southside. It can service anything to do with an EV except anything related to its battery system.

“It would be nice to have people who are trained for it,” he says. “If you don’t know what you’re doing you can damage the system and cost the shop money. And it’s high voltage – you can hurt yourself.”

That skills gap is common among shops outside of dealerships that train techs to work on their brand of EVs. The technology has simply outpaced education.

Generally, says Gagnon, “If you look at the number of technicians who are working on vehicles in Alberta, few of them have electric-vehicle training, because electric vehicles are so new. Many dealers who sell electric vehicles provide EV training but outside that it's quite limited.”

Schiller gets frequent inquiries from EV owners, many of which he has to turn away. He only sees those calls increasing with time, especially as models from early industry entrants (such as Tesla) get older and come off warranty. From Schiller’s perspective, that’s lost revenue – and why appropriate curriculum is “overdue.”

“This is the way the future is moving,” he says. “I want to be able to fix everything.”

The smart decision

Not every shop, of course, will immediately need EV-ready technicians. As co-owner of D&D Vehicle Sales in Camrose, David Drever (Management ’07) sells pre-owned models. But he sees the local market as too small to justify investing in necessary upgrades to the business’s mechanic shop. Still, his view of the future is similar to Schiller’s.

That’s a future in which technologies coexist. “There is a place for both,” says Drever. Maybe the driver heading to a remote worksite in winter continues to favour an internal combustion engine, but the cross-town commuter opts for an all-electric, year round.

“The smart decision from an industry perspective is to prepare for both,” says Drever.

He feels that introducing apprentices to the technology while in school gives businesses a chance to choose and, in some cases, remain competitive. “If you’re not adapting and growing, you’re becoming obsolete,” says Drever. “This is a fast-changing industry.”

Now, having added EVs to eight plug-in hybrids that were already part of the fleet, Gagnon’s program is better positioned to keep up. Since the new curriculum started late last summer, 280 apprentices have learned both EV and hybrid vehicle theory and safety procedures. The first cohort of fourth period apprentices will get under the hoods of the new vehicles this fall.

They’ll still face a learning curve. More than 30 new all-electric models are expected to hit the Canadian market in 2026 (including previously uncommon models from China, thanks to recently lowered tariffs). That’s on top of dozens of EVs and hybrid-electrics already in use.

But Gagnon hopes NAIT’s mix of EVs – designed in Japan, North America and South Korea – will familiarize students with the variations of the technology. “We really tried to pick a range of models that would cover all the possible ways we could talk about EVs,” he says.

Inevitably, they’ll be talking about EVs throughout their careers. Topics, and opinions, will vary. To be part of the conversation, however, they’ll have to know the language.

“Students with more experience,” says Gagnon, “are going to have a leg up.”