NATIONAL ALTERNATIVE FUELS TRAINING CONSORTIUM (NAFTC)



The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) is a pioneer and national leader in developing, managing, and promoting programs and activities that desire to cure America’s addiction to oil, lead to energy independence, and encourage the greater use of cleaner transportation. The NAFTC is the only nationwide alternative fuel vehicle and advanced technology vehicle training organization in the United States.

History of the NAFTC

Under contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, West Virginia University (WVU) started the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) in late 1992 to address the urgent need for training and support of alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) technicians in the field. WVU worked closely with the natural gas industry in conceiving the program. A Train-the-Trainers approach was adopted, and courses were developed to teach alternative fuel vehicle technology to trainers who then return to their institutions to conduct training.

After receiving their initial training at WVU, these trainers are supported with updated training, technical materials, training aids and online information through the NAFTC’s website. The audience for the program includes vo-tech instructors, four year college and community college faculty, fleet managers and technicians, instructors, government agency personnel, military support personnel, utility technicians, and anyone involved in alternative fuel vehicle development.

In 1995, WVU announced the addition of six technical training centers to the program to enhance dissemination of alternative fuels training materials and public education and awareness programs. Since that time, the program has expanded and also includes affiliate members in a formal training network now known as the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC).

The NAFTC currently operates through a network of National Training Centers (NTCs) and Associate Training Centers (ATCs) across the country. More than 10,000 technicians have been trained from industry, academic, and governmental organizations. The U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. DOE Clean Cities Programs, and private fleets are example users of training materials from the NAFTC.

The NAFTC national headquarters in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The NAFTC is headquartered at WVU and conducts business under the auspices of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy. The NAFTC headquarters and the National Alternative Fuels Training Laboratory are located in Morgantown, West Virginia. To foster its mission, the NAFTC seeks the involvement of educational institutions; fuel providers; equipment and parts manufacturers; industry partners; federal and state agencies; and professional, educational, and training associations.

NAFTC Launches Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Curriculum for High Schools

By Michael Polak • National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium

America’s high schools have offered specialized automotive training for generations of technicians who then kept family cars and business vehicles humming on the highways. However, the evolution of transportation in the 21st Century is bringing a whole new kind of alternative fuel automobiles into service bays across the nation and a whole new set of challenges to men and women preparing to keep those cars on the road.

The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium is on a mission to properly introduce these new advanced electric drive vehicles to the people who will service them right where automotive education begins – in the nation’s high schools.

The NAFTC introduced its first high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) curriculum in its own backyard of Morgantown, WV when 15 West Virginia high school teachers from around the state participated in a week long Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program training exercise. The training is funded through a U.S. Department of Energy award and is geared to introducing high school CTE automotive students to advanced electric drive vehicles.

“It’s extremely important that we begin this education at the high school level,” NAFTC Executive Director Al Ebron said. “There are a lot of opportunities for young people if we get them early. There are a lot of paths for them to choose from in the alternative fuel field.”

The CTE course is also being taught at the J. Harley Bonds Career Center in Greer, South Carolina. In all, during this academic year, ten pilot programs of the curriculum will be introduced in high schools in West Virginia and South Carolina.

The course focuses on four types of electric drive vehicles:

• battery electric,

• plug-in electric,

• hybrid electric, and

• fuel cell electric.

The NAFTC selected Perfect Sky founder Jack Rosebro to teach the course. Rosebro’s Perfect Sky company develops and delivers technical training for hybrid, electric, and other innovative vehicle technologies in North America, Europe, and Asia. After each section in the classroom, the instructors are taken into the NAFTC's onsite automobile lab and conduct various hands-on activities with the equipment and vehicles.

Jeff Hardy, a teacher at the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center in New Cumberland, WV, discussed his favorite aspects of the program.

“The instructor getting us out here in the shop and letting us take out the battery pack, dissemble one from a vehicle and taking these motor generators apart, all of the ‘hands-on’ stuff was very helpful,” Hardy explained. “We sound like our kids but that’s the part of the program they like, and it is a valuable way of learning.”

To further the secondary school educational opportunities, the NAFTC sent staff and equipment, including its in-house Toyota Prius and its hybrid electric vehicle training educator known as HEVTE, to South Carolina for another week of training. HEVTE is a functioning Prius hybrid vehicle featuring a cutaway that shows the intricacies of the vehicle and how it works.

Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Battery Assembly

“The thing that our instructor made interesting is he never told us any answers,” said the West Virginia Department of Education's Coordinator of Engineering and Technical Education Paul Lovett. “So, it led to the discovery. Everything was discovery and everything was new to us.”

The CTE program received support from the West Virginia and South Carolina Departments of Education.

Gene Coulson, the executive director of the Office of Career and Technical Innovation for West Virginia's Department of Education, allowed state teachers to participate in the program and introduced the pilot program for the upcoming school year.

In South Carolina, the NAFTC worked with Benjamin T. Martin, an education associate for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program in the South Carolina Department of Education.

After this year’s pilot efforts, the NAFTC will make adjustments to the curriculum based upon its findings and participant recommendations, and then the high school program will become available nationwide.

About the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium and the Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program

The Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program, funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is a public-private partnership with the mission of “Educating America on Next Generation Vehicles.”

It is managed by the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium, a program of West Virginia University. The program will feature curricula, training, education and outreach activities, a hybrid electric vehicle training educator (HEVTE), a website and support of National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey. This program will provide education and accurate, timely information to consumers, first responders, secondary school educators and students, charging infrastructure engineers and installers, automotive technicians and fleet operators. For more information, visit: www.naftc.wvu.edu or www.aedve.info.