Next "Up Your Voltage!" is October 21-25, 2010
Read What Craig has to say about EV is Auto,INC. August 2010 Issue
All Things Electric ... Leaf, iMiEV, Volt
ACDC's Most Popular HYBRID BOOK 2010 Edition
September 2010
ACDC is now selling the new HYB1000 high voltage battery pack tester from Midtronics. Click Here to view a web class by Craig Van Batenburg introducing the tester.
Are you ready to increase your hybrid business? ACDC receives customer requests all the time looking for Qualified help Become an ACDC Qualified Shop and ACDC will help!
Dear Shop Owner, College Roommate, Teacher, Battery Engineer, Hybrid Owner, A/C Tech, Auto Tech, Body Shop Tech, Friend, Student, Fireman, European Students, Salvage Yard Tech, Tow Truck Driver, Dude, Taxi Cab Driver, BMW Tech, Former Marine, Dutch Auto Instructor, Web Surfer, Relative, VW Mechanic, Tool Truck Salesman, Old High School Buddy, Transmission Specialist, Auction House, President Obama, Spy, Hippie, Adoptive Parents, etc.
Last week, Craig was just down the road in Boston, MA teaching a group of technicians at a class funded by the Department of Energy. Held in Roxbury, this goal of this class was to get more shops in the area ready to work with Green technology.
This year is flying by. We at ACDC are proud to announce the completion of Up Your Voltage! XX. Our third of 2010 and twenty total under our belts. ACDC is thrilled to be supporting Technicians and Instructors for all over the globe in preparing themselves for the future of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. Thank you to all those who journeyed to MA this July and making it another delightful and memorable class! We are already getting enrolments for our October class! See our courses page for details.
Congratulations to our UYV XIX class. 18 men came to 5 days of hands-on hybrid training, 17 flew 8 hours to get here from Holland and one drove two days from Minnesota. Up Your Voltage! XIX is now history. It was a great class and our first that was only for automotive teachers. The Dutch men also had a tour of Boston, the Larz Anderson Auto museum, a historic WWII battleship museum, many technical schools and lots of fun. As ACDC gets to know more international students it is clear to ACDC that hybrids are a good solution world wide to curb some of our appetite for gasoline. My thanks to everyone who showed up and to the staff and trainers of ACDC.For a larger picture click on "UYV Grads Only".
Marines are buying hybrids. I recently drove our 2004 Prius and visited the Marine base at Cherry Point N. C. and conducted a vary hands-on class for our military motor pool. They now have Malibu and Fusion hybrids along with 3 Eaton hybrid trucks and busses. This base is the air support for the U S Marines and I had a most interesting time learning more about how we run our military bases and they learned more about hybrid systems. After that I drove to Florida to the NACAT 2010 event at Seminole Community College. ACDC was once again a Bronze Sponsor, taught a few classes and was able to make the time to take my first GM VOLT class with Alan Nagle. Two weeks later I ordered one. The list price is $41,000 and the dealership in Connecticut I was dealing with plans on a $5,000 mark up. I will keep looking and hope to be driving one early next year, followed by a Leaf and later an IMiEV.
We now have a full catalogue of Online Hybrid Training!
August 25, 2010 kicked off our first class of 2010 Online Hybrid 101! This 11 class series is set up for automotive technicians that want to start hybrid training but are having a hard time getting out of the shop to take classes. There's no replacement for good hands on training but this will get you a long way towards understanding the hybrid systems on the roads today! Check out our Courses Page for more details!
ACDC has added more hybrid component classes as well as manufacturer specific training, Many Fleets may have only one type, such as only Ford Escape HEV so ACDC is ready for whatever your hybrid education needs are.
Theresa is running our office in Worcester and is here to help, Tuesday through Friday. Deb is still here and you will talk to her often, but is working less hours at ACDC to pursue a life outside of hybrids such as remodeling out house (we are empty nesters now), working in the garden, volunteer more and visits with her friends. Deb also travels with me but only if it is a place she really wants to visit :).
The hybrid part of ACDC is now over ten years old with our first class taught in March of 2000. In 10 years ACDC has brought Craig all over the world teaching classes.
We are now accepting enrollments for Up Your Voltage! October 21-25, 2010
Call Deb at 508 400 4656 for details or to sign up. No it's not too early! Don't wait and miss out.
Hybrids are popping up everywhere and ACDC is now helping other trainers learn from us so that everyone can get on board. There are 1,950,000 is the USA. 2.6 million world wide .Toyota just sold their 200,000 hybrid in Europe as of September 2009.
Did you know that the same parts that make a hybrid work are found on EV cars as well. C02 regulations are going to happen, 35.5 mpg average is now law by 2016 so most OEMs are seeing the wisdom of hybrid systems. ACDC is here to help you get into the Hybrid repair business.
Our Classes for 2010 are filling up so check them out. ACDC is as busy as ever.
Our thanks to all those of you that support ACDC. ACDC also provides OBDII, Electrical, Honda / Acura classes, AMI management classes and more
Below Are some notes received from ACDC students:
"Craig
I wanted to let you know that Up Your Voltage was top-notch training. I attend a lot of training and I can honestly say that your class is the best I have ever attended. The thing that impressed me the most was the organization of it all. Everything I needed was at that hotel. I didn’t have to go anywhere for meals or travel anywhere for the training sessions. I didn’t even spend any money while I was there! Craig delivered invaluable, intense, hands-on training which was a welcome relief from some of the watered-down training that is so popular in our industry today. So I thank you for a great learning experience. Thank you for all the hard work in keeping us all content with food, shelter and everyday needs. Thank you for the dedication you both have to not only the automotive industry but to the people you take in at your classes. Sincerely, Dave Hauck"
Hal Lewis September 2, 2010 at 7:23am
"Craig. We now service over 30 Hybrids on a regular basis thanks to YOU giving us the courage to do it, we haven't encountered major problems with any BUT normal maintenance still pays off. You should check out the Solar LED Innovations company I am VP of Sales/product developement. I will retire out of the Auto repair biz within the next 2 years, other interests are taking over."
Don’t forget to remember how fortunate you are if you have a home and a family. Check out FAAT CATS. 560,000 US foster kids are not with their families because it is not safe to be there.
Hope to see you in class soon,
09/01/10