Officials at St.Clair College are working to design new programs and develop research inivitatives as the school prepares to play a key role in supporting a new $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor.
The Director of Applied Research and Development at the college says they're going full force to plan and developing a new curriculum, addressing the talent and skills needed for battery manufacturing and the supporting industry.
Peter Wawrow says there is no blueprint for something like this, but they do have an idea and have targeted some speciality skills that are needed.
"Much more work has to go into this to understand the details. What are the specific learning skills that we need to teach at the college to address the needs of the industry," he says. "So while there's no blueprint, we have an idea of where we need to go, this is something we'll get better and better at over the next couple of years."
LG Energy Solution and Stellantis announced March 23 the joint venture to produce leading edge lithium-ion battery cells and modules to meet a significant portion of Stellantis’ vehicle production requirements in North America.
Wawrow says there are a lot of different components involved in battery technology, including chemistry, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.
"It's going to be very unique. I don't think there is one program that will address all of these needs, so we're looking at multiple different programs," he says.
St. Clair College and the University of Windsor were cited as key components in landing the plant by Invest WindsorEssex CEO, Stephen McKenzie.
Wawrow says he expects there will be a lot of engagement with the companies involved over the next few years, to understand what their needs are, so they can develop the curicullum and research projects.
"What we're going to see is new programs being launched, it will be a stagged process," he says. "We'll identify what the most important ones are first and launch those as quickly as possible. As the plant starts up, hopefully we'll have some graduates that are ready to go at the manufacturing facility."
Plant construction activities at the 220-acre site on Twins Oaks Drive near Banwell Road are scheduled to begin later this year, with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
The facility will be fully operational by 2025, employing 2,500 people.
In November 2021, the province announced Canada's first Automobility Hub at St. Clair College, designed to support and foster entrepreneurship and innovation in automobility.