Last week, Augusta Technical College Automotive Technology program had an event called “Tesla Day” at its new facility at the Walton Way expansion site, which is about to be under construction.
ConsuLab, an automotive educational trainer manufacturer from Quebec, Canada, brought its state-of-the-art Tesla trainer, which is a Tesla Model 3 with the skin cut off and transparent panels covering the bits that made it work. I was on hand to do a training course for technicians.
The event was sponsored by Tesla Trainer, which features a Tesla Model 3 with the skin cut off and transparent panels covering the bits that made it work. I was on hand to do a training course for technicians, and we even had a Tesla Cyber Truck on hand for people to experience.
We also had over 60 first responders filter through to take part in a special class just for them. At one point there were five fire trucks in the parking lot, along with a few police cars.
I started planning this event a few months ago, gearing up to host a group of technicians looking to further their high voltage education.
These events are rare for a few reasons, mainly access to training materials and the fact that there are very few people capable of teaching the subject. Being a free training session helped with attendance, of course.
While planning, I spoke to my advisory board to let them know of our plans and with help with publicity.
One of my board members, Talon Bohannon, owner of Steel River Diesel, is also a fireman with the McDuffie County Fire Department. He immediately called me and said that we had to add our local first responders to the course. What a great idea!
A few hours before the technician event, we invited all first responders to Walton Way to see the ConsuLab trainer.
With the car being so dissected, you could see every high voltage cable and component. This is extremely helpful to the extrication teams that must cut injured drivers out of their cars. While these cars have safety systems in place to protect technicians, drivers, and responders, you can cut deep enough to bypass some of that protection.
While I am well versed in the technology and methods to repair Teslas, I knew I didn’t have the experience a seasoned fireman has with this sort of thing.
For the first responder portion, the class was led by Lt. Michael Palmer, who is a Fire Science Instructor with Augusta Tech and a longtime member of the Augusta Fire Department.
Over the course of a few hours, he took the entire fire science class of recruits and around 50 active firemen through the ins and outs of the Tesla Model 3.
They also got the first look at the Tesla Cyber Truck. The Cyber Truck was so new that they had no information on it, like the location of the rescue loops, which we finally discovered. Rescue loops are low voltage red wire loops about nine inches in length that when cut by responders deactivates all high voltage in the car.
The trainees also learned how to fight high voltage battery fires and keep them extinguished. I, along with the ConsuLab team, rambled off the high voltage components, airbag locations, and high voltage disconnects.
Like all new technology, electric vehicles can seem foreign and dangerous. The overblown news stories of catastrophic fires and entrapments are mostly rare events.
The key is education and training. I think every first responder that passed through our course picked something up that they can use later, maybe even to save a life or prevent injury.
Around 1.2 million high voltage vehicles were sold in 2023, and it is only a matter of time before an emergency makes training like this priceless. Local municipalities, departments, and even car manufacturers need to put a priority on training for these vehicles.
ConsuLab is talking to members of our community now to bring another course to the area, since many were working at the time and could not attend. They are doing this at no cost to the taxpayer, and I am grateful to them for the value they are adding to my community.
As for me, I will see you on the road!
