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134 U.S. BATTERY INDUSTRY FOR ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES
Panel V
Building the Battery Workforce
Moderator:
Bill Harris
Science Foundation Arizona
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. deserves a lot of credit, said
Mr. Harris, who prior to Science Foundation Arizona directed Science
Foundation Ireland and served at the National Science Foundation for 18 years.
"Looking at this from a distance, what you all are doing and what this state is
doing is impressive," Mr. Harris said. "What we have to figure out as a country
is how to seriously work together to build these capacities and build this future.
Otherwise, we will struggle going forward."
Previous panels discussed political and industrial leadership, Mr. Harris
noted. This panel addressed the workforce needed for an advanced battery
industry. "One of the key aspects of the process is the 21st century workforce,"
he said. "And I think everyone here knows the country is struggling with a K-12
education system that is weak."
The U.S. used to lead the world in producing people with advanced degrees,
Mr. Harris noted. It also "used to be thought of as the best engineering country
in the world," he said. "Now we wonder across the country whether our kids can
add and subtract."
This panel features a company that deals with workforce issues and a
professor who deals with the production of students, Mr. Harris explained.
"Hopefully, we can engage in a conversation about whether these things are
matching up properly," he said.
The first speaker was Robert Kamischke, the chief financial officer and
chief information officer of lithium-ion battery storage systems manufacturer
EnerDel. One thing he liked about Mr. Kamischke's background, Mr. Harris
said, is that he was an executive of General Motors' EV1 electric car program in
the 1990s. "Years ago, I had the privilege of driving that little car, liking it a lot,
reading the book about it, and seeing it towed away," Mr. Harris said. He said he
hoped Mr. Kamishcke will be able to comment on whether the U.S. electric-
vehicle program is now on the right track and about the workforce.
The next speaker, Simon Ng, "has a whole list of titles," Mr. Harris said,
"but I think the one he probably likes best is distinguished faculty fellow and
professor of chemical engineering and material science." At Wayne State
University, Mr. Ng also is director of alternative energy technology, director of
a national bio-fuels energy laboratory, and interim associate dean for research.
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WORKFORCE NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Robert Kamischke
EnerDel
Mr. Kamischke noted that this is his "second time around" in the movement
to electrify the transportation sector. "When the opportunity came to join again,
I asked myself why I would do that," he said. "I felt it was compelling that we
should work toward energy independence for our nation. Secondly, I was very
interested in helping create a sustainable manufacturing base for our country."
EnerDel is more than just an advanced battery manufacturer, Mr.
Kamischke said. EnerDel is "a complete lithium-ion solutions provider," he
explained. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of Ener1. Its other
subsidiaries are EnerFuel, a developer of low-temperature proton exchange
membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and NanoEner, which develops processes for
applying active materials on electrodes.
The company's key partners include the Department of Defense, the Energy
Systems Network based in Indianapolis, Argonne National Laboratory, Purdue
University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the U.S. Advanced Battery
Consortium, and Japan's Itochu. EnerDel supplies customers in consumer
electronics, transportation, industry, power-generation, and the military, he
explained. They include Nissan, Volvo, TARDEC, AC Transit, Think
Automotive, and Portland General Electric.
EnerDel has built the first commercial high-volume cell fabrication plant in
the United States, Mr. Kamischke said, thanks in part to $118.5 million in
federal money through the Recovery Act. The plant was set to open in the fourth
quarter of 2010. In November 2009, it was awarded a contract by TARDEC to
work on the Humvee. It began commercial production of battery-pack systems
for Think Automotive in May 2010.
Success in vehicle electrification will have important benefits for the U.S.,
Mr. Kamischke said. He noted that the transportation sector accounts for 70
percent of the U.S. trade deficit. Light-duty vehicles represent 40 percent of
annual U.S. oil consumption, which is about 25 percent of the U.S. trade deficit.
"The U.S. is not the only country that imports more oil than it produces," he
pointed out. "China imports more than 52 percent of the oil it uses, and you can
see the urgency with which they are moving toward electrification of their
transportation sector to mitigate that." Oil price volatility is another problem for
the U.S. If one compares oil prices to electricity prices, oil is seven times more
volatile, Mr. Kamischke noted.
EnerDel is "very appreciative" of what the U.S. and European governments
have done to support vehicle electrification, he said. The company is selling the
first auto applications of its batteries in Europe to Think Automotive. That
Swedish company soon plans to assemble its electric vehicles in the U.S.
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136 U.S. BATTERY INDUSTRY FOR ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES
The workforce needs of the advanced battery industry vary across the
supply chain. In electrode manufacturing, skilled workers are needed for the
mixing, coating, calendaring, and slip-punch processes, Mr. Kamischke
explained. To make cells, they are needed for the dry room, electrode-stacking,
assembly, and formation processes. Skilled workers also are required for pack
assembly and testing. The training and education requirements for
manufacturing positions range "all the way from high-school degrees to Ph.
Ds.," he said.
Engineers will require four-year degrees, while some working in areas such
as advanced materials, chemicals, modeling, and simulation will need advanced
degrees, he said. The company also will need engineers to design electrical
circuits, mechanical systems, and software to run the systems. The U.S. skills
gap mainly is with advanced-material and chemical engineers, he said.
Most of EnerDel's workforce, however, will be in "middle-skill"
operations work, Mr. Kamischke said. The ratio of middle-skill to high-skill
workers, in fact, is around five-to-one. In some of the more demanding
manufacturing processes, such as with cell and electrode fabrication, EnerDel
will look for workers with two-year applied sciences degrees. "They will be
focused on the industrial technology path, advanced manufacturing, or
engineering technology," he said.
Demand for "middle skill" workers may exceed supply. Currently, 56
percent of demand for workers in Indiana falls in this category. This ratio is
likely to remain stable through 2016, Mr. Kamischke said. However, only 45
percent of Indiana's workforce qualifies as "middle skill."33 "We have demand
for those jobs outstripping the workers," he said. "This is one area of
concentration EnerDel is working to solve with the state of Indiana and our
educational institutes."
Compared to the rest of the nation, Indiana has a relatively low
percentage--less than 40 percent--of adults aged 25 to 64 who have at least an
associate's degree, Mr. Kamischke said. Indiana ranks ahead of only West
Virginia, Louisiana, Nevada, and Tennessee. 34
An innovative Indiana community college called Ivy Tech is working to
resolve this gap. Ivy Tech has 23 campuses across the state and 130,000 students.
"As we see it, Ivy Tech will be part of the backbone of building this emerging
middle work force for the renewables age," Mr. Kamischke said. "They are
proactively teaming up with industry to create the workforce to meet this new
demand." The school offers an associate's degree in applied science, for
example, with focuses on industrial technology, advanced manufacturing, and
engineering technology.
33
Data from Indiana Department of Workforce Development and U.S. Census Bureau.
34
Data from Indiana Cluster Skills Labor Market Monster Study.
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PROCEEDINGS 137
Indiana Jobs and Workers by Skill Level, 2007
24%
High-Skill 29%
57%
Middle-Skill 45%
19%
Low-Skill 26% Jobs
Workers
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Percent
SOURCES: Indiana Department of Workforce Development & U.S. Bureau of the Census.
FIGURE 13 Supply and demand for middle skill jobs.
SOURCE: Robert Kamischke, Presentation at July 26-27, 2010 National
Academies Symposium on "Building the U.S. Battery Industry for Electric
Drive Vehicles: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities."
Ivy Tech also is offers new degree concentrations for emerging industries.
Indiana has one of the largest wind farms east of the Mississippi, for example,
located off I-65 near Chicago, Mr. Kamischke noted. So Ivy Tech and the state
are setting up degree programs in electric-line construction, power-plant
technology, natural-gas technology, utility-scale wind turbines, and home-
integration technology for auditing residences and tailoring solutions to save
energy and reduce cost.
For the transportation sector, Ivy Tech is establishing curricula for electric
vehicles, recycling, and first-responder training. A DOE grant helped fund this
effort, he said. Ivy Tech also is working to develop a nationally recognized
certificate for electric transportation technicians. There also will be a need for
specialists in reusing and recycling batteries for other uses. Mr. Kamischke
noted that there will be many more batteries than vehicles on the road as
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138 U.S. BATTERY INDUSTRY FOR ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES
electrification expands. "There is going to be a need to refurbish and rehab that
battery pack for another vehicle or grid application," he said.
Such training efforts are needed to keep America competitive, Mr.
Kamischke said. "As other nations explore green-technology solutions, America
must focus on broadening our education opportunities for young adults in
science and manufacturing technology," he said. Continued investment in
advanced transportation technologies will create "a rare surplus of jobs in many
regions," Mr. Kamischke said. Therefore, state and federal governments should
focus on middle-skill jobs.
TECHNICAL TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Simon Ng
Wayne State University
Dr. Ng opened the session by stating that Michigan's need to train a
highly skilled workforce is obvious. When electric-drive vehicles reach 5
percent to 10 percent of the market, "just imagine the number of skilled workers
we will need to fill those jobs," he said. He also stated a need to re-train other
workers in the auto industry so they will understand how to transition from an
internal combustion engine to a battery and electric-motor system In addition to
automakers, many battery manufacturers are coming to Michigan and they too
will need many skilled workers to produce millions of battery packs.
Wayne State is developing a comprehensive set of degree programs
aimed at filling anticipated needs for electric-drive technology and batteries. The
collaboration with Macomb County Community College and NextEnergy35 is
one of three funded by the DOE in Michigan. Guidance for this program is
critical, and so the advisory board for Wayne State's program includes
executives from GM, Ford Motor, DTE, TARDEC, AVL, and Compact Power,
among others.
The program's mission is very straightforward. "We want to design a
program so that we can prepare our current and future workforce with the
education and skills necessary for the advancement and maintenance of electric-
drive vehicles," stated Dr. Ng. Wayne State dubs its program E3, which stands
for electrification, economy, and education; it is about electrifying the economy
and educating the workforce
Wayne State's offerings include a master's degree in electric-drive vehicle
engineering and a bachelor's in electric transportation, Dr. Ng explained. It also
offers is an undergraduate concentration and graduate certificate in electric-
35
Next Energy, launched in 2002, is a nonprofit organization based in Detroit dedicated to bringing
promising technologies to maturity accelerating commercialization and scale production. It manages
research projects in power-generation, transportation, and fuel technologies.
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PROCEEDINGS 139
vehicle engineering. Many technician-level operators also are needed and
Wayne State's partner, Macomb Community College, offers an associate degree
program in automotive technology and electronic engineering technology.
To design the curriculum, Wayne State relied on input from the electric-
vehicle industry and OEMs. It also studied best practices in electric vehicle-
related curricula from around the world. Dr. Ng recently visited key Chinese
universities and noted that China is putting a tremendous amount of investment
in industry and universities. It became apparent that, in looking at their
universities and infrastructure, China is determined to train and prepare their
workforce for the electric-vehicle industry. Dr. Ng noted that the Obama
administration recognized the importance of workforce development and
invested in higher education in developing electric vehicle education programs.
Without this investment, the U.S. might otherwise lose its leadership position in
the critical electric vehicle industry.
After obtaining initial data, the next step was to design a cohesive set of
graduate, undergraduate, and technician-level courses. Making sure all courses
contain interactive laboratory modules was another priority. "After all," Dr. Ng
stated, "we are engineers. We learn by doing things."
The degree programs are being implemented with synchronous and
asynchronous web-based distance-learning technology, with the anticipation that
they will have a national impact on educational programs. The curriculum will
be validated by industry, with the expectation that the degree programs will
become accredited at some future date.
One objective of the program is that it be comprehensive. "As you all
know," stated Dr. Ng, "the electric-drive itself is not just electrical engineering.
It is not just mechanical or chemical. We wanted to pull all of these resources
together so we involved faculty from electrical, chemical, mechanical, industrial,
and alternative-energy technology to make sure we have a comprehensive
approach to the curriculum."
A second objective is to be industry-oriented. The university hosted a
workshop with a number of companies to learn what they need for their
workforce. In addition, to make sure students have real-life laboratory
experience, the program is working with companies to use their laboratories for
practice and experiments.
Another objective is to have a broad impact. Therefore, it addresses every
level, using a system known as "two plus two plus two." That means a two-year
associate's degree, two years of engineering technology, and two years of
master's level curriculum, Dr. Ng explained.
Eventually, the program will be translated for distance learning. The school
is considering several strategies so that distant-learning students can also gain
lab experience. One strategy is to develop simulations that can run experiments.
Remote control is another approach. "Online students can be in Texas," he said.
"But they can remotely control the instrumentation and actually run the
experiment and analyze results." Wayne State also may require distant students
to come to campus one week per semester to focus on experimentation.
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140 U.S. BATTERY INDUSTRY FOR ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES
The master's in electric-drive vehicle engineering program consists of 32
credit hours. There are thesis and non-thesis tracks. Some workers, however,
may not have the time or energy to pursue a complete master's degree. For them,
Wayne States offers a graduate certificate program. The certificate requires 12
credit hours, which is equivalent to three courses. "Essentially, they can work
and take courses at night so that after a year or so they can receive a graduate
certificate," he explained. The bachelor's program has 64 credit hours for the
third and fourth years.
The electric vehicle-engineering program was launched at the beginning of
2010. It formed an advisory board and launched a Web site in April 2010. All of
the degree programs have now been approved by the university, so that the
program can begin courses in the fall of 2010, Dr. Ng said.
The E3 workshop conducted by Wayne State drew about 120 attendees,
with representatives from 12 universities and community colleges and some 30
companies, Dr. Ng noted. The workshop had three tracks--batteries, vehicle
integration, and infrastructure. One clear message from industry for the battery
curriculum was that it is necessary to have a fundamental course on
electrochemistry. "The way they look at it, you really have to have a system
engineering approach, but get down to the molecular level," Dr. Ng said. "Then
there is the cell level, the pack level, then the system level." Battery recycling
and manufacturing were other major needs cited by industry representatives.
A number of new laboratories are being developed for the electric-
vehicle program. The energy-storage laboratory is separated into three levels, Dr.
Ng explained. Cell fabrication is more at the molecular level. Students learn how
to make new materials, as well as how to make cathodes and anodes and how to
put a cell together. The next level is to learn to characterize cells and learn
different techniques to study subjects like thermal management. Students also
study characterization of battery packs and modules in order to prepare them for
potentially working for Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, having considerable
experience in testing battery packs.
A second laboratory is dedicated to electric propulsion, where various
vehicle drive cycles can be studied. Braking, acceleration, and electronic
controls can be simulated for different kinds of hardware and systems. The lab
will enable students to engage in hands-on learning and to understand different
issues of integrating the vehicles. A third lab allows for experimentation with
electronic controls and studying interactions between batteries and electric
motors.
The fall 2010 curriculum includes courses on the fundamentals of
electric-drive vehicles and battery and battery systems. In infrastructure, there
are courses on power electronics and vehicle-charging infrastructure. There are
modeling courses for electric vehicles and power trains, as well as courses on
design, production, and infrastructure development. A course on energy
economics and policy will provide students with a comprehensive understanding
of the impact of energy and policy on the development of electric vehicles. An
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PROCEEDINGS 141
advanced course on material sciences for batteries is being taught by an expert
from General Motors. There also are advanced topics in electric vehicle-control
optimization, embedded systems, thermal management, and hydrogen
production and storage.
