EV Lowrider Conversion Project
Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy (SAVA) has launched the first EV Lowrider conversion project, which will innovate traditional lowrider equipment and promote the development of a new EV pathway within SAVA's transportation career pathway department.This groundbreaking project will be built by students in an underserved community, with guidance from academic, private, and public sector partners including SMUD, Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District, Sacramento Lowrider Commision, Ohm Electric Cars and the California Automobile Museum. The lowrider car is a strategic component of this project. It has strong cultural significance to the Sacramento Hispanic community, and will be used as a culturally relevant learning tool to promote clean energy jobs and vehicles to an underrepresented community.
Annually, over 200 students take classes within this Transportation sector across the SAVA consortium, which includes three schools throughout the Sacramento region. Developing an EV pathway will help create the green workforce pipeline needed to reach California’s clean energy goals.
As California leads the zero carbon effort by banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, we must ensure that electric vehicles become mainstream and accessible to all. The transition to zero emission requires clean energy investments, infrastructure upgrades and will drastically increase demand for skilled workers in clean energy fields.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) also plans to eliminate carbon emissions in their power supply by 2030. To achieve these goals, there is a need for skilled workers in clean energy fields.
This project will help meet the need by increasing the number of students ready to enter the workforce or post-secondary training programs in the clean energy field. The SAVA consortium and collaborating partners will create a unique opportunity to help bolster the clean energy workforce, help eliminate barriers within underserved communities in the transition to zero-emission technology, and ensure the next generation of the clean energy workforce is as diverse as the communities they serve.
