Motlow-McMinnville Hosts Ride and Drive Event
April 10, 2025
Motlow-McMinnville is pleased to host the first Electric Vehicle Showcase event on April 22 and 23 from 9 am to 4 pm. This free event is made possible through a grant from the Drive Electric Tennessee Program and will allow anyone interested to ride or drive an electric vehicle.
Pictured, left to right: Larry Flatt, Executive Director of the Automation and Robotics Training Center; Ashley Argo, Enrollment and Admissions Counselor; and Richard Blackburn, Faculty Lead of the Electric Vehicle Engineering Technology program.
This event precedes the start of the Electric Vehicle Engineering Technology (EVET) program at Motlow State’s Automation and Robotics Training Center’s (ARTC). The program will train Motlow students how to operate, service, and construct electric vehicles and their charging stations. The College invites the public and interested students to enjoy this hands-on experience and become more familiar with electric vehicles so they can learn how electric vehicles have become safer and more sustainable than ever.
According to Jenni Kidd, Senior Project Manager of the East Tennessee Clean Fuels (ETCF) Coalition, “The East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and its affiliated Drive Electric Tennessee program were recently awarded funding through Electrify America's Cycle 4 Zero-Emission Vehicle Awareness and Education opportunity. We are excited to partner with Motlow State Community College on the Volunteer Electric Vehicle Experience (VEVE) project. VEVE focuses on bringing EV education and experiential EV learning opportunities to institutions of higher education across the state. Motlow's EV Showcase is being held as part of this project, and we can't wait to participate in this event with Motlow and the greater McMinnville community!"
ETCF has selected Motlow State as a partner in this initiative as the College is the second community college in Tennessee to offer an EVET degree program. The automotive industry is one of the most popular in the state of Tennessee, and mechanics with electric vehicle experience will become more necessary as production increases. Students who finish this program will know how to prepare vehicles that come off the line for sale, repair charging stations, and service car batteries. The program will have an emphasis on maintenance safety to ensure that students understand best practices when working on electric vehicles in order to prevent potential injuries.
Attendees can experience Nissan, Chevrolet, and Tesla vehicles as well as win prizes and learn more about the future of transportation and automobile manufacturing. To find out about the EVET Program, visit Motlow.edu/ev.