London South Bank Technical College will be the first college in England to train hundreds of students on five new City & Guilds Green Skills Apprenticeship courses covering electric vehicle charging installation skills to give them the skills they need to find work in the rapidly growing sector. The five new electrical vehicle charging apprenticeship courses will start in September 2023 and are part of a pilot programme funded by Shell.

The wider UK electric vehicle industry is growing rapidly ahead of the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol & diesel cars. Last year the UK government committed £1.6billion to expand the electrical vehicle charging point network to 300,000 public chargers by 2030, up 700% since 2022 when there were only 37,055 UK electric vehicle chargers.
But a City and Guilds report found nearly 65% of UK employers find it difficult to find qualified or competent electricians to install electric vehicle charge points and over 30% of electric vehicle charging installers learned the skills on-the-job, without formal training

The five new London South Bank Technical College Electrical Vehicle courses are:
1. City & Guilds Super-fast Electric Vehicle Charging Installation
For the first time in the UK, this pilot five-day course will be taught, training students from October 2023. The course leads students onto the ‘City & Guilds Award in the Installation and Maintenance of Largescale Electric Vehicle Charging Installations’ (Level 3)
2. City & Guilds Electric Vehicle Charging
This new course will train students in the skills they need to install commercial & domestic electric vehicle chargers from September 2023 (Level 3).
3. City & Guilds Retrofit Award
The new course will train students in sustainable Green Skills construction methods (Level 2)
4. City & Guilds Air Source Heat Pump Systems
The new course will train students to install and maintain heat pump systems (Level 3).
5. City & Guilds Solar Photovoltaic & Electrical Energy Storage System
The new course will train students to install energy storage systems (Level 3).

Wayne Wright, Principal of London South Bank Technical College, said,

“The electric vehicle industry is growing faster than most other UK sectors and our five new London South Bank Technical College courses will put our students at the front of the queue to find jobs installing electric vehicle chargers.

“Thanks to Shell’s kind equipment donation, our five new Apprenticeship courses will give hundreds of London South Bank Technical College students the skills and experience they need to build successful careers in the fast-growing electric vehicle charging sector.”