Weekly Update

_{In Kansas, Panasonic and two community colleges scaled up training fast. But jobs in the electrical vehicle industry are less certain than before Trump took office. Credit: Zac Clingenpeel for The Hechinger Report}

Colleges partnered with an EV battery factory to train students and ignite the economy. Trump’s clean energy war complicates their plans

Apprenticeship programs like this one have been heralded as the future of workforce development. Born out of partnerships between industry and community colleges, these short-term programs offer credentials closely aligned with employer needs and are often referred to as the pathway to high-skill, high-demand, high-wage jobs. In this case, Panasonic and two Kansas colleges created theirs in a matter of months, adapting an existing curriculum to meet factory demand.

“We’re helping them build their workforce from the very beginning,” said Greg Mosier, president of Kansas City Kansas Community College, or KCKCC.

During the Biden administration, the federal government invested billions of dollars to help build and expand domestic electric vehicle and battery production. Bipartisan federal legislation jump-started economic growth in the clean energy sector, which was part of a broader effort to boost U.S. competitiveness as well as offset the effects of climate change. This unprecedented commitment also spurred private investment, which rapidly transformed this industry and led to high demand for workers in these fields.

But the Trump administration has thrown this career pathway into uncertainty. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that scrapped a Biden administration goal that half of all new cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 be electric; called for the elimination of tax credits for the vehicles; and pushed to undo regulations around pollution and fuel economy standards. Trump also paused federal funding to build electric vehicle chargers, ordered thousands of stations disconnected at government sites and tried to freeze spending on clean energy projects.

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📣 Listen up

Episode 3 of season 4 of College Uncovered, a podcast from The Hechinger Report and GBH News, is out now. 

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