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The increasing skills gaps in the vehicle mobility ecosystem, particularly in repair and maintenance, have shaped our organisational training programmes and support.

There are increasing skills gaps in the electric vehicle mobility ecosystem, particularly in repair and maintenance. The need to remain at the forefront of advancing automotive technology has shaped our organisational training programmes, with vocational training and instruction programmes becoming increasingly essential to service and repair complex vehicles.

In the UK, we have 2 technical training centres located in Milton Keynes and Goole. Both centres have Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) approved training status and can design, develop, and deliver accredited IMI technical training to our operational teams. We continue to invest in these facilities, having installed Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) calibration equipment in Goole to train vehicle repair technicians and created a dedicated EV training room.

In FY24, these training centres conducted 1,754 days of technical training to help our technicians develop their skills and knowledge. 2,923 people completed EV Awareness eLearning training.

This year, 175 technicians were trained to level 3 in IMI Electric/Hybrid vehicles across the UK, bringing Northgate’s total number of technicians to 95%.

As the percentage of EVs on the road continues to grow, we will increase the deployment level 4 training across the organisation, enabling our technicians to work on live electric/hybrid vehicle high-voltage systems and components.

We continue to advance our organisational-wide technical capabilities, undertaking structural aluminium vehicle repair training and educating our technical teams on hydrogen fuel technologies.

The development of our technicians has been the driving factor in attaining IMI accredited status and having our training centre; we have continued to add further in-house courses over the last 12 months, such as Tail lift, which a 3rd party previously provided, we can now deliver this more efficiently with training bespoke to the ZIGUP group, We have also undertaken the training of our colleagues within the CSC, and they are receiving EV Level 1 training on-site, we are further expanding our offering to our customers, with a focus on EV1 for those taking electric vehicles.

Steve Coble
Northgate UK Head of Workshop Operations