General Motors provided all-day hybrid and electric vehicle training to New York City mechanics on Feb. 1. The event provided training to 15 mechanics from seven different city agencies who are supporting the city’s 3,000+ electric and solar units, including more than 400 GM electric vehicles.

The training covered service and safety for maintaining hybrid and electric vehicle systems, and reviewed data bus networks on electric cars. Data bus networks are the serial data communication networks used by modern vehicles to allow multiple devices and computers to share information. Technicians must understand how these rapidly evolving communication networks work.

The city’s 1,333 mechanics and service workers will be adjusting to new maintenance, servicing, and crash management requirements. All this entails — battery management, crash protocols, charger servicing, and regenerative braking — will pose new dimensions for the city’s servicing professionals. City mechanics have met every challenge with sustainable fleet options, including biofuels, hybrids, natural gas, and early electric efforts, so management is confident this transition will be successful, according to the city’s fleet newsletter.

New York City currently operates 338 all-electric Bolts and 74 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) Volts. It also has 500 GM EV Bolts on order. GM is currently the city’s largest battery electric vehicle (BEV) supplier.