By the end of March, at least one technician from all 52 of Northgate's workshops will have completed an IMI Level 3 TechSafe EV course. A further 300 technicians, workshop managers, and controllers from Northgate will complete the course over the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, Northgate's Online Learning and Development Academy will run online EV awareness modules, equivalent to IMI Level 1, aimed at around 1,400 non-technical staff across the business. On the apprenticeship front, Northgate is also looking to offer more apprenticeships, which include training on EVs.

The news comes as the IMI warns that a skills shortage within EVs threatens progress on the government's Green Plan. Steve Scofield, Head of Business Development at the IMI said: "It is tremendously exciting to see that Northgate is making such a serious commitment to the EV training of its people. The IMI has made no secret of our concern that EV training has not been prioritised to date; analysis at the end of 2020 suggested that just 5% of the technicians working in garages and dealerships are appropriately qualified to work on these vehicles. The scale of the Northgate commitment should, therefore, send a strong signal to the automotive sector as a whole that now is the time to get their workforce EV-ready.”

Northgate’s UK Head of Workshop Operations Steve Coble added: "We're proud to be providing significant training on EVs – above mandatory standards. In addition, we're introducing new infrastructure and tooling, servicing for EVs as well as OEH models, and flexible rental packages on all vehicles.”