Santa Ana College Auto Tech Students Installing Switch Lab EV Battery Pack
More than 400 schools have already integrated Switch Vehicles’ electric vehicle (EV) education into their STEM & CTE curriculum, providing students with hands-on, practical learning that engages them. Rather than theory alone, students learn real-world skills and understand how science, technology, engineering, and math work together without needing an automotive shop.
But one question educators ask regularly: how can you ensure student safety?
Students working with high-voltage systems can raise concerns and liability risks if something goes wrong. There may also be a knowledge gap, as most instructors were trained on internal combustion engine platforms, not electric vehicles. However, you don’t need to be an EV expert to teach EVs safely. You need the right systems, training and partner.
“Moving from internal combustion engines to electric platforms is causing a lot of people anxiety — the students, as well as technicians, and teachers, and auto manufacturers,” Automotive Instructor Brian Manley said. “We’re all in the same boat. But we have to embrace the future. And it’s here.”
EV Safety Starts with Design, Not Rules
At Switch Vehicle, we know that lectures and safety signs aren’t enough to keep students safe. So, we’ve designed a program that prioritizes safety at every step with physical safeguards built into the equipment and the tools you use:
Southeastern Illinois College student using PPE with Relay Lab Kit
- Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO₄) batteries: Considered the safest type of battery chemistry, they offer superior thermal and chemical stability and can be safely stored in enclosed spaces.
- Emergency Battery Disconnect: Each vehicle is equipped with an emergency disconnect button that effectively splits the battery pack in half, reducing a 96v system to a safer 48v in an instant.
- Manual Service Disconnect: An MSD is an OEM standard safety switch, allowing you to safely “break” high-voltage circuits and avoid potential arc flashes.
- Protected Design: Vehicles come standard with a powder-coated frame, which diminishes the chance of current leaving the chassis.
- Tools & Equipment: We provide a specially curated high voltage safety package that includes insulated tools, PPE, and safety hooks essential for student safety.
- Warning Labels: Each program includes electrical hazard stickers in various sizes to clearly mark areas where interaction with high voltage is possible.
Students will be building a drivable Switch Lab EV, so we’ve also designed our vehicle options with safety in mind during operation. Each EV is equipped with additional safety precautions, including:
- Throttle control: Configurable motor controller to limit the speed and acceleration of the vehicle as needed.
Teaching High Voltage Without Putting Students at Risk
Hands-on learning with EVs requires a high priority on safety first.
Switch Vehicles enables safe hands-on learning by starting with the low-voltage fundamentals. As lessons are learned, students move on to high-voltage concepts. Throughout the entire program, personal protective equipment (PPEs) keeps students safe during hands-on activities and labs.
By incorporating safety into each phase of EV instructional development, it becomes tangible, rather than just a poster on the wall. As students learn safety at each step, it becomes an ingrained habit.
Aligning Classroom Safety with Industry Standards: Why This Matters to Instructors
By applying industry standards taught during our instructor training workshop, you can safely teach your students the skills they need to complete the program. Our Curriculum focuses on general service facility safety, high-voltage electrical safety, specialty tools, circuit isolation, and first-responder practices.
You get the tools to teach industry standard best practices for workplace safety, real shop and lab procedures rather than simulations, and ASE xEV Level 1 & 2 safety competencies.
Automotive Service Excellence xEV Level 1 covers safety, hazard awareness, and emergency response. Level 2 covers safe practices for working around electric vehicles, including isolating electrical power, grounding, de-energizing, and working on high-voltage systems.
With this program, you’re keeping students safe and teaching them the same safety workflows they would see in the field. At the same time, you’re engaging students by showing them how classroom study turns into real-world applications. Your course may be the inspiration students need to pursue STEM or CTE careers in an emerging field.
xEV safety training materials also help prepare students for the ASE exam.
Built-In Structure That Supports Classroom Management
The Switch Vehicles program also addresses real-world classroom challenges, allowing you to build competence even when there are mixed experience levels and limited time for instructor oversight. Multiple students can work simultaneously.
Our Electric Vehicle Curriculum is a complete STEM and CTE curriculum and includes:
- 3 course lengths
- 25 EV textbooks (digital/print)
- Online resources for instructors
- Assembly manual (digital)
- Switch community access
- xEV exam training materials
Instructors can also add on courses, including the Fundamentals of Electricity and Soft Skills for the Workplace.
Safety features include:
- Clearly defined student roles
- Step-by-step lab progression
- Controlled access to high-voltage systems
-
Jurupa Valley HS student building battery packRepeatable, supervised procedures
This adds up to more productive lab time and fewer mistakes without requiring constant oversight and micromanagement.
“As a teacher, the (Switch Lab EV) is exactly what you want. To be able to just lay the foundations in the classroom and then get out here and just assign them a very complicated piece of a car, and then to just take the reins and go is exactly what you look for in a student,” STEM Teacher Joshua Fitkin said.
Why Instructors Trust Switch Vehicles for Classroom Safety
When you partner with Switch Vehicles for your hands-on EV course, you’re not left to figure this out on your own. You get step-by-step instruction and instructor training as part of the package, and community support when questions arise.
The Switch LabTM Workshops for Instructors
The Switch Lab™ also offers a workshop for instructors that walks you through the entire process, including safety procedures. This workshop is designed specifically for teachers across a variety of disciplines, including auto shop, engineering, physics, robotics, and more, providing:
- Comprehensive EV science and technology instruction
- Demonstration and lab projects
- Hands-on training by building a Switch EV
The 5-day Switch Lab workshop is available on location in Sebastopol, CA or Canton, MI to help instructors learn about high-voltage safety, so when they return to the classroom, they can transfer these safety skills to students. Safety training covers high voltage, low voltage, and general safety for:
- Battery packs and charging
- Battery balancing
- Contacts, relays, and circuits
- Controllers and control box assembly
- Wiring and lights
- Brakes
- Throttle mapping
- Troubleshooting
These kits are also reusable year after year, so you can rebuild your EV with each new class.
“It’s (Switch Lab EV) something they can see, touch and drive, then recreate,” Engineering Teacher Brad Gannon said. “That repeatability is what makes it such a powerful teaching tool.”
Contact Switch Vehicles today to learn more about safety in EV curricula, programs, and workshops.