Auto Career Development Center

We are back from NC and dropped off our newly created ACDC classroom on wheels as we get ready for Up Your Voltage! XXVI. It is a new addition and will be used at many classes so that technicians can get a better a feel for the hybrid and EV parts. It seats 4 with plenty of space for our tools, scanners, laptops and cut away parts.

Craig Van Batenburg

The trip to Montreal to help fix a crashed VOLT was moved to April due to illness of my host up North.  Then off to Cincinnati, Ohio for more classes. Back home, some Webinars, lots of time finishing our 2012 Hybrid / EV Service and Technology Book.  Darcy, my sister, is the new editor and is doing a great job making it much more readable.

2011 was a great year for ACDC. We ended the year with our second best sales since ACDC was created over 12 years ago.

But most importantly our family is healthy. Deb and I are grandparents and love the kids. Our two sons continue to learn and grow.

Best to all of you in 2012.

LAST CLASS OF 2011 TORONTO

Happy Holidays,

It is the time of year to take stock in our priorities while we prepare for Christmas or just enjoy the Holiday Season. Deb and I just returned from Canada and have finished our classes in the Canary Islands, Las Vegas, the West Coast of the USA and our usual combination of work and fun. Winter is here and the company Prius II is waiting in SF for my return. The VOLT just got out of the body shop after a deer committed suicide on the right rear door and it did not burst into flames! 2011 was a busy year for us. As the world sees the benefits of changing our fleet from oil burning to wind, solor, or water powered mobility everyone is winning. We will still need liquid fuel for decades to come but why burn it when many trips can be made in a Volt or a Leaf? Hybrids cars will also be here as long as we use any liquid that costs over 3 dollars a gallon as the hybrid system saves you money. If your job requires you to know how hybrids or EVs work ACDC can help in that area.

So 2011 is almost over. Make sure you watch “The Revenge of the Electric Car”.  Take the time to write down your goals for 2012. Keep your chin up and look for creative ways to grow your business.

November is always a busy month for anyone is the Automotive business. It is Industry week and lots of buiness to do. You will find Deb and I in Vegas the first week and then Deb heads back to the office / home in Worcester (that is pronounced Woos’ta) in the beautiful State of Massachusetts.

Keep in mind that the fall colors here are like no other place and we are planning classes in the Berkshire Mountains in the fall of 2012. Stay tuned for those anouncements.

I will drive the ACDC Prius up to San Francisco and after 3 weeks of HYBRID/ EV Classes I will have a chance to see my brother, Clay, and his family. We may get to the SF Auto Show as I hear it will be in town.

I am often asked if I get tired of traveling so much. The short answer is NO, but the reason is I am so well supported at home.  Deb does a great job of making it all work.

And lastly ACDC is a big supporter of Foster Care Adoption.  Both of our sons (Mike and Will, age 20 and 26) were in foster homes before they became Van Batenburg’s. Please remember the plight of these often forgotten kids.  Tune into “Home for the Holidays” around Dec 20th or so. It is an annual show that will explain more about what you can do to help.

This month is the crazy one.  When it is over I will have flown over 16,000 miles and been coast to coast in America with a trip thrown in to the Canary Islands. Did you know that Hybrids and Electric cars are sold in over 100 countries.  ACDC now has a very busy International business. 37% of sales this year in outside the US. Good thing Deb and I are happy travelers. The people at our Church wonder if I really exist or is Deb making up stories.

I start the month in LA with classes ending up in Las Vegas. That is where I leave the Gen II ACDC Prius after I teach a class there. Then fly home and grab my wife and off to Madrid and the Canary Island. This is a convention of Swedish and Norwegian shops owners and techs. I visited some of them last June in Oslo.

Once Deb and I get back it is a short turn around and back to Las Vegas for Industry week that will include work for APRA, AAPEX, and working the booths for Midtronics, SupercooL and Magid Glove.  Deb and I love Vegas and always enjoy our time there.

It is September and things are moving faster again.  Years ago (1999 – 2006) I taught an 80 hour class for my Home State called First and Edge. I met a 30 something tech / co-op shop owner named David Weber. I called him “Bio-diesel Dave” as he drove to class (some 60 miles each way) in a vegetable powered VW. Well now Bio-Diesel Dave calls me out of the blue and tells me he is an attourney. I was shocked and in need of one. Do you have an attorney that is also a Master Technician with L1?  Now I have some bragging rights.

Also ACDC is heading off to NH and Maine in the ACDC VOLT to teach our 8 hour class. Some more time in West Hawley, play with my PICO scope, scan the VOLT to see when it moved into MODE 4. All that important stuff that keeps me out of trouble.

September is also IMPA (International Motor Press Association) TEST DAYS. It is IMPA’s 50th year and this year we are heading to a private race track to drive cars fast and legal. What fun. Deb will be going with me.

ALT Wheels in Boston will take place as well and ACDC is going to learn more about HD hybrids and fleets. Things change a lot. We will also display our VOLT and let attendees take a spin.

At the end of the month you will find me in South Gate, CA. at VTS, a Spanish speaking school holding court with techs teaching  a new class we call High Voltage. 4 nights and a day long on Saturday. Julio Cardoza is the owner.  I will be on the West coast for two plus weeks.

August was a great month for ACDC as we offer our first WHAHT (West Hawley Advanced Hybrid Training) class. After class we all agreed it was as good as Up Your Voltage! (UYV) so we renamed it UYV XXIV.  It included all the classes, drinks, breakfast and lunch, snacks, cigars, 7 nights at a great retreat center, their own hybrid and the transportation to and from the airport, all power point training  materials on CD, the ACDC 2010 Hybrid manual, use of shop equipment, and an ACDC Master Hybrid Qualification Certificate  (if they passed the written test). The best part was the Deb inspired ACDC hospitality.

Also in August we cleaned the ACDC offices and I found some cool books I misplaced about the Honda Motor Company and took the rime to drink some great beer, read a little and smoke cigars with Chris Horton and relax. I was home for a solid 6 weeks (the longest stretch since 2004).

A letter from the CEO,

Dear Shop Owner, College Roommate, Teacher, Battery Engineer, Hybrid Owner, A/C Tech, Auto Tech, Body Shop Tech, Friend, Student, Fireman, VOLT technician, European Students, Salvage Yard Tech, European U.S. Air Force Base Trainer, Tow Truck Driver, Dude, Taxi Cab Driver, BMW Tech, Former Marine, U.S. Postal Tech, Dutch Auto Instructor, Web Surfer, Relative, VW Mechanic, Tool Truck Salesman, Old High School Buddy, EV driver, Transmission Specialist, Auction House, President Obama, Spy, Hippie, Adoptive Parents, etc.

I am home and heading back to Texas to pick up the Prius and head off to the West Coast. I have just wrapped up classes in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and Texas. Over 120 techs and educators have a good working knowledge of hybrids so far on our USA tour. ACDC is booked and the first EVs are in the hands of real people. I just drove a LEAF and Nissan is doing a great job at educating the masses. There is a lot of work to do to get EV’s in the hands of people that can use them. As the world sees the benefits of changing our fleet from oil burning to wind powered mobility everyone is winning. We will still need liquid fuel for decades to come but why burn it when many trips can be made in a Volt or a Leaf? Hybrids cars will also be here as long as we use any liquid that costs over 3 dollars a gallon as the hybrid system saves you money. If your job requires you to know how hybrids or EVs work ACDC can help in that area.

This is what a student had to say recently;

Last Saturday – May 14, 2011 – in Huntington Beach, California: I got clarity. I got a comprehensive overview of Hybrid and EV vehicles. The book which came with the class will keep me busy reading and learning for some time to come. And I enjoyed spending time with Craig. I felt like the kid waiting to visit with Santa Claus: when he’s finally sitting on Santa’s lap — he had so much to ask – he didn’t know where to start! That won’t happen to me when I attend Up your Voltage!

Greg Czopek

Take some time to look over our web site.

Craig Van Batenburg, CEO