The Battery Workforce Challenge Program on behalf of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Stellantis and the Argonne National Laboratory released the 12 universities and partnering vocational schools participating in the first-of-its-kind Battery Workforce Challenge collegiate competition.

The competition tasks the selected universities, along with their vocational partners, to design, build, test and integrate an advanced EV battery into a future Stellantis vehicle, which will be announced in early 2024. The three-year competition will culminate in 2026, with the winning teams receiving dozens of annual engineering and sponsor-related category awards; $100,000 in industry-provided prize money; and employment, collaboration and networking opportunities with industry leaders.

The competition is part of the broader Battery Workforce Challenge Program, which also includes regional training with vocational and community colleges; youth education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and an online tool for career and technical education. The program said it is dedicated to cultivating a diverse cohort of skilled engineers, technicians and workers to propel domestic battery technology forward.

The universities and vocational partners selected for the Battery Workforce Challenge are:  

• California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California) and Cerritos College (Norwalk, California);
• Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina) and Greenville Technical College (Greenville, South Carolina);
• Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colorado) and Arapahoe Community College (Littleton, Colorado);
• Jackson State University (Jackson, Mississippi) and Hinds Community College (Utica, Mississippi);
• McMaster University and Mohawk College (Ontario, Canada);
• The Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College (Columbus, Ohio);
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Ivy Tech Community College (Terre Haute, Indiana);
• University of Alabama and Shelton State Community College (Tuscaloosa, Alabama);
• University of California, Merced and Merced College (Merced, California);
• University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford College (Dearborn, Michigan);
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Nevada) and College of Southern Nevada (Clark County, Nevada);
• University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) and Lambton College: Lambton Energy Research Centre (Sarnia, Ontario, Canada).

Collegiate engineering teams participated in a competitive process to secure a spot in the elite competition. The participating students will receive firsthand experiential learning and will work in close partnership with industry experts to tackle one of the most relevant real-world engineering challenges facing the automotive industry today.

Additional organizations sponsoring the Battery Workforce Challenge include Our Next Energy, Dana Corporation, AVL and MathWorks.