The TechMobility Podcast
Welcome to The TechMobility Podcast, your ultimate source for authentic insights, news, and perspectives at the nexus of mobility and technology. We're all about REAL FACTS, REAL OPINIONS, and REAL TALK! From personal privacy to space hotels, if it moves or moves you, we're discussing it! Our weekly episodes venture beyond the conventional, offering a unique, unfiltered take on the topics that matter. We're not afraid to color outside the lines, and we believe you'll appreciate our bold approach!
The TechMobility Podcast
Trees, Fuels, and Training: How Technology Reshapes Our Urban Landscape
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Take a thrilling journey through cutting-edge mobility innovations that are transforming how we power, live in, and learn about our world. Ken Chester dives deep into BYD's revolutionary EV charging technology that delivers 249 miles of range in just 5-10 minutes—a game-changing advancement that effectively eliminates one of the biggest barriers to electric vehicle adoption.
The landscape of EV development has dramatically shifted, with manufacturers like BYD offering sophisticated electric vehicles starting around $13,000 while achieving charging speeds comparable to refueling a gas vehicle. This represents the culmination of decades of battery innovation and massive industry investment, proving that the early friction points of EV ownership—charging speed, battery longevity, and affordability—are rapidly disappearing.
Beyond electrification, we explore the hidden inequities in our urban environments through tree coverage data across American cities. The stark contrast between leafy Atlanta (51.4% coverage) and desert Phoenix (8.5%) reveals how tree distribution impacts public health, environmental justice, and climate resilience. Trees aren't just beautiful—they're nature's air conditioners, lowering temperatures by 8-11 degrees and providing crucial first-line defense against urban pollution.
The conversation pivots to Brooklyn-based Airco's innovative approach to sustainable fuels, converting captured carbon dioxide into drop-in replacements for traditional aviation fuel. Unlike other alternative energy solutions, these synthetic fuels work with existing aircraft without expensive retrofitting—a critical advantage for an industry struggling to decarbonize.
Finally, we discover how virtual reality is solving technician shortages in rural America through Vehicles for Change's training program. This inspiring initiative brings high-quality technical education to underserved communities and formerly incarcerated individuals, creating pathways to well-paying careers while addressing critical workforce gaps.
Join the conversation by calling our hotline at 872-222-9793 or emailing talk@techmobilityshow—we'd love to hear your questions and insights about these transformative technologies reshaping our mobility landscape.
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Speaker 2:I'm Ken Chester On the docket which cities have the most trees? The gas station of the future. And virtual reality facilitates automotive technician training. To add your voice to the conversation, be it to ask a question, share an opinion or even suggest a topic for future discussion, call or text the TechMobility hotline, that number, 872-222-9793, or you can email the show directly if you prefer talk at techmobilityshow. If you prefer talk at techmobilityshow, and while you're at it, be sure to subscribe, like and follow us on social media, our YouTube channel and, for those of you that subscribe to Substack, you can find me there as well. Be sure to take a listen, take a look. I think you'll like what I've got out there From the Tech Mobility News Desk.
Speaker 2:I ran out of time last week and tried to introduce this topic and I promised you that I would bring it back and talk about it in more detail. If you didn't catch it. Last week I was talking about Japanese EV maker BYD. Ev maker BYD. Byd, 30 years ago, was a battery manufacturer, not even an EV battery manufacturer. They made batteries. That was their business. They have evolved to eclipse Tesla in a brutally hyper-aggressive market the Chinese market to be the largest manufacturer of EVs globally and they're doing it in a way that people don't have to settle for less, even though they're vehicles. You can buy A fairly sophisticated BYD EV sedan for right around $13,000 American 10 to 13 grand. The standard equipment in this vehicle would blow your mind. I mean a couple of the slogans more features for no more price and smart driving for all. More features for no more price and smart driving for all.
Speaker 2:What they're getting ready to do now is really a game changer. And even though they don't technically sell cars in the United States, they do in Canada, they do in Mexico. It is only a matter of time. It is only a matter of time because, honestly, in case you didn't know, byd does sell buses in the United States. So it's not like they're not here and it's not like they're not watching. They're introducing something they call their Super E platform. What's so super about it?
Speaker 2:They now claim that you can recharge one of their vehicles as fast as it takes to put in gas in a vehicle. You're down to five or ten minutes. How many miles you said in five to ten minutes, would you believe? Upwards of 249 miles to charge? Not in a half an hour, not in an hour, not in two, not in six, not in eight. I said five to ten minute tops.
Speaker 2:And no, this is not battery swapping. That's something that NIO is doing and their times are like that. But they're swapping whole batteries and they've built an infrastructure to allow that to happen, as well as vehicle design. This is not that. What BYD is saying. What BYD has done, what BYD has gone into their labs to produce, is the ability to recharge their own batteries, which they make themselves from a standard high-speed charger in five to ten minutes. Technology is there? The reason why I'm making a big deal about this, and I'm talking specifically to the naysayers, the EV naysayers. I'll never own an EV. Oh, my God, it catches fire. Oh, the batteries wear out. Oh, they're not guaranteed. Oh, they've got problems. People, people.
Speaker 2:When vehicles, when the motor vehicle first made its appearance over 120 years ago, you realize that the first vehicles on the road were electric. Because the gasoline vehicles of that time were deemed too dangerous that you had to hand start them. And until Boss Kettering invented the electric start standard on Cadillacs in 1911, you had a hand crank vehicle and many person broke an arm when the engine kicked back. They were dangerous, they were smelly, they were flammable. A self-respecting person, even an early adopter, would not fool with a gasoline-powered car of the early 1900s. So what happened? They made progress. They got reliable Electric start eliminated the risk of getting hurt. Gasoline as a fuel got more stable. The whole infrastructure. They built an entire infrastructure. Let's get our facts straight here. We have now come full circle in 100 years. Come full circle in 100 years.
Speaker 2:The issue now that we've talked about at length on this program takes too long to recharge an EV. The EV range is lousy and when you find a public charger it doesn't always work. And the final one, evs are expensive. What did I tell you? I explained that once traditional automobile manufacturers come into the marketplace and begin to scale for production meaning building facilities and building infrastructure to support the manufacture of hundreds of thousands of units they would do like they've always done they would turn their engineers loose to squeeze price, eliminate cost, go to cheaper materials, more stable materials, more long-lasting materials. The cost of EV batteries has been falling like a rock for the last 15 years and is at parity with gasoline. The average EV battery pack lasts 10 to 12 years, some even longer than that, and that is only the first life, they could be repurposed. Can your internal combustion engine, when it reaches 150, 175, 200,000 miles, be repurposed? Ev batteries can, at 80%. When they drop to 80%, while they're not suitable for motor vehicles anymore, they can be repurposed as standalone stationary energy storage systems and more.
Speaker 2:Byd is leading the charge, along with Lucid Air and others, to eliminate those friction points in EV ownership. Remember I told you we were waiting on the introduction of the Chevrolet Equinox Because I told you that the price of that vehicle would be comparable to my 2018 Equinox when it was new. In 2018, seven years ago. You can buy pretty close to that price. Mine went for $30,000. You could buy an Equinox back then as high as $40,000. You can buy a brand new Equinox EV for that today, not $140,000, not $70,000, not 70, not 80, less than 50., Configured right, even maybe less than 40. And this is just the beginning of the floodgates.
Speaker 2:The industry's pivoted towards hybrids for now because it makes the most sense, but I believe in time, because of all the things swirling and all the billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, that EVs, as they eliminate the friction points of ownership, will become even more attractive than hybrids in five years or less. Byd is leading that charge years or less. Byd is leading that charge. The sort of speed that BYD says it can deliver dwarfs even Tesla's superchargers, which will do 10 minutes and about 249 miles. Other rivals, like Mercedes-Benz' new entry-level CLA sedan EV can do a little bit better, maybe about 275 after 10 minutes. All I'm saying is this I said early on that 300-mile range will be the intermediate standard, that the ideal standard by the end of the decade will be 500 miles of range. And with where we're going and we talked about even Toyota with a 1,000-mile battery that they expect to have by the end of the decade that 600-mile EV battery in the next couple of years, that's Toyota. They're not taking any prisoners. Byd is one of several, but that's where we're going.
Speaker 2:The days of having to wait an hour to recharge Are over. But then again, if you're a certain age, you remember, remember dial-up internet, how long it took. We wouldn't stand for that now, but that was then. This is now. When it comes to neighborhoods, do trees matter? If so, which communities have them? We discuss next. This is now.
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Speaker 2:Social media is the main place to be these days, and we are no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Facebook videos, from my latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary of a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Facebook. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page. Social media is the place to be these days. We're no exception. I'm ken chester, the tech mobility show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week, shorter than a full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if We'll see you next time, so just how are we going to have more fun in the 90s Introducing the new 4x4 X90 from Suzuki? It's going to make the 90s a lot more fun.
Speaker 2:The X90 from Suzukiuki. Ask anyone wants one. See your local suzuki dealer. I bet if you watch this commercial today you would not recognize the little device that the driver was using to basically give off or dispense X90s. It was called a Pez dispenser. It was all the rage 30 years ago. It dispensed little candies and dispense dispensers were decorative and they were funny and silly and kind of 90s, very 90s. But it's one of those icons that unless you grew up during the time, you probably wouldn't recognize or even know what the benefit is. And they were saying is the XC90 dispenses fun just like the candy and you can have fun just like that. It was a quirky little vehicle. It very was Kind of an SUV convertible, sort of small, yeah, kind of tracks meets sports convertible. It was weird. They sold a few Suzuki X90.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about trees, shall we? They are amazing tools of nature, these biological wonders. They absorb carbon dioxide. They give off oxygen that we need to breathe. Think about that for a minute. They take the nasty stuff, they absorb it, they use it for something called photosynthesis and they give off oxygen. As a result, they shade our neighborhoods during the spring and summer, lowering temperatures by as much as 8 to 11 degrees. They absorb noise, reducing noise pollution and, depending on the season, they're pretty to look at. So what's not to love? We discuss which cities have trees in abundance. This is topic A. Let's talk about the lay of the land, shall we in the United States of America? And then we're going to fine-tune that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Obviously, the writer in this piece talked about an urban forest. We're talking about what's in cities, not so much what's in the countryside but what's in cities. And in preparing the article they leaned on researchers at the Arbor Day Foundation, the US Forest Service and a forestry consultancy Plant, it Geo, and together they mapped tree cover across all urban areas of the country using aerial imagery and artificial intelligence. Their computer model analyzes pattern and color shape and shadowing to detect tree crowns. First of all, no surprise when they show a map of the United States, they show significant tree coverage east of the Mississippi River. Okay, that makes sense. By the time you cross the Mississippi, you're in the Great Plains. Or if you go southwest, you're in the desert. Or if you cross the mountains, you're in the rocky shores of the Pacific, bounding the Pacific, whether it be California shores of the Pacific, bounding the Pacific, whether it be California, pacific, northwest, different, different, different. This is naturally occurring.
Speaker 2:But let's talk about specific neighborhoods. This is a fact and we've talked about this before. Depending on the city that you live, the more affluent neighborhoods tend to be leafier, tend to have more trees, tend to have more coverage. The poor neighborhoods, which abut industrial areas and business areas, where land is more value than the quality of living in those neighborhoods, don't have as many trees. So what's that mean? Just to give an idea of why this is a big deal Trees I mentioned shelter and they provide oxygen, which means they are the line of first defense in many urban areas in fighting pollution, smog, all that ugly stuff.
Speaker 2:If you are in a poor neighborhood with a lack of trees, then you have a higher incidence of the disease. They prove that Respiratory, that in the summertime, particularly now with climate change, where there is more extreme weather, that is more extreme more often. The climate's warming and if you're in one of those neighborhoods, it means that it does not cool at night because all that cement that was exposed and brick and everything maintained the heat and gave it off at night, keeping temperatures artificially high, as opposed to a neighborhood where you have grass and trees where that would fall and you can get some relief. Unfortunately, it is a sign of redlining, but let me give an idea, just to give an idea of when we talked about east of the country, where trees grow naturally wherever they find an opening Average tree cover. In Atlanta, georgia, which is one of the higher ones in the country, 51.4% of the city has tree cover. So what about, I don't know. Middle of the country, say Kansas City. And before I talk about Kansas City I want to back up because it says, traveling west, the natural landscape turns into the grasslands and cities begin to have fewer and fewer trees, meaning that if there's trees in your Midwestern town, the city made a point and a commitment to plant them. Again, priorities Look where the trees are being planted and look where they're not being planted. By comparison, in the upper Midwest Kansas City, still pretty good at 34.1% tree cover.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about the desert for a minute, because in a desert it's a whole different thing going on. Trees need moisture. Deserts don't have it. So the chance of growing a lush tree canopy and say Phoenix, not likely In the Southwest, where annual rainfall averages just 8 to 14 inches. Trees need almost year-round irrigation to survive, phoenix being a good example 8.5% tree cover. They don't have the infrastructure in any neighborhood in Phoenix to support a tree canopy. So what does that mean? It means that when it gets that hot in summertime in Phoenix, it stays that hot at night and is not easily dissipated. They also don't have a line of defense towards smog or pollution or dust or anything. Again because of the lack of tree cover. What trees could do for all neighborhoods in Phoenix? Conservation organizations like American Forest recognize that sustaining trees is much harder in some places than others. So they recommend a tree cover goal of 40 to 60 percent for communities in forested states that's like the East Coast and a much smaller 15 percent target for desert cities, which would be almost double where Phoenix is now Real quick.
Speaker 2:Here's what's at stake. Blistering summer heat has become the new normal. Trees save lives and the challenge finding space for trees is tricky. In growing cities You've got to balance the need for ground versus the need to put in trees. Unfortunately, usually the need for real estate outstrips the ability to plant trees. Is it worth your health? Is it worth quality of life? For many cities, the answer is yes. For more affluent neighborhoods. The answer is yes. Yes, the best thing you can do to improve quality of life in your community plant a tree. The gas station of the future won't be dispensing fossil fuels as it does today, but will be offering something else to power a variety of things.
Speaker 2:This is the Tech Mobility Show. Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere. You can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iheart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts, social media it's the place to be. We're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility, technology news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out.
Speaker 2:A recent article in the business magazine Fast Company talked about a gas station of the future in New York City and the company behind it. Nope, they haven't given up on decarbonization, but what they're using for a feedstock to create the new fuels might surprise you. This is topic B. The name of the company is called Airco and, believe it or not, it turns carbon dioxide into fuels, and they just launched a pop-up store, if you can believe it, a concept store in New York City that highlights all the types of travel the company aims to decarbonize. Isn't this interesting?
Speaker 2:Right now, you would assume that the only conversation that people are having about decarbonization is you got to go hybrid, you got to use hydrogen, you got to go to an EV, you got to use EV batteries. It's the only way you got to do it this way. What we're finding out and this is the beautiful part about technology is that, regardless of what you are trying to do, there's usually more than one way to do it. This company is looking at taking on a problem to resolve an issue. It's also an acknowledgement that, at least for the near future decarbonization, people are not immediately going to EV everything. We've talked about that at length. We've talked about the typical bugaboos of EV adoption charging issues, speed, availability, reliability of the chargers, range for the batteries, how long do the batteries last, how convenient are they, what is the cost to get into it, all of these things. But this company here is saying hey, we have another way and we want to share with the public and educate the public where we're going, where we think we can go with this, and I think probably the most important thing of all of this that blew my mind is that their process, particularly for what we call sustainable aircraft fuel and I've talked about SAF before and this is part of where they're going about SAF before, and this is part of where they're going Airco's synthetic fuels are 100% compatible with current aircraft current aircraft, unlike hydrogen, which requires new engine designs.
Speaker 2:Let that sink in for a minute. By using carbon dioxide, which is what the other fossil fuel-based engines emit, they can lower carbonization by quite a bit, and I'll find that number. I want to say it was 98%, I thought it was the number I saw. But can you imagine using one man's emissions to power another man's vehicle and lowering the footprint in the process? That's the thing, because after all let's be brutally honest here A big thing that's going to make this succeed or fail. It's always all about the money.
Speaker 2:If you're an airline, if you're a trucking company, if you're a railroad or a person who just owns a car, your interest in decarbonization boils down to these things. One, it's got to give you a benefit and, honestly, it needs to be beyond the this is good for the planet benefit. While there are people that can relate to that and understand the importance of that, that is not always enough to influence a person's pocketbook, particularly if they're going to be paying a premium to do it. That almost kills it. Right there we say wait a minute, I'm all for helping the planet, but you're telling me it's going to cost me 20% more on top of this to do it. Eh, I'll either wait or I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 2:This company developed this concept store. It's called the Fuel Store and it's an immersive concept store by Air Company and they're a Brooklyn-based startup. They turn captured CO2 and hydrogen into synthetic fuels. They take carbon dioxide, mix it with hydrogen and they have a burnable, usable fuel that emits way less carbon than the original fossil fuels. Give an example of some of the things they've turned into it. If you can believe it. They've turned captured CO2 into all kinds of things, including and this is a list from the magazine vodka, hand sanitizer and perfume, since they started 2017. Carbon dioxide infused vodka Let me get back to you on that. I have no idea what that would taste like, but they've captured the interest of venture capitalists. They've raised $69 million. They have a $65 million contract with the Department of Defense and it's raised over $100 million in total, with 120 employees and its lab and R&D operations based right there in good old Brooklyn. Of all the things they could turn into, they have focused on fuel because that is an industry where it can have a substantial impact. They'll readily admit that it's one of the hardest industries traditionally to decarbonize.
Speaker 2:However, transportation is the largest contributor to the United States greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 28% of all direct emissions Globally. By comparison, aviation globally alone, accounts for 2% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. But instead of using an oil-based feedstock, they use CO2. And they create with hydrogen fuels through a process that runs on. Get this renewable energy. So for all you naysayers out there that say well, shoot, they're only trading one power input for another. It's still dirty. No, not this one. They're taking the captured CO2 instead of releasing it to the atmosphere. Combining's still dirty. No, not this one. They're taking the captured CO2, instead of releasing it to the atmosphere, combining it with oxygen I mean hydrogen and creating a fuel. But the process they use uses renewable energy, excuse me Meaning they don't need inputs of fossil fuels to make this thing. Without fossil fuels, which means it is a net benefit to the environment. It's a win-win.
Speaker 2:Here we talked about various companies getting into the sustainable aviation fuel business. We talked about how, even with these companies in the business, it's still a drop in the bucket when they're talking millions of gallons of SAF, opposed to the billions of gallons that commercial aircraft burn every year. Small but growing and an increasing number of airlines are signing up because they have plans in place to decarbonize and this is one of the cheapest ways to do it Change your fuel so it produces less greenhouse gases, particularly if you could do it without having to re-engineer everything and spend millions of dollars to retrofit or replace your planes. Because, like the auto industry, the airline, the commercial aircraft industry is capital intensive Hundreds of millions, billions of dollars, millions of dollars, hundreds of millions per aircraft. So anything that prevents them from having to spend that kind of money and allows them to get cleaner on their way to a carbon-free future. They're all in, With companies like Airco leading the charge. You'll see more of this, not less, particularly with all the renewable energy installations coming online all over the country. The renewable energy installations coming online all over the country. The need is great, but the training is sparse.
Speaker 2:What do you do? This nonprofit has the unconventional answer. We are the Tech Mobility Show. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobility dot show. Did you know that TechMobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
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Speaker 2:Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos From the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:Throughout the united states, many a local new car dealer has a continuing need for experienced service technicians, so much the more now with the increased sophistication of the engineering and technical design of vehicles. Working with the local community, college and high schools. Shrinking budgets and changing priorities means that very often, the local resources are not available to the dealership for recruitment. As you might expect, it's technology to the rescue, but not the way that you may assume. This is Topic C. This is a feel-good story for the week.
Speaker 2:A couple years back, we talked about an outfit that was created in Maryland called Vehicles for Change. In 2015, vehicles for Change was a program to provide low-cost used vehicles to underprivileged Maryland residents so they could get to their job. Used vehicles to underprivileged Maryland residents so they could get to their job. The nonprofit was receiving 40 vehicles donated a month and they would go to local dealers kind of fix them up, make them roadworthy, to give them away to folks who need them. But they ran into a problem they couldn't find enough service technicians available at the dealerships to work on these cars. So in its first iteration back in 2015, they evolved into developing a program for service technicians, but not just any program. Their program in the state of Maryland was designed for one group of people inmates. Seems that the Maryland prison system had some sort of minimal training for auto technicians, but when the inmates got out they couldn't get any practical experience and nobody would give them a chance because of their record. Hence Vehicles for Change. They stepped in to do the training for these technicians so that they could be paired up with dealerships and get real jobs and get their lives turned around. To give you an idea of what they were doing, this is back now, almost 10 years ago. 90% of Vehicle for Change graduates were previously incarcerated and it's trained more than 220 technicians and at that time planned to train 120 more. These technicians would go on to work at local dealerships For somebody who's paid their dues needs a second chance, needs a break.
Speaker 2:This was an excellent way to do it. Let's fast forward to the other side of the pandemic. So here we are In the United States. Pick an automobile dealership I don't care what make and if you talk to the dealer owner at length, or the service manager or the general manager, they will lament the fact that they need they're probably short of service technicians. And, to be honest, service technicians is a good paying job. It's a pretty comfortable job, but with all the training that is required, you just can't grab somebody off the street and hand them a wrench. Those days are over. But what do you do if you are in a rural area or someplace where maybe you're lucky to have a community college but they don't have an automotive program and you don't have the means, maybe, to go 30 miles, 40 miles, 50 miles away to a school that does? This is the gap that Vehicles for Change has walked into.
Speaker 2:In their next act they have employed and they've developed what they call a virtual reality training program that allows students in locations that don't have it to actually get training remotely, virtually, and then what they're doing is they're teaming up with local dealerships for internships so that they can get the hands-on part of it that they need dealerships, so that they can get the hands-on part of it, that they need these headsets. These virtual reality headsets cost about three. Well, it costs a school about three grand a year. They've gotten some of the local dealerships to actually underwrite the cost of the program for doing it at one high school and one community college. A bank who's all about helping people get back on their feet, also has pitched in some money for this program. It's not college, it's not fancy books. At its core, it is an ability to help people in rural areas who maybe don't have the opportunity to make that good money to learn a skill, learn a trade, get an opportunity to make family support money, money to support a family, money to support themselves, bringing money into a community that otherwise may not see it because they may have moved away to a bigger city to live. Now they don't have to.
Speaker 2:Vehicles for Change this is their next act. They started offering this technician training using virtual reality in January of last year For the educational institutions. As I mentioned earlier, the cost per school is $3,000 a year and that includes the VR headset and software training how to use the system and around the clock technical support. A trainee into this system goes through 120 hours of virtual instruction over 10 weeks. Besides working with schools in low-income areas, the nonprofit works with prisons, as I said, to help them get a skill they can use a job when they're released.
Speaker 2:How can you go wrong here? An opportunity to help people in need and help people who want to work, work but not at some low-paying job. Actually, if they're willing to put in the time, learn a trade and actually make good money while at the same time, helping fulfill a need and, superimposed on that, if you have a number of these people making this kind of money in your small community, that money ripples through the economy so it can help small towns, because now you've got people who are able to buy homes, people who are able to spend money, buy furniture and things like that. Support a family. Buy a house, pay taxes. Support a family, buy a house, pay taxes. People who were once an expense to the state now get a solid chance to be contributing upright citizens of the community with a job, with a future, with a chance. It is an excellent idea and we need to do more of this. The local dealership body. The local dealership which is in a number of states excuse me is underwriting this particular pilot Local bank through what they call Truist Foundation it's Truist Bank. They're underwriting a $625,000 grant for vehicles to change for this virtual program to be used where the bank has operations through its states. It's an excellent idea. We need more of this and less of the hand-wringing, because this is real solutions, this has real answers and this has a real benefit to everybody. Everybody wins here and, honestly, that's the best kind of program. That is because it's not a handout.
Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week Shorter than a full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show. From Apple Podcasts to iHeartRadio and many podcast platforms in between. We got you covered. Just enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts, social media, it's the place to be, and we're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility technology news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out.
Speaker 2:To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow. Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility show. If you missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the TechMobility podcast just about anywhere you can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iheartradio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar, wherever you listen to podcasts.
