{"id":6251,"date":"2026-02-11T14:57:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/?p=6251"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:18:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:18:57","slug":"ntc-automotive-program-receives-its-electric-vehicle-simulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/11\/ntc-automotive-program-receives-its-electric-vehicle-simulator\/","title":{"rendered":"Automotive Program Receives Donated Electric Vehicle Simulator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Johnson, Northwest Technical College automotive instructor, and Dr. John L. Hoffman, president of NTC and Bemidji State University, were joined on February 5 by Dr. Ketmani Kouanchao, NTC executive vice president for academic affairs; Henoc Preciado, Office of the President head of staff; and Jim Walrath from the Minneapolis chapter of the Mercedez-Benz Club of America to see NTC’s new electric vehicle training station.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Consulab EV-400 trainer, donated to NTC’s automotive program by the Mercedes-Benz Foundation, will allow students to learn techniques for servicing increasingly complex electric and hybrid vehicle motors without risk of serious injury. <\/span><\/p>\n

Support from Walrath, a Mercedes-Benz Club of America board member and Bemidji State University alumnus, has been a driving influence behind two equipment donations to NTC’s automotive program. Walrath graduated cum laude from BSU in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health. A four-year track and field and cross-country athlete, he was inducted into BSU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walrath is part of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America’s Twin Cities Section, based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, dedicated to fostering appreciation for Mercedes-Benz automobiles. The club organizes driving and social events, provides technical support and promotes education through newsletters and outreach programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"John
John L. Hoffman, Jim Walrath and Mark Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Henoc
Jim Walrath and Mark Johnson with NTC automotive students, Ketmani Kouancho and John L. Hoffman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Johnson was joined by President Hoffman and others to accept the new trainer from the Mercedes-Benz Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":6256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,54,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-ntc-in-the-news","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6251"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6297,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251\/revisions\/6297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}