The new Jordan energy strategy 2020–2030 was launched by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource in 2020. According to this strategy, the major aims for Jordan are achieving energy security, maximizing the deployment of local energy resources, and reducing the cost of energy [
1]. For example, only in 2019, Jordan imported about 88% of its energy needs at high costs. The transport sector is a primary user of energy, responsible for 46% of final energy consumption, making it central to the country’s overall energy economy equation, and thus it is considered an important driver for determining future national energy needs. In Jordan, 50–90% of air pollution is caused by traffic and transport, and black carbon particles in the air are more concentrated in urban areas than in industrial areas [
2]. Climate change scenarios indicate that Jordan and the Middle East could suffer from reduced agricultural productivity and water availability, among other negative impacts, according to the 2013–2020 Jordan Climate Change Policy [
3]. Jordan is adopting renewable energy due to the scarcity of fossil fuels. Jordan is moving towards a low-emission or zero-emission transport sector.
Under the Nation Green Growth Plan (NGGP), the government aims to raise awareness among consumers. Jordan aims to mitigate climate change impacts by promoting EV/HEVs. The National Energy Strategy 2020–2030 sets a target of 10% EV adoption in the total vehicle fleet by 2030. To achieve this, the government offers incentives, such as tax exemptions and reduced registration fees. In 2019, the government reduced the taxes on EV/HEVs, which in turn will increase their sales in Jordan. The Jordan Electric Vehicle Market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 35.1% during 2020–2026 [
4]. Over 500 public EV charging stations are already in place. Nevertheless, significant investments are being made for the implementation of the Jordan National Vision 2025 initiative, to support green and clean energy projects, such as installation of 3000 charging stations in several parts of the country [
5]. In addition, Jordan is working towards scrapping old fuel-run cars and exchanging them for EV/HEVs. Thus, by encouraging the adoption of EV/HEVs, Jordan strives to reduce carbon emissions and the transition towards a more sustainable transportation sector, aligning with its commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) [
1,
6,
7].
The gap between workforce supply and demand is significant in Jordan especially in (Balqa, Karak, and Irbid) governorates. A review has been conducted for the existing programs in Jordan that deal with EV/HEVs. It was found that the B.SC. programs in Mechanical Engineering in Jordan universities include an elective course that covers Vehicles Technology. The course focuses on conventional cars that run on combustion engines. In addition, other programs provide an introduction about Electric and Hybrid Cars Technology. The B.SC. programs in Mechatronics Engineering include few courses dealing with issues related to EV/HEVs, such as Power Electronics and Drive, and Autotronics. However, the practical skills needed by the market are not introduced. And, there are no labs for EV/HEVs in Jordanian universities.
Therefore, the main research emphasis of this paper is to understand the opportunities and challenges that may influence the education of the EV/HEV field in Jordan. The methodology used in this study was based on a non-experimental, quantitative data collection procedure, through distributing web-based surveys. The survey questions, which are available online, can be found in the
Supplementary Materials section of the paper. The questions in each survey took the form of a close-ended question, which includes a predefined list of answer options The calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were considered acceptable for data reliability. Thus, this paper aims to highlight the needs of each partner university in terms of a suitable EV/HEV program for their students, where they need to review the adequacy of the faculty members’ competencies, surveying the students’ requirements, and bridge the gap between the university graduates and the market needs.
Literature Review
The Transportation sector forms the major source of air pollution, since traditional vehicles run on fossil fuel products such as gasoline and diesel. Harmful emissions from these vehicles have negative impacts that pollute air and affect human health. Moreover, the massive increase in the world population will raise the demand on vehicles and fuel consumption. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and IHS Global Insight, oil will be more expensive in 2035 [
8]. Also, in [
8], they modeled projections of what may happen given certain assumptions and methodologies. The projections of the energy market were inexact, due to future developments in technologies, demographics, and resources. Therefore, many of the events that shape the energy markets could not be predicted. Several studies agree that fossil fuel prices will likely rise in the long-term due to an oil shortage or oil running out [
9]. In [
9], they mentioned that SUVs and pickup trucks accounted for more than three out of four vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2021. Moreover, compact, gasoline-powered cars are typically less expensive and have a better gas mileage, but supplies are tight. Therefore, the adoption of EV/HEVs in the transportation sector will reduce harmful emissions and then reduce climate change.
In the United States, there is increasing interest in electric cars. Overall, the transportation sector consumes 30% of total U.S. energy needs and 70% of fuel consumption [
10]. Although energy costs for EV/HEVs are generally lower as compared to similar conventional vehicles, initial purchase prices can be significantly higher. Increasing production volumes and advances in battery technologies tends to equalize the initial cost with conventional vehicles. Since fuel is a limited resource, its demand signifies a challenge to take advantage of new vehicle technologies to reach a substantial economic development. The alternate source of vehicle fuel is electricity. It is not only a smart technology, but also an inevitable one. Furthermore, the transformation into electric vehicle technology will create new jobs, improve the quality of life, and reduce energy demand.
On the other hand, the transportation sector, especially gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles, is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions, which have harmful impacts on human health and atmosphere quality [
11]. In the EU, the transport sector forms a large portion of the total energy consumption (about 74%) and raises the greenhouse gas emissions [
12]. Electric vehicles (EV) are realized as the alternative to fossil fuel-powered vehicles in transportation.
Madziel et al. found that the renovation of 25% of traditional vehicles to electric vehicles in the current fleet has reduced the concentration of PM10 (PM10 is a measure of particulate matter concentration) by about 30% along the ring road, which greatly reduces harmful exhaust components and diminishes climate change impact [
13].
Electric vehicles (EV) have to be supplemented by the appropriate infrastructure. This requires co-operative efforts from countries, cites, and municipalities [
14]. The improvement of infrastructure is often highlighted as the main contributing factor for increasing the rate of the EV use. Moreover, the availability of charging stations accelerates the spread of EV, which makes it easier for users to charge their vehicles. For this reason, the location of the electric charging stations encourages the ownership of these cars due to the ease of charging in any location [
15].
House charging stations are completely connected to the electricity distribution network. Normally, they have a low power rating and need a longer charging time. Moreover, fast charging stations can charge EVs in less time with a high-power charging rate. This may cause heat accumulation and faster degradation of EV batteries.
Ali et al. studied the optimal locations of charging stations for EVs in Amman, Jordan [
16]. Using the flow-capturing location model and the modified flow-capturing location model, the problem of installation of a charging station at one’s own facility was illustrated in [
17]. Several studies also show results for the optimal location of EV infrastructure components, including charging stations [
18,
19,
20]. The problem of locating and sizing of EV charging stations that are assisted by solar energy in an urban area was discussed by Ji et al. [
18]. Their objective was to maximize the profit of utilizing solar energy in charging stations to satisfy charging requirements. They propose a heuristic optimization algorithm to jointly decide the locations of the charging stations and the size of each station.
According to the transportation energy data book produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. [
21], hybrid vehicle sales began in 1999 and plug-in electric vehicle sales began in 2010. Thus, producing hybrid and semi-hybrid and electric cars has already started. This was enabled after overcoming the problems related to manufacturing and charging stations. Hybrid vehicles took 3.2% of the total vehicles market in 2013. Plug-in hybrids and all-electrics combined accounted for 2.1% of the light vehicle market in 2019.
Successive Jordanian governments have put in place innovative policies, laws, and legislation on electric transport that regulate and encourage the use of electric vehicles. They started with facilitating the import process and reducing customs and licensing fees for these vehicles. Gasoline supply companies have equipped fast charging stations to supply electric vehicles with charging in a short period of time. Moreover, the Ministry of Energy also encouraged investment in installing home solar power stations and supporting this train, which encouraged citizens to acquire electric vehicles, as home charging became an alternative to charging at gas stations.
Through this policy followed by governments, the demand for electric vehicles increased. The number of registered electric vehicles (EVs) in Jordan has increased rapidly through the period from 2010 to 2017. According to the Jordanian department of statistics, more than 18,000 privately owned EVs were registered up to 2019 [
22].
Stanton and Bradley highlighted that an academic needs assessment process was used to create an industry informed hybrid-electric vehicles engineering (HEVE) program at Colorado State University (CSU) for both undergraduate and graduate students [
23]. They demonstrate how a needs assessment may be used to design the HEVE learning objectives to focus on job placement and career development. The created HEVE program contains four courses. It illustrates how the process and results of the needs assessment guide create the learning objectives and program details so that students can easily utilize this process for their own needs.
The factors affecting the uptake of EV/HEVs in the European Union were discussed in [
24]. Two extensive cross-sectional surveys were distributed across the EU to collect data from 26,500 respondents for each survey. Socio-economic and behavioral aspects were combined in the survey. The percentage of respondents who are interested in purchasing a hybrid or electric vehicle (H&EV) in the near future rose from 32% in 2014 to 37.4% in 2018. A machine-learning classification model was used to analyze and explain the interaction between the variables affecting the purchase decision.
The basic design considerations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) were reviewed in [
25]. It includes vehicle architecture, energy management systems, drivetrain component function, energy storage trade-offs, and grid connections. Recent PHEV design studies and vehicle demonstrations were used to derive the general design characteristics of PHEVs. In addition, a review of recent studies was used to assess the sustainability impact of PHEVs to propose research topics and development needs for PHEVs.
The potential for PHEV market penetration was discussed in [
26]. They administered a survey to 1000 stated US residents to study the factors influencing the PHEV market. The odds were 71 times greater that they would consider purchasing PHEV to reduce energy consumption, while there were 44 times greater odds that they would consider purchasing PHEV to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The authors in [
27] present a new approach for developing a training program for working on Electric Vehicles. Their target groups were professionals, like motor mechanics, firefighters, or vocational schoolteachers. They clarify the different health risks in working on EVs and propose an iterative concept for fault probability analysis (FPA) to identify potential errors in the everyday use of EVs. Moreover, two surveys were conducted, the first survey highlighted the risk of a high-voltage system in EVs, while the result of the second survey encourages the adoption of blended learning for working on EV training programs.
In Malaysia [
28], a survey questionnaire was designed with reference to the decision-making trials alongside the Decision-Making Trials and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The study focused on the factors which affect consumers’ intention to use EVs in the Malaysian context. The results showed that environmental concern, trust in EVs, personal norms, price value, attitudes regarding EVs, and subjective norms are the most important factors influencing the adoption of EVs in the Malaysian context.
The challenges associated with new charging station installion in Canada was discussed in [
29], specifically in Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs). They developed a conceptual framework to identify the challenges, potential barriers, and stakeholders involved in the process of charging infrastructure installation in MURBs. A decision-making flow diagram was used to map out problem domains to characterize their internal dynamics and the relationships between stakeholders. Informing policy interventions and directions for policymakers and automotive manufacturers are the main findings in [
28,
29], while this study concentrates on the needs and competencies of the market.
The current study conducts a needs analysis in the market in the field of EV/HEVs in Jordan and the potential clean technologies in the field of transportation and their regulations. Three surveys with appropriate stakeholders are analyzed and discussed including surveys on teaching and training facilities. The integration of the survey results reports the list of needs and competencies.