“Dorman Facility Tour” – The Group Training Academy EV Tour Blog

March 24, 2021 – Fort Myers, Florida

This day went better than the previous day. No surprises. No Moving Parts. No tire failures and somewhat scheduled meals. We started with our previously mentioned planned visit to the Dorman battery remanufacturing facility in Sanford, NC, to show off the Prius and get a first-hand look at their automated production facility. We weren't able to take the car out of the trailer as it was raining during our visit, and as you can imagine, a high-voltage vehicle with no top isn't the best rainy day transportation choice. The good folks at Dorman were able to look at the Prius in the trailer, especially that bright orange battery produced at this very facility.

After showing off the car, we were invited to an extensive tour of their plant. We got a good taste of how detailed Dorman's automated process is for reworking their EV batteries. I don't recall how many verification steps batteries go through during their remanufacturing process, but it was very apparent that Dorman is striving to produce the best quality remanufactured battery in the industry. We concluded the tour with an agreement to talk again soon on new ways to work together; then, John and I continued our travels south.

Although well worth it, the visit to Dorman was going to make for a very, very long day with over 700 miles of road travel to go. As Jerry Reed said of the Bandit, "We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there," but first, we needed to locate a new spare tire for the trailer.

Three stops in our tire quest, which included a tire store (2-hour wait), Camping World (we don't carry trailer tires), we followed a recommendation from Tom Rayk on checking Tractor Supply. Bingo! Tire purchased, and away we went.

We won't go into the details of our late-night travels after the tire purchase because chances are we've all been there at one time or another. All I can say is that we rolled into Fort Myers and our hotel around midnight, tired and hungry. Sleep could wait, and the burger and onion rings from IHOP were well received. Our day was concluded on a gastronomical high note.

What will tomorrow bring? New course production in the AVI World Headquarters studio. Time to grab a few hours of sleep before the next day begins.

Stay tuned to this blog, as we hope to bring you updates on this tour as it goes, both the good and not-so-good, all the way through to its' conclusion on March 27 in Fort Myers, Florida, TGTA's world headquarters.

If you are interested in finding out how to bring TGTA live training to your area, contact us at Phone: 1-800-718-7246 | Email: support@aviondemand.com. We will be adding tour stops for the EV classes and additional content on such topics as advanced diesel diagnostics, ADAS, and light, medium, and heavy-duty braking systems.