Scott Shearan is a 2016 BBM Youth Support – Skilled Futures Awardee. Keep reading to hear more about his travels and experiences in Europe as he learns more about the auto-electrical world.

18/07/17 – 21/07/17
Location : Cala D’Or, Mallorca (Spanish Island’s)
Well I thought I deserved a break from all my running around so I booked myself a quick holiday to the Spanish islands. It was a very nice peaceful stay, plenty of sunbaking, swimming and eating.
The hotel I had stayed in was right on the beach and the ocean was very clean, it had a nice turquoise colour to it. I ended up talking to people at the hotel dinner and making friends to hang out with from  then on which was nice for the rest of the trip. I also noticed that on the island that a lot of the bigger tourist transport vehicles were all electric which was quite interesting.

All up the stay was really nice, very family friendly and would recommend it to anyone.

26/06/17 – 16/07/17

15/07/17
Location: Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Work: SBD Automotive, Autonomous Division

I have just arrived in Milton Keynes, This place is beautiful, Plenty going on and everything is pretty new. The town is only about 40 years old so everything is pretty new here. Plenty of Electric vehicle charging stations available at all the parking lots with just a tap on and off system.

From the 24^th of July I will be working with SBD Automotive, They are a Research and Consultancy company for Automotive Technology for a huge range of manufacturers. I will be working with a team in the Autonomous Vehicle field for SBD which should be very interesting and exciting.

I have also organized a last minute trip to Spain on the 18^th to the 21^st of July, while I can since I am over here.

29/06/17 – 15/07/17
Location: Luton, United Kingdom
Work: Vauxhall

Luton, This definitely was a bit of an eye-opener. A few people had told me it is a bit of a rough area and they were not wrong, it was not so bad during the day still had to keep my ears open for anything but you knew not to go out at night which I worked out on my first night there. But you make the most out of those situations by starting to think how can we make people feel comfortable and safe with getting around especially when the field I am looking into is with driverless vehicles and pods, this sort of transport will be greatly beneficial in those sort of circumstances.

The following Monday I had Started at the Vauxhall Tech-Centre located in Luton, Thanks to Erin Fairman the Journal Editor at the IAME (Industry of Australian Mechanical Engineers). Now the Vauxhall Griffin house has over 1500 Employers with all different occupations with in Vauxhall I was located in the Tech-Centre working with Technicians and Engineers on Vehicles. I was Assigned with the Customer Relation Techs who were dealing with Vehicles that could not be Diagnosed or fixed by the Dealerships.

At the Vauxhall Tech-Centre I had spent the first couple of days performing software reprogramming on late model vehicles, then followed by Air-conditioning work on late model vehicles and then onto Working on Vauxhall’s electric Vehicle, The Ampera. I was Limited with what I could do due to Vauxhall’s training requirements for working on an electrical system that has a voltage of  350Volts DC, Especially since it was a requirement to have a Defibrillator and breathing equipment there ready to use anytime someone is working on the battery. but I still got involved as possible to removing a battery pack from a Vehicles to help strip-down for in house refurbishment of batteries. As much as I was there learning of them technicians I was also there giving my advice and showing what the Aussie’s can do, For example 2017 model vehicle had been in for a couple of days with an electric hand-brake fault, I asked if I could have a go at it and within half a day I had to it diagnosed.

I was also fortunate enough to be placed in Vauxhall’s training days which are dedicated to specific Vauxhall Members , This training day was based on the New Technical Features in the Vauxhall Insignia-B which included Chassis, Powertrain, HVAC, Driver-Assistance Systems, Safety Systems and etc. It was a very impressive, It is just amazing the amount and type of technology available on the vehicle.
I had also had private tours around Vauxhall’s Van Manufacturing plant which was something very interesting to see.

One of my favourite days at the Vauxhall was when we were doing work on the High Voltage Battery on a Late model Ampera to then in the afternoon being invited by the managers of Vauxhall to ride along with them in 1909 Vauxhall Semi-racer(the car I was in) along the country side to a Classic Vehicle meet-up. It was just funny going from working on such a High Tech Vehicle back to something that has next to no electrical components and was started by hand-cranking the engine.

Overall, The Vauxhall company and their employee’s was a fantastic group of people to be involved with, they included me in everything and made me feel more then welcomed. I have made plenty of friends and contacts which I will be talking with in the future. I believe I have left a good impression with Vauxhall of what I am like as HR’s of the company have told me that the Manager was raving on about how good I was during the 2 weeks.

26/06/17 – 29/06/17
Location : West Hampstead, London

First day I arrived at my hotel, unpacked then headed straight into London to be a tourist. Absolutely loving the public transport in London, Everything is so Swift and links up with each other allowing me to go all over London and see the iconic places, Even when I had gotten lost it had only taken me a couple of minutes to hop back onto another train to head into the right location.
Over the next couple of days I spent a lot of time walking around and seeing as much as possible, Especially since the weather has been fantastic and the days are nice and long (sun from 4:30 am through til 10:00pm). London is Quite an Interesting place with just how busy it is with everyone walking everywhere and also the diversity in the type of people.

I have also taken that step out of my comfort zone going out at night by myself trying to meet and make friends, which has been actually very successful because a lot of people I have spoken with have actually found it interesting to as why I am over in the UK and the fact I am going out by myself trying to make the most of it. The friends I have made have actually offered to help me as much as possible while I am over here which is great!

22nd July, 2017