IT’S ELECTRIC!

Rcc Graduate Finds Spark At Tesla

By Megan Crotty

Steve Zafra always loved cars, the faster the better.

Still, it wasn’t until he met a Tesla that he really fell in love.

“I just love being in cars that go really fast,” he said.

An Asheboro High School graduate, Zafra started at RCC during his junior year thanks to the Career and College Promise program, which allows high school students to take college courses free of charge.

“High school isn’t for everybody — I just wanted to get out of high school,” he said. “If I had just stuck to high school, I would have had the chance to graduate my junior year with enough credits. But [Director of Educational Partnerships and Initiatives Dr.] Isaí Robledo suggested I take the opportunity to take free college classes. At the end of the day, it was zero cost to me, and I got to be out of school.”

Zafra started in the Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology program, earning his certificate, and then moved on to the Automotive Systems Technology program his senior year, making both the Academic Merit and Academic Award lists.

“I definitely enjoyed my time,” he said. “I learned a lot, especially with Petty’s Garage coming from time to time with the 1,000-horsepower F150s. I had really awesome instructors, but I really clicked with [Automotive Systems Technology Department Head] Don Ashley. It was an amazing opportunity to learn from him.”

Zafra especially loved Ashley’s alternative fuels class.

“We talked about hydrogen vehicles, electric vehicles, and every other kind, including compressed natural gas,” he said. “That sparked my interest in electric vehicles.”

While Zafra was finishing his degree at RCC in 2018, Ashley pulled him into his office to tell him about an opportunity at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte — the Tesla START Program, a 12-week automotive technician training program designed to provide students with the skills necessary for job placement as service technicians at Tesla Service Centers across North America.

“Next thing I know, in approximately two or three weeks I was interviewing and going to school there,” he said.

After finishing his degree at RCC and training at CPCC, Zafra was hired by Tesla immediately. He gave the company his three top choices for placement, ending up in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he did mobile service. After a year and a half, he was transferred to a service center in Virginia Beach, Va., before ending up in his current city, Devon, Penn., doing mobile service as well as being a service center technician.

“I’ve been involved in battery packs, electrical diagnosis, chasing down wiring harnesses, all the way to basic door handle replacements, repairs — I believe I’ve gone through the ringer on about every single job we can do on the four models we currently have out on the road,” he said.

In the land known for NASCAR’s roaring engines, Zafra admits he prefers to tear up the tires in a quiet Tesla.

“I love just how different they are,” he said. “I’ve always been a little bit of a speed demon. I just love the instant acceleration of Teslas. I worked for Nissan, and the Leaf was nowhere near as quick. Teslas are just ridiculously fast for what they are. They’re extremely quiet, but they’re gone before you know it.”

Zafra was excited to learn about Toyota choosing the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite for the location of its automotive battery manufacturing plant.

"Toyota has definitely been in the game since the Prius; that vehicle was ahead of its time,” he said.

Still, Zafra is going to stick with his first love.

“I definitely believe in Tesla,” he said. “I believe in the movement toward sustainable energy — I absolutely believe in that. I’m not sure if I’m going to retire with Tesla, but I’m definitely going to stick with automotive in general and electric vehicles in general.”

That spark will never go away.