BURBANK : Defense Workers to Be Retrained for Car Venture

A Burbank consortium formed to promote the production of electric cars has won a $1.8-million state contract to train workers to shift aerospace and defense companies into the production of advanced transportation projects, such as electric vehicles, consortium officials said this week.

The contract from the state Employment Training Panel will be used to train up to 335 workers employed by aerospace or defense firms in the nature of the electric car market, system design concepts and problem solving.

The contract was given to CALSTART, a nonprofit consortium formed by more than 40 large corporations and public agencies.