Running out of gas is a shared experience associated with car ownership.
Whether drivers are stretching the distance between fill-ups or on a long road trip, the anxiety that arises when the fuel needle passes the “E” and the light comes on is all too familiar.
What can make the horror story worse is the terrible sight of a closed gas station, but imagine if you can’t find an operational gas station for tens or hundreds of kilometers.
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Even though it is not powered by fossil fuels, this type of scenario is all too familiar to electric car owners, as working electric vehicle charging places may be scarce and a new discovery may make this horror story be much worse than it already is.
A very serious situation
A report from Automotive News claims that the electric vehicle charging network in the United States is in a lot of trouble. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nearly 4,000 public EV charging stations with 7,000 ports were out of service as of early October, an outage rate of more than 6%.
To try to solve this, both the government and private entities are trying to make more chargers available to the electric vehicle driving public. Along with its push for zero-emission vehicles to account for half of new vehicle sales by 2030, the Biden administration has called for the installation of 500,000 fast chargers across the United States.
Additionally, the administration recently announced it would provide $100 million in federal funding to repair and replace existing broken parts of the charging infrastructure.
A group of automobile manufacturers formed by BMW (BMWAA) – Get a free reportGeneral Motors (G.M.) – Get a free reportsling (HMC) – Get a free reporthyundai (HYMTF) – Get a free reportKia, Mercedes-Benz (DAIF) – Get a free report and stellantis (STLA) – Get a free report They also announced in July that they will launch a joint electric vehicle charging network on highways and urban areas.
Additionally, a growing list of automakers such as Kia and Hyundai have adapted to using the North American Charging System, or NACS plugs, which is compatible with the Tesla. (TSLA) – Get a free report Supercharger network.
The problem can only get worse
For all the promise of these shiny new EV chargers, one crucial element is missing: the people who install and maintain them.
Matt Trout, president of Trout Electric, which specializes in electric vehicle charger installation and service in Southern California, told Automotive News that finding high-level qualified electricians, known as journeymen, specifically those trained in vehicle chargers electrical, it is a great challenge.
“If you came to me right now with an officer who has been in the EV charging industry for the last few years, they would hire him on the spot,” Trout said.
Qmerit, a company that provides installation services for electric vehicle charging and other electrification technologies for homes and businesses, estimates that the country’s electrification push, including electric vehicle charging and solar panels, will require at least 142,000 more certified electricians. for the Biden Administration’s 2030 deadline.
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There is a high demand for electricians, as clean energy itself requires many of them, but it is not easy to be qualified for the job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians need four to five years of apprenticeship experience before obtaining a license, in addition to having a certification to work on electric vehicle chargers.
Even among the ranks of electricians, many are not certified to install or repair electric vehicle chargers.
According to an analysis conducted by electrician training company ChargerHelp! and engineering organization SAE International, just 1,000 qualified electricians will handle 825,000 service request calls this year, or 825 calls per person. By 2030, the industry will need 17,000 qualified electricians to handle the anticipated 14 million service request calls.
Possible solutions
There is a slight feeling of hope. Help with the charger! and SAE are developing training certifications to add electric vehicle charging to electricians’ skills. Now, charger help! has trained more than 1,000 loader technicians since 2022 and plans to train more with the partnership with SAE.
Help with the charger! CEO Kameale Terry noted that this line of work requires software skills in addition to the traditional skills of an electrician.
“If someone goes out to change the connector but doesn’t understand the full breadth of the ecosystem, it’s hard for them to know if changing that connector was good enough,” Terry said.
The lack of reliable charging infrastructure is one reason electric vehicle adoption has been slow, and many skeptical buyers have turned to hybrids as a result. EV buyers already face a high price when purchasing their cars, and the lack of working chargers can make the experience much worse for everyone.
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