Profiles in clean energy: She founded a business to keep EV charging stations up and running

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kameale Terry saw it coming before almost anyone else did. She realized the expanding network of electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S. would need a workforce to maintain it.

The realization came as she found herself back in South Central Los Angeles — where she grew up — taking care of her mom, who was on her third recurrence of cancer. It was 2016 and she had left a job in banking to come home. Now she needed some work flexibility to address her mom’s needs.

Terry ended up taking a job with EV Connect, a company that made software for electric vehicle charging stations, in a position called “driver support.” When EV drivers found something wasn’t working at a station, they called in and she would talk them through the issue or send out a technician. It made her realize the need.

“When I saw that the charging experience wasn’t a great experience, I wanted to figure out how could I be helpful in ensuring that it is a great experience,” Terry said.

So, in 2020 she co-founded the company ChargerHelp! with the aim of training a nationwide workforce of technicians to repair charging stations and reduce the amount of time they are down.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of an occasional series of personal stories from the energy transition — the change away from a fossil-fuel based world that largely causes climate change.

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The calls Terry fielded from frustrated drivers weren’t the only thing that prompted the decision to found ChargerHelp! She now understood the big picture when it came to charging infrastructure, and she rose through several roles to become a director at EV Connect, heading up programs in Australia and Canada, as well as the U.S.

During the early pandemic lockdowns, it struck her that there were hardly any cars on the roads and suddenly see the Hollywood sign from her home. Usually it was hidden by thick smog. “It really just hit me … if folks drove electric or chose more sustainable transportation, this could be an everyday thing,” she said.

Terry also had firsthand experience with air pollution, having grown up in South Central Los Angeles.

“I am in a community that’s near like three freeways,” she said. It wasn’t until the work at EV Connect that she made the link between that and air pollution and health effects. “That’s really where I started to dive in, to understand how the air, you know, in the community was really like killing folks.”

The cancer ended up taking her mom, and Terry believes pollution played a role. A growing number of studies indicate that air pollution can be related to breast cancer.

These experiences, plus the desire to provide job opportunities for communities like hers, forged her entrepreneurial idea.

Now 35, Terry is an expert in the new field of EV charger maintenance. She’s found that her best technicians often come from careers in oil and gas, or in sales. One of her most highly-requested techs is a former furniture salesperson.

“It is the coolest thing seeing a group of folks that may not have fully known about this space prior to, but are so bought in to the idea of pushing forward massive EV adoption. That to me brings me so much joy,” Terry said.

The case for creating the company has only strengthened since it was launched.

One study found that nearly a quarter of the fast-charge EV stations in the San Francisco were broken. Data analytics company J.D. Power found that 21% of EV drivers in the U.S. have rolled up to a public charger that wasn’t working. Not all studies have found the issue to be that grave. Last fall, the federal government found far fewer chargers down, about 4.1%

This is how ChargerHelp! works: When an EV charging port has a mechanical or electronics problem, the manager of the gas station or business where it’s located submits a request via the company app, and a technician remotely provides quick assistance for things that can be fixed on the spot. For problems that require help in person, the company sends out a technician.

Clyde Ellis is a field service manager with the company in Los Angeles. He’s seen all sorts of damage to EV chargers —- a site where a car plowed into one, copper cables cut out by thieves and infestations of squirrels, frogs, ants, and other insects.

“There was once a honeycomb with honey dripping out of the side of the station,” he recalled.

Ellis came to the electric vehicle business from the oil and gas industry, where his work ranged from permitting to putting out fires sparked by welders working on pipelines. It was a stable job but eventually he chose to leave.

“I realized that I was in an industry that wasn’t beneficial to our environment,” Ellis said, remembering the air pollution generated at his former plant. “I had to take a step back and really look at what was going on around me … and I just thought, how could I make a change? How could I be a part of something bigger?”

Now he is.

“That is the pride and joy of my day every day and definitely at the end of the week,” he said.

Scientists say cars and other machines and activities that pollute, like power plants, must ramp down their exhaust sharply to preserve a livable climate. Yet instead of declining, global emissions continue to rise. Electric vehicles have no exhaust or tailpipe.

The Biden-Harris administration has a goal for 50% of all new cars and trucks in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. Some states like Washington aim to transition even faster, requiring all new vehicles be electric or non-polluting by 2030.

Terry said that in order for that to happen, people need to be able to trust EV charging infrastructure. The current mistrust, due to broken chargers, is a problem that can be solved, she said.

ChargerHelp! currently operates in 17 states.

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O’Malley reported from Philadelphia, Fauria and Garcia from Los Angeles.