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

LOS ANGELES — 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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