The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and ChargerHelp! announced the launch of the nation’s first multi-manufacturer EV charger reliability training hub. Located in South Los Angeles, the facility provides a dedicated space for the companies, with dozens of chargers and equipment dedicated to EVSE charger reliability training.
The new facility will also serve as the Los Angeles headquarters for LACI alumni company ChargerHelp! as the company continues to scale.
When public EV chargers do not work, 75% of the time the problem is a non-electrical issue. EVSE repair technicians diagnose and service chargers by updating firmware or software, resetting the WiFi, etc.
This hub will operate for the next three years to train and equip reliability maintenance technicians to conduct non-electrical diagnostics, maintenance, and repair of EV chargers. The hub will also be made available to other qualified training providers that need access to such a facility.
Through the leadership of Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), LACI secured funding from the State of California for the facility.
“This announcement marks an important step toward ensuring that the local workforce needs for our electrified future will be met with the urgency, equity and support that they need while we confront the climate crisis and continue L.A.’s national leadership on transportation electrification,” said Mayor Karen Bass.
LACI’s Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP), an unprecedented public-private partnership of local, regional, and state-level stakeholders committed to accelerating transportation electrification, has called for 129,000 public and workplace chargers in the Los Angeles region by the time of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The new South LA site will support progress toward that ambitious target and accelerate the transition to reliable clean transportation.
Since 2019, LACI’s flagship workforce development program has trained 160 participants to repair and maintain EVSE infrastructure, including all-women and 18 to 24-year-old specific cohorts.
Given space limitations at the world-class, LA Department of Water and Power-owned La Kretz Innovation Campus that is LACI’s headquarters, the facility will be dedicated to EVSE non-electrical charger reliability training for LACI, ChargerHelp!, and in the future other organizations and companies across LA, California, and the U.S. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has generously supported the build out of this new facility with electrical upgrades.
With equipment onsite from a multitude of manufacturers (including Dunamis and LACI portfolio companies SparkCharge, Itselectric, and Xeal), the site will also help overcome the limitations posed by traditional single-manufacturer EVSE service training centers located across the United States, which are run by individual brands and can only train technicians on their specific technology in small groups. In a muli-technology environment, technicians will be able to train across all EVSE equipment at the new South LA facility.
Filed Under: Charging, Technology News