In January, the Biden administration announced an additional $623 million in federal funding to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country. This was on top of the more than $7 billion invested as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in 2021.
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| San Diego Local 569 member Nicholas Vidaurri installs electric vehicle charging stations at Kaiser Clairemont Mesa San Diego Medical Center. Vidaurri was trained in the EVIPT program and is employed by Imperial Electric.
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| Local 569 member Jesus Medina at work building a zero-emissions bus charging station in Chula Vista, Calif.
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It also served as a reminder for IBEW members to receive the proper training so they are ready for these projects.
"Thousands, if not millions, of these charging stations are going to be installed to meet demand," Construction and Maintenance Director Matt Paules said. "We need to do that work."
Indeed, White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi mentioned the Brotherhood during a call with reporters alongside Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"When those chargers go into the ground, we've got the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — good paying union jobs being spurred in communities from coast to coast — to do the work."
Members got an inside track at building the emerging EV network when the Transportation Department recommended in 2022 that the Brotherhood's Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program serve as the preferred national training standard. The program had been in existence for nearly 10 years and was developed by the IBEW in conjunction with its signatory contractors and other industry partners.
In some areas of the country, the demands of those signatory contractors will put even more emphasis on IBEW members performing the work.
Jacksonville, Fla., Local 177 Business Manager Alan Jones noted that Miller Electric, which is based in Jacksonville but is a leading signatory in much of the country, wants to have a major role in electric vehicles and the charging stations.
Miller also provides about 75-80% of Local 177's work, Jones said. It's obviously an important relationship and another reason to ensure that enough members take part in the training.
Jones said he urges all Local 177 members to do just that.
"Miller Electric is going after this," he said. "They've done their research. They're not going to throw money after nothing."
"I see all the potential," Jones added. "The IBEW is ahead of something instead of chasing it. Sometimes, it seems like when new technology is out, we're chasing it. I want to see our guys doing this work instead of the unrepresented electrical worker."
In California, one of the leading states in the transition to electric vehicles, San Diego Local 569 members trained in the EVITP program are installing chargers at several stations, including the Chula Vista Metropolitan Transit Service Facility and Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center.
Boston Local 103 landed about $95 million in EV-related work in 2023, ranging from local and state governments to car dealerships to private homes, Business Manager Lou Antonellis said.
"That's a decent amount of work, and it runs the whole gamut of projects," said Antonellis, who expects that work to continue to grow.
Rod Zink, director of business development for White Electrical, an Atlanta-based signatory, said the company's work on charging stations has increased steadily since it signed up as a partner at EVITP.org in 2021. Recently, White has begun taking on larger installation projects instead of ones that required just one or two charging stations.
Zink, whose company has operations in six southern states, said the demand will only continue. Being part of the EVITP program has made White more visible in the industry, he said.
"It's the source of many opportunities," said Zink, who said he signed up for the program at the suggestion of Terry Reynolds, a Fifth District international representative for business development. "I've had many people call me and say, 'We found your contact information off this site.'"
Those new partners also have helped White make inroads into other forms of clean energy, particularly solar.
"The EV business is obviously going to continue growing," he said. "The great thing we've found is that the consultants or contractors we've met who are involved in this are pretty loyal. If they have that work, we win the work."
Members can sign up for the training at their local's Joint Apprentice Training Center or Electrical Training Alliance centers. Training also is available online. Members, contractors and other industry partners also can go to EVITP.org.
There are about 165,000 EV chargers in the U.S., Zaidi told reporters in January. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act calls for 500,000 to be built by 2030.
EV sales in the U.S. have quadrupled to 1 million per year since Biden took office in 2021, the administration said.
"We're at a moment now where the electric vehicle revolution isn't coming," Buttigieg said. "It's very much here."
While progress has been made, it's a revolution that IBEW leadership encourages members to play a huge part in, especially as new work rolls in.
"We want to do that work, and we should be doing that work," Paules said. "As the industry grows and our signatory contractors continue to bid on it, we have to have a trained workforce ready to do so."