Clean Energy Profiles: Founded a company to keep electric vehicle charging stations running

LOS ANGELES — Kameale Terry saw it coming before anyone else. She realized that the growing network of electric vehicle charging stations across the United States would require a workforce to maintain it.

The realization came when she found herself back in South Central Los Angeles—where she grew up—taking care of her mother, who had had her third relapse of cancer. It was 2016, and she had quit her job at a bank to move back home. Now she needed some flexibility at work to meet her mother’s needs.

Terry eventually took a job at EV Connect, a company that made software for electric vehicle charging stations, in a role called “driver support.” When electric vehicle drivers found something wrong at a station, they would call and she would talk them through the problem or send a technician. That made her realize the need.

“When I noticed that charging wasn’t the best experience, I wanted to find out how I could help make it a great experience,” Terry said.

In 2020, she founded ChargerHelp! with the goal of training a nationwide workforce of technicians to repair charging stations and reduce their downtime.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of an occasional series of personal stories about the energy transition — moving away from a world powered by fossil fuels that is largely responsible for climate change.

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