IBEW Integral in Federal EV Expansion Discussions

IBEW was front and center in a June 4 conversation with White House officials, industry leaders and agency procurement officials about transitioning the entire federal vehicle fleet from gas-powered to electric.

White House Council on Environmental Quality chair Brenda Mallory said the transformation of more than 600,000 cars and trucks to an all-electric fleet will accelerate the advancement of America’s industrial capacity to supply domestically produced zero-emission vehicles and electric batteries, while creating good-paying union jobs in manufacturing, engineering and skilled-trades and significantly cutting the federal government’s carbon footprint.

IBEW’s Austin Keyser, assistant to the international president for government affairs, said when it comes to building the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, there is no better model for scaling up and training the construction workforce than the IBEW and National Electrical Contractor Association’s jointly administered program.

“We have been around since the inception of electricity; we are not a start-up looking for funding,” Keyser said.

The IBEW has over 1,000 signatory contractors, spread across all 50 states, who are using EVITP credentialed journeymen. “There isn’t an inch of U.S. land that isn’t served by a local IBEW/NECA training center," Keyser said. “As the market grows, we can instantly grow with it using local workers.”

The number of apprentices may change, but the curriculum and structure are already in place, he said. “The IBEW and our contractors have already made sure of that.”

To date, no national standards exist for the buildout of the charging network. EVITP ensures that federal investment providing for the installation of EVSE is performed safely, and with the highest level of quality.