Technicians seeing a surge in demand for electric vehicle chargers
(CBS DETROIT) - Gary Pipia says it's getting busy at Oak Electric in Waterford.
He says the demand for at-home electric vehicle chargers are up and it's keeping his team of technicians booked.
"You know you get home, you plug your EV into your electric vehicle charging station that is typically in your garage or outside your home. It's like your own personal gas station."
"So you get home, you plug in. You top the off so when you wake up in the morning, your electric vehicle is completely charged at 100% and you have an ability to drive all day, the following day, you know up to 300 miles."
Pipia says EV models were introduced to the market a decade ago, a time when the demand for charge ports were low.
But in the past three years installation requests jumped 50 percent.
"It was steady for many years, they didn't have too many options in electric vehicles out there," Pipia said.
"They had the Chevy Volt and some of the other Teslas but, I think within the last three years they introduced a lot of new models, new manufacturers and the demand has got up considerably."
Heather Burchartz is a fan of electric models.
She says she enjoys driving the Jeep Wrangler hybrid – that's powered by both gas and electric – because of its ability to accelerate in a flash, plus savings at the pump.
"They're fun to drive," Burchartz said.
"I mean the response time from throttle is just ridiculously awesome. You just go, there's no hesitation. They are actually improving the environment. Less emissions, so its very, very nice."
Last month Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced plans to create a path to carbon neutrality by 2050, which includes a statewide electric vehicle charging network before 2030.
"Typically, I think its anywhere from $50-$100 a month to use your EV charger, so if you compare that to a gasoline engine with today's fuel costs, I think its much more advantageous for the electric vehicle charging," Pipia said.