Liz is the first of her friend group to go electric. She shares how working as a field service technician to repair EV charging stations, her need for a mom car, and the federal tax incentives led her to purchase a Chevy Blazer EV last year.
My background is in working with computers and machines. I had been working as a slot machine technician in a casino when I learned about an opening with Lynkwell, an EV charging solutions provider, as a Field Service Technician in October 2022. I had a great mentor at Lynkwell who trained me to get up to speed on the electrical side of things with EV chargers. Customer service would send me out to repair EV charging sites when they were reported as faulted or disconnected from the network. It was my job to figure out what happened and fix the station. Connectivity to the network was the most common station fix I needed to make in the field, though sometimes I’d have to troubleshoot the electrical, or do a full replacement of the charging unit if it was not repairable. Charging cables would frequently need to be replaced if they had been run over by a lawn mower or snow plow during winter weather conditions.
Fast forward a couple of years, and last summer I needed to upgrade to a mom car. I test drove a Dodge Hornet hybrid and also tried out the fully electric Chevy Blazer. The Blazer EV had the right amount of space and looks like a typical gas-powered car. Plus, the $7000 federal EV incentive available to me when I leased the vehicle at the dealership put this vehicle in my price range.
An added bonus of working for an EV Charging company is that I get to charge for free when I’m at work, so that’s where I do most of my charging. I have great charging options near my home too, including some level two chargers and a public fast charger one mile away from where I live. I can also plug into a regular 110V wall outlet at home. I’ve kept close track of how much I’ve spent this past year to charge my EV – it’s less than $300. Previously, I was paying $120 a month for premium gas – so I’ve saved more than $1100 in one year.
My advice to others who are considering making the switch to an EV – make sure you have charging infrastructure where you live and/or work – the rest you can figure out. In the past year of driving my EV and charging publicly, I’ve only had one charging mishap when travelling. When I got to the station, the charger was down, but I’d planned ahead and knew where another charger was, so I left and went to that station. Additionally, really cold sub-zero weather like we experienced in upstate New York this past winter does compromise the battery range significantly, so be prepared for that. Driving an EV does take some planning and thought. Sometimes it means you’re playing musical cars if you have a lot of trips planned and can’t charge at home. But at the end of the day, I’m saving money, have less car maintenance, and love my EV. I know it’s nerdy, but I love talking about EVs, chargers, how they work, and their dependability.
When I get together with friends, I’m often the one who drives. I’m happy to take my vehicle – it has plenty of room and my friends love to ride in it and ask me questions about it. For now, I’m the only one of us who drives an EV. I’m passionate about driving an EV, and I love sharing information about my experience so others feel comfortable to make the jump.
