AURORA, Colo. — This month, Goodwill of Colorado launched a new program to train people how to repair electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
The free, 4-week training is for people 18 and older who are unemployed or underemployed, and classes are limited to 15 people.
Training is held at a lab and classroom in Aurora. The first group, which started training on July 7, graduates this Friday.
James Sanchez, director of education and training with Goodwill of Colorado, told Denver7 there is a large and growing need to take care of the state's 5,200 EV chargers.
"Typically, what happens right now is that when an EV charging station goes down, whoever owns that station will call an electrician. The electricians really aren't trained on how to repair EV stations," said Sanchez.
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According to Goodwill, EV charging station repair technicians are typically paid between $20 and $30 per hour.
A graduation ceremony is planned for Friday, immediately followed by a job fair.
"We have nine employers that have committed to coming to the event and meeting with our individuals and conducting interviews with them, and go from there and see how things play out with those employers," Sanchez said.
The state reports that the clean energy sector added 3,298 new jobs in 2023 and that it's growing at more than double the rate of the state's overall employment.
According to Goodwill, each person enrolled in the training has access to a case manager who can help with food insecurity, housing, daycare and transportation.
Applications are open for future rounds of training. You can apply through this link.
