There are a ton of electricians out there with specialties that range from industrial lighting to residential rewiring and absolutely everything in between. Some are even getting themselves ready for the latest big thing: wiring electric vehicle charging stations. Tesla offers an electric vehicle charging station certification, but is it worth the effort?

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

Any time you do extra work to get a specialty certification, it says something to your potential customers about you. Mainly, that you’re invested in your profession and that you’re willing to go above and beyond to be the best darned electrician you can be. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if that particular prospect is looking to have a specialty item installed - the fact that you know a lot more about your job than the guy who’s doing the bare minimum can carry you a long way.

But adding a Tesla EV certification takes you into a whole other direction than many of today’s electricians. While they’re out working on dated technology, you’re literally putting yourself ahead of the pack by staying up to date with the latest trends in consumer and industrial electricity.

Do You Need a Cert to Install EV Stations?

In short, no. You absolutely don’t need a certification - you can call Tesla and they’ll help you through the process if you’re doing a one-off install for a customer. But once you’ve done the first one and that customer is happy (and their car hasn’t exploded), why not go all-in? After all, electric car technology is only becoming more familiar as more households are adopting it to help reduce pollution levels.

In the next five years or so, predictions expect a surge in consumer interest in electric vehicles. Not just from Tesla, but from more mainstream car makers like Ford and Chevy. As more plug-in cars roll off the production line, someone has to make sure homes are ready for them. And so, so many aren’t.

What a Tesla (or Chevy or Ford) certification means is that you are, hands down, an electrician willing to do the work, you’ve put in your hours and you have the full blessing of the certifying company (and that they’ll back your work should there be an issue with the car, down the road). For Tesla owners, this is a big deal, especially as older models continue to make the news for blowing up during their charge cycles.

For a business looking to add electric car plug-ins to their parking lot, it’s no small sack of potatoes, either. They’ll want to know you’re by the book and that you won’t be cutting corners. EV safety is a big deal, especially as we’re just barely scratching the surface of what life with electric vehicles could be like.

Tesla Certification Pros and Cons

Anyone can physically install an EV station in a home, even a homeowner (God rest their souls). Whether they do this properly or not may take months or years to really suss out. But, when someone who has dropped $80k on an electric vehicle (or even $45k on a lower-end model) is looking for a charging station to support one or more cars, a few grand isn’t that much of an investment to be 100 percent sure that their purchase is protected.

You have the experience to tell them if their breaker box is currently overloaded or if it will become overtaxed rapidly if they don’t also bring in a new drop from the road. You also know how to work around problems that might throw a wrench in the works, like those two electric dryers they run at the same time pretty much constantly.

Having the cert means that you’ve done a little extra paperwork to show that you are actually as competent as you hope to be. And, when it comes to Tesla, you also get some free advertising from the company. If you’re in an EV heavy area, that fact alone could make a big difference in how many car charging stations you install in 2020.

Are you specialty certified to install electric car charging stations? Tell us about the steps it took to get there and if you feel like you get a benefit from the added pedigree in the comments below!

ElectricianTalk.com