The New Year begins with communities digesting a benchmark report by the Missouri Energy Initiative (MEI) and Electrify Missouri on the state of Missouri’s electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.  The Electrical Connection assisted in developing the report, including helping set up panel discussions. The 56-page white paper noted that “while U.S. Department of Energy projections show that Missouri’s ~2,030 public charging station ports are enough to support the approximately 9,000 EVs currently on the road, estimates show that an additional 8,000-plus charging ports will be needed within the next several years to meet expected EV adoption growth.”

The report also noted that St. Louis had become a hub of EV infrastructure training. “The Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local One and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, developed a training curriculum in 2011 for electricians and electrical contractors focused on the installation of charging stations. Over 100 electricians and 20 contractors have been trained through the program and it’s been used to train workers across the country to prepare them to take advantage of a growing industry. Trained contractors are able to act as a one-stop-shop for installation projects, from technical and permitting expertise to siting stations appropriately and taking advantage of available incentives.” Read the full report here.

The New Year ushers in new concerns about screening employees who might be infected by Covid and our IBEW/NECA contractors are helping businesses stay healthy through innovation.  NECA contractor TSI Global Companies is working with businesses on touchless temperature checking tablets.  Created by Aurora TAURA, the tablet is the first line of defense to protect employees and customers.  See the TSI video on this new technology.

2022 also reveals exciting new opportunities for two of our NECA contractors who have merged operations.  Dave Gralike, president of Guarantee Electrical, and Emily Martin, president of Aschinger Electric had known each other for years.  Their firms worked together on some projects, including renovation of the Gateway Arch National Park which earned a slew of awards in 2019, including Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) Global Best Practices Award. It was also saluted in an Electric TV video, which featured both Gralike and Martin. A look behind the recent merger of these two multi-generation Electrical Connection-member contractors inConstruction Forum.

“Emily Martin has been constantly on the lookout for market opportunities over recent years. She aggressively pursued industrial maintenance/arc flash protection and solar energy projects. ‘Our greatest strength and greatest challenge is that we say ‘yes’ and then figure it out,’ Martin said. ‘We continually punch above our weight. We’re really hard workers for the size of our field force.’

Aschinger has about 150 people in the field. Guarantee has 400 in the St. Louis Metro Region. Combined the two companies will have a workforce here and in Denver of about 1,000. In April of this year, Guarantee acquired Colorado Springs, CO-based Berwick Electric. 

Guarantee, while more deliberate in pursuing new markets, had a deep bench strength in pre-construction, modularization, administrative, and support functions. The company has what Guarantee CEO Rick Oertli describes as “a remarkable level of talented 30- and 40-somethings.” Gralike saw how bringing Aschinger’s innovation together with Guarantee’s solid backbone support could produce a stronger organization.”