Pump to Plug – Part IV: Optimizing Tier 2 for Sustainable EV Charging Networks

Brad Juhasz

• January 5, 2026

Most conversations about EV charging reliability still orbit around the same two poles. On one side, hardware is poorly designed, poorly manufactured, subject to frequent failures. On the other, field service is scarce or unavailable and those that are available are often not properly trained. In short: If chargers were more robust, we’re told, uptime would improve. If there were more technicians in trucks, reliability would follow.

Both arguments are incomplete. And more importantly, they miss the layer where reliability is most often won or lost.

That layer is Tier 2. Not the charger. Not the truck roll. But the function that decides whether a truck roll is needed at all.

The EV charging industry often frames reliability as a binary problem:

• Either the hardware is failing
• Or the field response is too slow

This framing is attractive because it is simple. It is also misleading.

Between “something broke” and “someone shows up on site” sits a decision system.

• What actually failed?
• Is the station truly unavailable or just degraded?
• Can the issue be cleared remotely?
• If not, what skills, parts, and access will be required?

This