Pump to Plug – Part II: The Emerging Workforce Behind America’s Charging Infrastructure

Brad Juhasz

• November 25, 2025

For decades, a quiet but essential workforce has kept America’s fueling network running: gas‑pump service technicians. Spread across tens of thousands of stations, these technicians maintain dispensers, meters, payment terminals, and safety systems that keep the liquid‑fuel economy functioning.

In the gasoline world, the U.S. service ecosystem includes an estimated 7,000–19,000 dedicated pump and petroleum‑equipment technicians supporting roughly 1 to 1.2 million gas pumps nationwide.

But as the country transitions from pumps to plugs, a new technical workforce is emerging—larger, more diverse, and far more central to reliability than anything required in the gas era.

Using today’s public‑charging footprint and a 2030 forecast from NREL’s National Charging Network, the demand for EV charging technicians is already substantial—and rising quickly.

2025 (Current Public Network): • Senior (Electrician‑Level): ~760–800 • Junior (PM/Field Techs): ~1,100–1,200 • Total Workforce: ~1,900–2,000

2030 (NREL Mid‑Case Scenario): • Senior (Electrician‑Level): ~4,500–4,700 • Junior (PM/Field Techs): ~8,000–8,100 • Total Workforce: ~12,500–13,000

The EV charging