With more incentives to buy electric vehicles, we’ll likely see more of them on the road in the coming years. Greenwood Chevrolet EV chargers are a sign the dealership is getting ready for its new lineup of vehicles on the horizon.
CR Electric owner, Jason Rubin, says his company has installed EV charging stations at Greenwood in Hubbard, and they’re up and running. He says the ones in Austintown should be finished by the end of June. They resemble a gas station pump.
“The design and engineering started about a year ago. It’s a whole process, but we do everything in-house. It’s also a huge savings for our customers,” Rubin said.
Design stage execution
The reason? Jason’s father is an electrical engineer. He worked in the automotive industry before starting his own company. He sold it several years ago and retired. Then, he decided he wasn’t ready to leave his career. Now, at 79, he’s happily working 60 hours a week for his son.
“It’s always been a dream to work with my dad, and I guess this is the way it finally happened,” Rubin said.
After the planning and design, the next step is digging up concrete and preparing the site to run power to the charging stations. Ohio Edison installed a new pole at the road and pulled its portion of the wire to the transformer area.
Getting wired and ready
Kenny Lucas is the CR Electric project manager on the job in Austintown. He’s also a four-year instructor at the Youngstown Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC).
“We do all the grounding and bonding work and put our wires through. We pipe for Ohio Edison’s wires which go to the transformer. Once the transformer is energized, we take everything from there,” Lucas said.
Rubin says Ohio Edison will inspect the work before doing the high voltage tie-in and powering up the transformer.
Next to that are four main boxes wired to run electricity underground to the four chargers. Vehicles will be able to plug in on each side. The dealership also has two smaller stations inside the service garage.
Tapping into experience
CR Electric marked 25 years in business this year and has been doing work for Greenwood Chevrolet for just as long. That history gives the company the ground to stand on when it comes to reliability and experience.
“We take care of our customers, price competitively, and there’s a lot of loyalty there,” Rubin said.
He says this is one of the company’s most innovative projects to date.
“Austintown is a bigger project than Hubbard. However, Greenwood tries to be at the forefront of technology, green energy and efficiency,” Rubin said.
CR Electric is a member contractor of NECA-IBEW Electricians, an association of IBEW Local 64 in Youngstown, IBEW Local 573 in Warren and signatory electrical contractors throughout the Mahoning Valley.