Illinois Opens First EV Chargers Under State EPA Grant Program
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois opened the first four electric vehicle (EV) charging sites under the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's (Illinois EPA) Driving a Cleaner Illinois program.
The sixteen charging ports at four charging sites are located at gas stations in Beach Park (Lake County), Le Roy (McLean County), South Beloit (Winnebago County) and Troy (Madison County). The new sites are the first of more than 2,600 public DC fast charge and Level 2 ports the Illinois EPA plans to deploy across the state.
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"Here in Illinois, we are excited to continue the build out of our electric vehicle charging network to support the transition to zero-emission vehicles," said Illinois EPA Interim Director James Jennings. "The Driving a Cleaner Illinois program addresses gaps in the current EV charging network to assure that electric vehicles remain a choice for motorists across Illinois."
The Driving a Cleaner Illinois grant program was developed to distribute funding for various types of mobile source electrification projects, according to the state agency. The program utilizes funding from the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Program, with applicants applying through an open grant process on a rotating basis.
Under CEJA, the State of Illinois aims to deploy 1 million EVs on the road by 2030. The Illinois EPA has already awarded or is in the process of awarding a total of $82.6 million in grants to build DC fast chargers and level 2 chargers at public locations, including hotels, shopping centers and gas stations. Of these public charging ports, approximately 2,000 will be DC fast charge and 600 will be Level 2.
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The Illinois EPA plans to release more detailed information soon on the CEJA EV Chargers Round 2 funding awards in the future.
Interested and eligible applicants may find a current list of open grant programs under Driving a Cleaner Illinois here.