The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) has opened the first four public electric vehicle (EV) charging sites under the Illinois EPA’s Driving a Cleaner Illinois program. The four sites total 16 charging ports, which are the first of more than 2,600 public DC fast chargers and Level 2 ports the Illinois EPA plans to deploy across the state.
“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 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 four charging sites are available at Casey’s locations in Beach Park, Le Roy and Troy, and a FasMart location in South Beloit.
“Under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), the State of Illinois aims to deploy one million EVs on the road by 2030,” the agency said in a press release. “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.”
It continued: “Of these public charging ports, approximately 2,000 will be DC fast chargers and 600 will be Level 2. The Illinois EPA plans to release more detailed information soon on the CEJA EV Chargers Round 2 funding awards.”
