EV Communities

DCEO’s Equitable Energy Future Grant Program is a pre-development and planning grant for eligible contractors or businesses. It has an on-the-job training component. Planning for EV charging stations is an eligible project. This is a rolling opportunity that closes on June 30, 2024. Find out more on the DCEO website. 

The Illinois Department of Transportation is tasked with building out EV chargers along interstate corridors across Illinois through its federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program allocation.  For more information, see here.

For business customers in the ComEd service area, ComEd currently has EV rebates available ranging from $5,000 to $180,000 for the following types of light, medium, and heavy-duty electric vehicles: Fleet Vehicles, Transit Buses, and K-12 School Buses.

In addition, there are Make-Ready rebates available for both Level 2 and Level 3 DCFC Charging infrastructure (but not the chargers themselves). More information may be obtained from ComEd at https://comed.chooseev.com/commercial/promos/.

Through funding from both Illinois EPA and the USEPA, school districts across Illinois have begun to transition to cleaner school buses. School districts that may be interested in pursuing bus electrification should review the technical assistance materials available here and information on potential tax credits here. The Illinois EPA anticipates releasing additional electric school bus funding under the Driving a Cleaner Illinois program.

The State of Illinois continues to work with regional and local partners to apply for a number of competitive federal funding opportunities in the electrification sector. Recently, the State received electrification funding under the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program and the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator, with additional federal applications pending.

In January 2024, it was announced that the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), in its role as the Illinois Climate Bank, was chosen to receive $14.9M for charging infrastructure projects from the US Department of Transportation's FY22-FY23 Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program.  IFA will share the list of selected communities and further details about the planned expenditures for this award on the federal funding page on IFA’s website.

The Illinois Finance Authority PACE Program is designed to accelerate private investment in PACE Projects affixed to existing and newly constructed commercial, industrial, non-residential agricultural, and multi-family (5 or more units) properties, in each case up to 25% of the value of the property. Eligible improvements generally include fixtures, products, systems, equipment, devices, and materials intended for energy efficiency, renewable energy, resiliency, or water use; electric vehicle charging stations are eligible improvements too. Read more.