EPA announces $12.6 million in grants for EV charging infrastructure in Illinois

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director John J. Kim has announced that $12.6 million in grants is being awarded to 10 applicants for electric vehicle-charging infrastructure.

The grants will fund 348 new Direct Current Fast Charging ports at 87 locations throughout Illinois. The awards are based on a notice of funding opportunity issued in the fall of 2022 seeking publicly accessible locations in the three priority areas outlined in the Volkswagen Beneficiary Mitigation Plan.

These grants were made possible after Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration committed to focus Illinois’ remaining VW settlement allocation on electric transportation and infrastructure.

The Illinois EPA is funding DCFC light-duty charging stations at publicly accessible locations, such as shopping centers, retail stores, gas stations and hotels, in the three priority areas outlined in the VW BMP and specified in the initial NOFO. Grant awards in the priority area/counties are as follows and include 42 sites in environmental justice areas:

• Priority Area 1 = 34 sites: Cook = 6, DuPage = 11, Kane = 8, Lake = 3, McHenry = 2, Will = 3, Grundy County = 1
• Priority Area 2 = 22 sites: Madison = 11, Monroe = 2, St. Clair = 9
• Priority Area 3 = 31 sites: Champaign = 7, DeKalb = 2, La Salle = 4, McLean = 4, Peoria = 2, Sangamon = 3, Winnebago = 9

Grant applicants were required to include a minimum of two projects in two or more of the priority areas. Applications with a minimum of three projects, one in each of the three priority areas, were prioritized for review, scoring and funding.

As part of the VW settlement, Illinois’ revised VW BMP focuses on reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in areas where the affected VW vehicles were registered. The revised BMP takes into consideration areas that do not meet federal air quality standards for ozone and bear a disproportionate share of the air pollution burden, including environmental justice areas.