Joliet installs first city-owned EV charging station

The city of Joliet this week activated its first charging station for electric vehicles.

The two city-owned chargers at the Ottawa Street parking deck are the first of eight Joliet plans to have installed downtown by September. Others are planned for city parking lots on Joliet and Van Buren streets.

Meanwhile, the city is seeking a $7 million federal grant to locate up to 24 chargers around the city.

“It’s a great day to activate our first set of EV chargers”, Mayor Terry D’Arcy said in a news release. “There is a growing demand for charging stations, and we want to be ready for the emergence and growth of electric cars, trucks, buses and the like.”

The chargers being installed downtown are Level 2 charging ports capable of fully charging vehicles in 2.5 to 5 hours, according to the city.

If the federal grant comes through, it would fund the installation of up to 17 Level 2 stations, which would be located in retail and entertainment centers, according to the city. It would also fund up to seven Level 3 stations, which would be capable of fully charging electric vehicles in 30 to 45 minutes and would be located near interstate interchanges.

The city cited numbers from the Illinois Secretary of State website showing the number of electric vehicle registrations in Joliet went from 25 in 2018 to 222 in 2021. In that same period, the number of registrations in Will County went from 410 to 3,800. In Illinois, registrations went from 8,500 to 60,000.

“While EV sales in the USA were only about 4% of total vehicle sales in 2020, it is projected to grow exponentially to 40 to 50% by 2030,” city Economic Development Director Cesar Suarez said in the release. “A similar trend is taking place in lllinois and locally with EV vehicle registrations doubling every two years for Joliet, Will County, and state of Illinois.”