Illinois turned on its first EV charging station built with federal highway money this week, at a Phillips 66 gas station in Casey, along Route 49 near Interstate 70. The four fast chargers can deliver up to 350 kilowatts and run on the Electrify America network. The project got $854,641 through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a federal fund that pays private companies to add charging along major travel corridors.
This is mostly news about road-trip charging rather than home charging, but it points to more coming. The state just announced a third round of funding, $23.5 million, that will pay for 140 new charging plugs at 29 locations, with at least four fast chargers at each site so a car can charge in under 30 minutes. Across all three funding rounds so far, Illinois has lined up more than $67 million for 91 stations, with a goal of 489 public charging plugs once the program is finished.
New stations are landing in scattered spots around the state, including Champaign, Cook, Kane, LaSalle, Lee, Sangamon, St. Clair, and Will counties, at libraries, hotels, and local businesses. If you drive an EV or are thinking about buying one, this expands the number of places you can recharge on longer trips, particularly in smaller towns that haven't had fast chargers before. It doesn't change anything about charging equipment at your own house, but it does mean fewer worries about running low on a road trip.
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- Program
- National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI)
- Amount
- $23,500,000
- Technology
- EV charger
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