Chicago Construction News staff writer
Round two of grants for electric vehicle charging infrastructure at publicly accessible locations were announced last week, funded by the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.The Notice of Funding Opportunity and related documents have been posted to the Illinois EPA website.
All applicants must pre-qualify and apply through the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act Grantee Portal.
“Illinois EPA is excited to offer another funding opportunity, which extends eligibility to include units of local government and publicly available Level 2 charging ports,” director John J. Kim said in a statement. “This funding opportunity compliments the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding being implemented through the Illinois Department of Transportation and will build on the Pritzker Administration’s commitment to electric vehicle growth in Illinois.”
Each application must include a minimum of two publicly accessible charging station locations. See the Notice of Funding Opportunity for funding amounts, power levels, and number of charging ports per location.
Additional points will be awarded to projects at a charging station location in an area identified as an Equity Investment Eligible Community through the EIEC mapping tool.
Eligible applicants are private organizations (including sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies) that are incorporated under Illinois law and registered and in good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State. Applicants must be the owner of a proposed charging station location and/or the owner of the proposed charging station. Both Level 3 DC Fast Charging and Level 2 charging ports are eligible for funding.
All required forms and information can be found on the Driving A Cleaner Illinois webpage: https://epa.illinois.gov/topics/air-quality/driving-a-cleaner-illinois.html. Applications for the Driving a Cleaner Illinois – Climate and Equitable Jobs Act EV Charging NOFO will be accepted from March 22 through 5:00 PM (CST) on May 10, 2024.
IEPA expects to announce Round One awardees in the coming weeks.