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    ComEd and Metropolitan Mayors Caucus launch program to support EV adoption in Illinois

    May 5, 2022
    ComEd will invest $225,000 in the program which will help remove the barriers to EV adoption. This EV Readiness Program will support communities as they develop and implement programs to promote EVs and seek state and federal funds for EV infrastructure
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    Chicago-based electric distribution utility ComEd  and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus have announced a new initiative – the EV Readiness Program – to help communities in northern Illinois prepare for the growth in demand for EV charging infrastructure.

    ComEd will invest $225,000 in the program which will help remove the barriers to EV adoption. This EV Readiness Program will support communities as they develop and implement programs to promote EVs and seek state and federal funds for EV charging infrastructure development.

    ComEd’s investment will be used for program development, personnel and consulting costs to educate municipalities across its service region over the next two years.

    Federal and state funds will be released later in 2022. The Congress has approved a $5 billion investment to help states with EV charging infrastructure and EV adoption. Federal funding will help advance Governor Pritzker's plan to have a million EVs running on road by 2030.

    "We know that communities have been looking for guidance, and the EV Readiness Program will prepare them to move swiftly on new investments coming forward as a result of clean energy policy advancements made at the state and local levels,” Kevin Burns, Mayor of the City of Geneva, Illinois, and Chairman of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Environment Committee and EV Readiness Advisory Committee, said.

    Under the EV Readiness Program, local governments will secure support on removing barriers to adoption, expanding markets for EVs, facilitating charging infrastructure. A municipality or county will earn the status of an EV Ready Community based on several factors, including zoning and planning, permitting, parking and access, EV owner rights, utility engagement and market development and finance.

    The program is formulated using guidance from the EV Readiness Advisory Committee, which is a group of over 50 local transportation and sustainability experts from the public and private sectors.

    The program will include the development of an EV toolkit and the opportunity for competitive grant funding.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.