Two hotels in Monroe County were chosen among 87 locations throughout Illinois for electric vehicle charging ports as part of grant funding.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director John J. Kim on Monday announced $12.6 million is being awarded to 10 applicants for EV charging infrastructure. 

The grants will fund 348 new Direct Current Fast Charging ports at these 87 locations. The awards are based on a Notice of Funding Opportunity issued in this past fall seeking publicly accessible locations in three priority areas outlined in the Volkswagen Beneficiary Mitigation Plan. 

These grants were made possible after the Pritzker Administration committed to focus Illinois’ remaining Volkswagen EPA litigation settlement allocation on electric transportation and infrastructure.

“Through our remaining VW settlement money, we are dispersing $12.6 million to build 348 new fast charging ports up and down the state,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “This doesn’t just expand access for residents and visitors – it also brings us one step closer toward our mission of achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2050.”

The Illinois EPA is funding DCFC light-duty charging stations at publicly accessible locations (shopping centers, retail stores, gas stations, hotels, etc.). Monroe County was listed in Priority Area 2 along with Madison and St. Clair counties.  

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.

Universal EV was one of the 10 applicants awarded projects as part of this funding. 

One of its bids was for $407,550 to install EV charging at hotels in Columbia, North Aurora and Champaign.

Another successful Universal EV bid was also for $407,550 to install EV charging at hotels in Waterloo, Palatine and Champaign.