New Biden law will bring more electric vehicle chargers to IL. How popular are EVs?

President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will give Illinois about $149 million over five years to expand the statewide electric vehicle charging network.

The Illinois Department of Transportation plans to use these funds to build direct current fast charging stations every 50 miles along designated corridors, according to the Illinois Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan.

The state’s deployment plan, which was released Aug. 1, reports there are six “Electric Vehicle Ready Corridors” and seven “Electric Vehicle Pending Corridors” in Illinois. Here are the designated corridors:

Electric vehicle ready

• I-39 from Rockford to Sun Prairie, Wis.

• I-55 from Chicago to Bolingbrook

• I-74 from Illinois/Iowa border to Illinois/Indiana border

• I-80 from Illinois/Indiana border to Joliet

• I-90 from Illinois/Indiana border to Sun Prairie, Wis., and from La Crosse, Wis., to Sparta, Wis.

• I-94 from Sun Prairie, Wis., to Illinois/Indiana border

Electric vehicle pending

• I-39 from Normal to Rockford

• I-55 from Normal to St. Louis

• I-80 from Joliet to Illinois/Iowa border

• I-70 from St. Louis to Indiana border

• I-55 from Joliet to Normal

• I-57 from Chicago to Missouri border

• I-64 from St. Louis to Indiana border

Illinois currently has 1,005 public electric vehicle charging stations with 2,505 ports, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

How popular are electric vehicles in Illinois and Missouri?

Illinois residents have registered 36,520 electric vehicles statewide as of Dec. 31, 2021, the most recent date for which data are available. Electric vehicles are less popular in Missouri, with 10,050 registered in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

While the number of electric vehicles registered in Illinois has consistently increased for at least the past six years, they still make up a relatively small percentage of all light-duty vehicles registered, representing 0.4% of the market share in 2021.

There are 0.003 electric vehicles per capita in Illinois, the U.S. Department of Energy reports, while there are 0.002 per capita in Missouri, making up 0.2% of Missouri’s light-duty vehicle market share.

Illinois has the 9th highest number of registered electric vehicles in the country as last year. Here are the top 10 states with the most electric vehicles in 2021, from the U.S. Department of Energy:

1. California (563,070 registered electric vehicles, making up 1.6% of the total light-duty vehicle market share)

2. Florida (95,640, 0.5%)

3. Texas (80,900, 0.3%)

4. Washington (66,810, 1%)

5. New York (51,870, 0.5%)

6. New Jersey (47,830, 0.7%)

7. Arizona (40,740, 0.6%)

8. Colorado (37,000, 0.7%)

9. Illinois (36,520, 0.4%)

10. Georgia (34,020, 0.4%)

Here’s electric vehicle registrations by state, from the U.S. Department of Energy:

Where are electric vehicle chargers located in the metro-east?

There are several electric vehicle charging stations on both sides of the Mississippi River, including locations in St. Louis, O’Fallon, Collinsville and Fairview Heights.

Here’s a list of Level 2 and DC Fast electric vehicle charging stations in the metro-east, from the U.S. Department of Energy:

• Hampton Inn at 430 Regency Park, O’Fallon, IL 62269 (Level 2)

• Auffenberg Nissan at 1690 New Car Drive, O’Fallon, IL 62269 (Level 2, DC Fast)

• Crossroads Centre at 10850 Lincoln Trail, Fairview Heights, IL 62208 (DC Fast)

• Casey’s General Store at 217 N. Bluff Road, Collinsville, IL 62234 (Tesla Supercharger, DC Fast)

• Walmart at 1040 Collinsville Crossing Blvd., Collinsville, IL 62234 (DC Fast)

You can search for more electric vehicle charging locations online.

This story was originally published October 4, 2022 at 11:28 AM.

Meredith Howard

Belleville News-Democrat

Meredith Howard is a service journalist with the Belleville News-Democrat. She is a Baylor University graduate and has previously freelanced with the Illinois Times and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Support my work with a digital subscription