Tag: electric vehicles

Sustainable DuPage Webinar

Charge Up: Preparing Businesses for an Electric World

Posted on | by courtney

A Sustainable DuPage Webinar

This webinar is all about electric vehicles! Learn about evaluating your needs, fleet assessments, and the tools available for business owners considering a move to electric. 

Presenters:

  • Violeta Ryman, Senior Program Manager, ComEd
  • Rahul Chatterjea, Senior Energy Engineer, ComEd

 

To request a copy of this presentation, please contact Choose DuPage.

About the Sustainable DuPage Program Series

Choose DuPage and the DuPage County Environmental Division have partnered to host a series of sustainability-focused events. Made for businesses and communities in the DuPage region, the series covers topics at the intersection of business, life and sustainability.

Learn More About Sustainable DuPage
electric vehicles

Start Your Engines: Northern Illinois Emerges as an EV Powerhouse

Posted on | by courtney

Northern Illinois has long been a leader of science, technology and advanced manufacturing. Now, those fields are coming together to drive the region’s electric-vehicle (EV) ecosystem—a growing network of communities, manufacturers, institutions and suppliers dedicated to all things EV.  

The result is a win-win: an influx of jobs and investment for the region and an emerging powerhouse committed to building the future of sustainable technology.

Charged Up: Welcome to the EV Ecosystem

Governments and businesses around the world have committed to reducing carbon emissions and investing in more sustainable technologies. That includes Illinois, where the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act has the state on the road to 100% clean energy by 2045.

To deliver on these commitments and create a cleaner, more sustainable future, communities must reduce their reliance on fossil fuel-burning automotives. (The EPA estimates that transportation accounts for about 27% of U.S. emissions.) That means alternatives, such as EVs, must be made widely available.  

While a small portion of Americans currently drive electric vehicles, making EVs affordable and available to the majority of the country will require mass production, as well as investments in a new infrastructure to support EVs and advancements in the technologies that power them. EVs are coming, but first we must solve a massive logistical puzzle.

That’s exactly what’s happening in Illinois, where an ‘EV ecosystem’ has emerged to fuel the development and production of EVs. This ecosystem consists of six major factors:

  1. The regional supply chain, including businesses that manufacture EVs, batteries, semiconductors and other related technologies. Illinois is the fourth-largest auto employment base in the U.S., the #2 location for battery manufacturers, and #4 in number of locations that manufacture non-battery EV components.
  2. The policies that support EV-related investments, including subsidies, rebates and incentives through the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and the Reimagining Electric Vehicles Act. In Illinois, there are currently more than $70 million in capital funds earmarked for EV infrastructure projects.
  3. The research institutions that advance the economic and scientific development of the EV field. Two of the 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories are located in the heart of Northern Illinois, DuPage County: Argonne and Fermilab. Argonne alone receives $1 billion in annual funding to advance U.S. battery research and manufacturing, as well as research into the EV-adjacent fields of semiconductors, material science, transportation systems, grid stability and security, clean energy generation, supply chain security, quantum computing and AI.
  4. The diverse talent pipeline that makes all of this possible. Home to some of the nation’s top engineering and IT and computer-science schools, Illinois’ EV workforce is projected to increase by 83% by 2024.
  5. A central location that enables mass distribution of EV products across North America. Northern Illinois is located in the middle of one of the world’s most connected rail networks and is home to several international airports and a robust system of navigable waterways.
  6. Strong local demand for EVs. Illinois is already home to 54,000 EV drivers and thousands of charging stations. That consumer base continues to grow as local drivers, communities and transportation organizations go electric.

On their own, each factor is critical. But it’s their unique combination that has made Northern Illinois a global hub for the EV industry, and businesses are taking notice.

Bumper to Bumper

While the rise of Illinois’ EV ecosystem can be traced to the region’s rich history of automotive production, the industry shifted into overdrive with the arrival of EV manufacturer Rivian.

In 2016, Rivian’s leadership team visited a shuttered Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois. They were there to purchase equipment. However, once they arrived in Illinois and took stock of the region’s workforce and pro-business policies, they changed course and purchased the plant. With backing from investors including Amazon, Ford and Cox Automotive, Rivian expanded their Illinois operations and went public in November 2021. Today, the company employs 3,700 workers and is one of the world’s biggest EV producers.

Attracting Rivian was itself a big win for the Illinois EV industry, but it was only the beginning.   

In 2021, as Rivian’s first electric truck rolled off the assembly line, Canadian manufacturer Lion Electric Company announced that it had selected Joliet in Will County, Illinois as the site of its U.S. manufacturing facility. When production begins in late 2022, Lion’s 900,000-square-foot facility will produce up to 20,000 zero-emission buses and trucks each year.

These vehicles will be essential to helping communities across the country decarbonize transportation systems. Their production, meanwhile, will bring more than 1,400 jobs and over $130 million to Joliet.

Next in line was Merkur, a manufacturing performance and product-development firm. They opened a new office in DuPage County, Illinois to be closer to Lion and the regional EV ecosystem.

“We want to be where our customers are; it’s as simple as that,” said Jonathan Levesque, Director of Business Development and USA Market at Merkur.

“Northern Illinois has several key advantages for us. It’s a major hub for the industries we serve: transportation, manufacturing, aeronautics and agri-food. Plus, its central location and international airports make it easy for us to reach clients and suppliers across the country and around the world. When our client Lion moved here, it was an easy decision to open an office in Downers Grove.”

“What I love about this story is that it shows how attracting the right business brings more businesses,” said Doug Pryor, President & CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development.

“First there was Rivian, then Lion, then Merkur. Now, we have more companies in EV and related sectors looking to invest. It’s all because of regional collaboration; working together, we made a strong cluster to support future economic growth. We created the conditions that allow these businesses to thrive.”

Fueling the Movement

A short drive from Merkur and Lion – you could easily visit all three on a single charge – is Argonne National Laboratory. One of 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories (and one of two in DuPage County), Argonne is approaching the challenge of building an EV infrastructure on multiple fronts.

The first is economic. There are currently about 52,000 public charging stations across the U.S. That might sound impressive, but to meet growing demand and facilitate the widespread use of EVs, the country must build hundreds of thousands more.

The good news is that there is a large pool of federal funding – $5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – marked for new charging stations. However, to access this funding, states must first demonstrate the potential economic benefits of new stations.

Identifying and gathering the right data can be difficult. That’s why scientists at Argonne developed a free online tool (JOBS EVSE) to help states estimate the economic impact of charging stations. Using the tool, state representatives and others can determine the cost of installing and maintaining new stations. They can compare that cost to the total value in sales that the stations are projected to generate, as well as the estimated number of jobs that will be produced during construction and management.

The Consumer Angle

While Argonne is helping states access funding to build charging stations, they are also working to help electric vehicle drivers of the future spend less time at the (electric) pump.

Currently, a pit stop at a charging station can take 30 minutes or more, much longer than it takes to pump gas. Scientists at Argonne are working to narrow that gap. In partnership with several other national laboratories, they are developing batteries and charging technologies designed to speed-up recharging to 15 minutes or less, while enabling batteries to hold higher densities of energy for longer charges.

Faster charging and longer battery life are more than just convenient. Shorter lines at the pumps enable widespread adoption of EVs, while faster charging makes electric trucks more feasible for the fast-moving supply chain.

“I think it’s fair to say that every car company views fast charging as the ‘killer app,’” said Venkat Srinivasan, director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) in a recent post on Argonne’s website. “We are reaching a stage where electric cars and trucks must charge fast — it’s not a nice-to-have.”

Meanwhile, another DuPage County organization, ComEd, is also approaching the EV challenge from a consumer angle. Buying an electric vehicle for the first time can be intimidating. To make the process more approachable, ComEd recently released the EV Toolkit, a digital resource that provides helpful information on savings, benefits and incentives for consumers purchasing EVs, as well as an overview of EV brands and models, rate options and charging locations.

“Mass consumer education is critical,” said Jennifer Morand, Co-President of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association in a ComEd press release. “The EV customers of yesterday can’t be compared to today’s EV buyer, which is why resources like ComEd’s EV Toolkit are pivotal for this next phase of EV adoption.”

Supercharged: The Future of EVs in Northern Illinois

Give it a few years, and you could be riding a bus manufactured by Lion Electric in Joliet, produced under the guidance of Merkur in Downers Grove, powered by a battery using technology developed at Argonne, and built using parts sourced from suppliers across the region.

That’s the vision of Northern Illinois’ EV ecosystem: to create a diverse and comprehensive regional supply chain, where producers can source nearly all of their supplies locally. For the region, that would mean more jobs and a more stable and efficient supply chain, while generating tax revenue for local communities.  

While the Northern Illinois EV ecosystem has already begun to achieve this vision, there is still room to grow.

In particular, there is a high demand for regional producers of batteries and semiconductors. Today, batteries, the most valuable component of electric vehicles, are almost exclusively produced in China, Japan and Korea. (For comparison: in 2020, China had 93 battery-producing mega-factories. The U.S. had four.) Semiconductors, another essential component, are also widely produced overseas.

As a result, domestic EV manufacturers often must source essential components from overseas operations. As the global supply chain has become increasingly volatile, there have been numerous production delays, shortages and rising material costs.

Local, state and national governments are working to change that. New federal programs like CHIPS and the Science Bill offer semiconductor producers billions in subsidies to invest stateside. Meanwhile, Illinois is targeting battery and chip manufacturers through aggressive incentive programs, while communities across Northern Illinois continue to draw investors from across the supply chain to the region’s emerging electric vehicle ecosystem.

“Whether you’re making the vehicle itself, the battery, the chip, or the many other components that go into developing EVs and the EV infrastructure, we want you here,” said Greg Bedalov, President and CEO of Choose DuPage, the economic development organization of DuPage County.

“We have the workforce, the suppliers, the incentives and the location. Most importantly, we have the mindset. Our communities believe that sustainable technology is the key to a better future. We’re here to make it.”

EV

ComEd Unveils Plan to Support Beneficial Electrification in Northern Illinois, Including Increased Adoption of Electric Vehicles

Posted on | by courtney

Proposed plan would provide $100 million per year in incentives, education and infrastructure support to remove barriers to electrification and deliver significant environmental and air quality improvements for communities 

CHICAGO (July 6, 2022) —ComEd announced that it has submitted its plan to support the adoption of beneficial electrification (BE) technologies, including customer adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), which regulates the state’s public utilities. ComEd is proposing to commit $100 million annually over the next three years to promote beneficial electrification, with programs designed to reduce upfront costs of EVs and charging equipment; enable broad, equitable deployment of charging infrastructure and other electrification technologies; educate customers; and prioritize investments equitably for communities in need. 

This plan would significantly lower carbon emissions and provide invaluable health and human welfare benefits including air quality improvements derived from a reduction of harmful pollutants from vehicle tailpipes. The plan marks the latest milestone in the implementation of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). ComEd’s plan advances the objectives of CEJA, including the law’s goal of having 1 million EVs on the road in Illinois by 2030 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality for communities across the state. 

Through a mix of incentives, new rate design options, and educational and technical support, ComEd’s plan would help promote the transition to clean transportation and other clean technologies. The proposed investments would prioritize low-income customers and customers residing in environmental justice Restore, Reinvest, Renew (R3) communities and, as defined by the State of Illinois. 

“ComEd is committed to supporting a clean energy future that promotes cleaner air and safer communities, and that helps all of our communities achieve the goals set forward by the state’s new clean energy law,” said Gil C. Quiniones, CEO of ComEd. “The threat of climate change requires us to take swift action to reduce emissions by moving faster to adopt cleaner technologies. Designed with input from a wide range of local stakeholders and experts, our plan will reduce barriers for customers and support broad adoption of electrification across homes, schools, and communities in our region – keeping the state at the forefront for clean energy while creating the infrastructure needed to eliminate harmful emissions across all our communities.” 

ComEd made the announcement during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a recently installed Multi-Unit Dwelling (MUD) EV charging station at 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. This installation is the first of five planned MUD charging stations that will serve residential properties with three or more units and enable research funded in part by a U.S. Department of Energy grant. EV charging infrastructure, and especially infrastructure designed to provide accessibility to all communities, is vital for the broad adoption of EVs. The new BE Plan, combined with state and federal programs, will further expand deployment of EV infrastructure across northern Illinois. 

“For too long, the health of our communities has been negatively impacted by harmful air pollution, but CEJA is giving us an opportunity to reverse that trend and accelerate the transition to EVs,” said Billy Davis, General Manager of Jitney EV and a member of the Bronzeville Community of the Future Advisory Council. “The Beneficial Electrification plan ComEd is proposing will give a much-needed boost to our efforts in Bronzeville and across the region to electrify transportation, eliminate charging deserts, improve air quality, and create economic opportunities for new businesses.” 

In support of the state’s goals, the plan will contribute to long-term air quality improvements by enabling EV adoption to lower carbon and air pollutant emissions. ComEd estimates that vehicle and other incentives and rebates as outlined in the plan would help remove 900,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent of the amount of carbon sequestered by approximately 1 million acres of U.S. forests in one year, an area approximately the size of Glacier National Park. What’s more, the plan would avoid an estimated 4,000 metric tons of local pollutants emitted from vehicle tailpipes, providing health and human welfare benefits, especially for disadvantaged communities where vehicle emissions have the greatest health impacts. 

“CACC encourages the use of clean fuel vehicles, clean fuels, and advanced vehicle technologies to promote an improved environment, energy efficiencies, domestic and renewable fuels, and a reduction in the use of imported petroleum,” said John Walton, Chair of the Chicago Area Clean Cities (CACC) coalition. “Electric vehicles have a role in furthering our mission to improve air quality and reduce lung disease, and ComEd’s beneficial electrification plan will help expand access to infrastructure and encourage more robust EV participation for our region.” 

“While Illinois has dramatically cut air pollution from fossil fuel power plants, vehicles are now the number one cause of carbon pollution in Illinois” said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health Programs at Respiratory Health Association. “With a focus on getting more zero-emission electric vehicles in communities, ComEd’s Beneficial Electrification plan is a serious roadmap for improving air quality precisely where the combination of high lung disease rates and unhealthy air pollution levels present the greatest threat to area residents.” 

Earlier this year, ComEd participated in a series of workshops to engage regional partners, including 10 meetings hosted by the ICC, to formalize input from those representing communities, health advocacy, industry, local business, school districts and other customer groups and interests across the service region. ComEd embraced the feedback it heard and proposed a plan to address the priorities of the communities it serves. 

The key components of the BE Plan include:

Residential Program 

The BE Plan includes $15 million annually in incentives that will reduce upfront costs related to purchase and installation of EVs, in-home charging stations, and non-transportation electrification equipment (such as building heating and cooling, lawn equipment, electric stoves, etc.). Larger rebates will be available for low-income customers and those located in environmental justice and/or equity investment eligible communities. To ensure those with the greatest needs have access to resources, ComEd will target 50 percent of its residential program funds for customers in equity investment eligible communities. 

C&I and Public Sector Program

To reduce the cost barriers associated with purchasing fleet vehicles and installing charging stations, the plan proposes $63 million annually to support new rebates for fleet electrification, with the majority of funding going toward vehicle rebates for public transit, commercial and school fleets. Funding will also support charging installation costs for public sector customers and public charging providers in environmental justice or R3 communities. This is intended to provide additional support to accelerate the benefits of clean transportation to environmental justice and equity investment eligible communities. Across the C&I and Public Sector Program, ComEd will target more than 40 percent of funding for customers within or primarily serving equity investment eligible communities. 

“ComEd’s Beneficial Electrification Plan proposes strategies to accelerate electrification of transportation and buildings that are consistent with our Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region,” said City of Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, Chairman of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus’ Environment Committee, Energy Subcommittee, and EV Readiness Advisory Committee. “The plan offers resources to help local governments, businesses and residents alike adopt new technologies that will reduce carbon emissions, reduce air pollution, and promote economic growth, particularly in communities that have faced barriers to electrification.” 

“Innovative manufacturers not only use emerging new technology like electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, we create it and produce it,” said Mark Denzler, President & CEO of the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association. “Since 1990, manufacturing has reduced emissions more than any other sector in the United States. The manufacturing sector is developing new technologies that make energy more affordable, reliable, and cleaner every year. This new program will incent our state’s leading economic engine to further invest in electric-powered transportation and support Illinois jobs.” 

New C&I EV Charging Class 

In addition to incentives, ComEd is proposing a dedicated EV charging delivery customer class for (commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. The new rate class would significantly reduce upfront infrastructure or “make-ready” costs and would provide members an alternative to the default demand-based rate structures, which, at low utilization rates, can make the cost of charging high for customers. These efforts reflect recommendations from stakeholders and are intended to reduce barriers to the deployment of charging infrastructure in ComEd’s service territory. ComEd expects the benefits of this new customer class to multiply the impact of federal funding that the Illinois Department of Transportation will employ to support the development of charging stations across the highway system. 

“We are pleased to partner with ComEd to help advance the move toward electrification and drive the expansion of green jobs in the region,” said Brian Robb, Government Relations Director at Lion Electric. “In the last several years, Lion has been working with the elected officials, advocacy groups, environmental justice groups and many organizations such as ComEd to demonstrate how electrification can deliver economic growth, benefit a community’s health and well-being, and help build a solid charging infrastructure network in the State of Illinois.” 

“Staying at the forefront of the emergence of electric-powered transportation options is important to the customers retailers serve and, therefore, important to us,” said Rob Karr, President, Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “This proposal by ComEd includes a provision that will make it more convenient and cost affordable for Illinois retailers to install beneficial electrification infrastructure such as charging stations.” 

Customer Education and Pilot Programs 

A $9 million community education program will empower customers to make the transition to electrification. This program will help residential and business customers understand the timeline and impact of electrifying personal vehicles and fleets, as well as how utility programs and rates can benefit them. ComEd is also proposing $5 million annually for pilots to study the benefits of various electrification strategies for customers and the grid. 

Non-Transportation Opportunities 

In addition to EV benefits, the BE Plan offers a broad opportunity to reduce carbon and other emissions across sectors. While most of the BE Plan focuses on clean transportation, ComEd is also proposing a set of non-transportation rebates to work in tandem with energy efficiency offerings to spur adoption of electric technologies in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. 

Rate Impact 

ComEd is proposing a cost recovery plan that aligns benefits with costs, avoids large rate impacts, and that minimizes impact on low-income customers. Pending approval, the average residential bill won’t see an increase until 2025, with an average impact of 11 cents a month, and up to 21 cents a month by 2027. For C&I bills, customers would see a slow increase of 42 cents per Megawatt hour (MWh) in 2025, and up to 83 cents per MWh in 2027, year three of the program. 

“I appreciate ComEd’s Beneficial Electrification plan,” said Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara. “It puts $300M over three years towards educating consumers on the benefit of electric vehicles, making EV charging stations in residential homes more easily attainable regardless of income through incentives and rebates, and should spur the use of a cleaner energy for commercial companies. 

“The IEC Powered by Future Green is particularly excited with ComEd’S inclusion of a School Bus Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Pilot and a new rate class for electric school bus chargers that will alleviate the upfront cost burden of infrastructure upgrades,” said Tim Farquer, Administrative Lead for the Bus-2-Grid Initiative, a service of IEC Powered by Future Green, and Superintendent of Williamsfield Schools. “Add in ComEd’s proposed electric school bus/charger rebates, and the upfront cost hurdle of school bus electrification will become much easier to clear. We welcome the opportunity to explore a partnership with ComEd to implement these new programs alongside new solar installs that benefit our most vulnerable students & schools. These programs bring us one step closer to the day our kids no longer recognize the smell of harmful diesel emissions.”