ComEd giving $57 million to governments, businesses for electric vehicles

ComEd is offering $57 million in rebates to encourage businesses and local governments in Northern Illinois to buy electric vehicles, a program aimed at reducing harmful air pollution and greenhouse gases that contribute to the climate crisis.

The utility is offering between $5,000 and $180,000 for each business, city or other government applicant looking to swap out older diesel-fuel vans, trucks and buses with electric models as part of a broader statewide push to phase out fossil fuels.

ComEd is paying for the project through charges on customer electric bills put in place through a 2021 clean-energy law known as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.

The law focuses mostly on eliminating dirty energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, but it includes some incentives to transition away from gas and diesel vehicles.

Gas and diesel-fuel modes of transportation are the biggest sources of greenhouse gases in the U.S.

Pollution in heavy-traffic areas, including industrial corridors throughout Chicago’s Southwest Side and other areas, contributes to respiratory illnesses and premature deaths.

“We need to do more to clean up trucks,” said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health at Respiratory Health Association in Chicago. He hopes the program “begins to electrify the biggest, dirtiest diesel vehicles out there.”

Businesses, schools, local governments, transit authorities and others can apply for rebates beginning Feb. 15. The rebates can be used to fund fleet vehicles for businesses as well as transit buses and school buses.

“This is an equity issue as more low-income families rely upon bus transportation to safely get their children to and from school than higher-income families,” Susan Mudd, senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said in a statement.

The ComEd program also includes $30 million in rebates this year for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

As of May 2023, half of Chicago neighborhoods didn’t have public charging stations. Many of these “charging deserts” are in predominantly Black and Latino communities.

Rebate applications also will be accepted retroactively for vehicles purchased after June 1, 2023.

ComEd said it reserved more than half of its funding for its rebate programs to specifically invest in “equity-eligible communities,” including areas that have been overburdened by pollution and other social stresses.

The 2021 climate law also aims to put 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.

As of last month, Illinois had almost 94,000 registered electric vehicles. That includes almost 17,000 in Chicago.

In addition to the ComEd program, the state offers incentives for consumer electric car buyers, though demand outpaces the annual pot of money offered.